A Morning at the Japanese Tea Garden

As dawn draped the garden in mist, I wandered along a stone path lined with moss-covered lanterns, their muted glow reflecting on the koi pond’s surface. The air smelled of damp bamboo and the faint sweetness of blooming camellias, while water trickled from a shishi-odoshi, its rhythmic clack breaking the hush. A bridge arched over the pond, where orange fish surged to the surface, their scales shimmering like coins in the first sunlight.

Near a thatched teahouse, a gardener raked the gravel into gentle waves, his movements slow and deliberate. I paused to watch a maple tree’s red leaves flutter onto the water, forming tiny boats that drifted toward a stone basin. A woman in a kimono knelt to rinse her hands, the water’s chill making her breath fog in the crisp air. Sunlight filtered through the bamboo grove, casting lattice shadows on a scroll painted with calligraphy—“ichi-go ichi-e,” a reminder of the moment’s impermanence.

By mid-morning, the mist had lifted, and the garden buzzed with soft whispers. A group of students sketched the pagoda’s tiered roof, while a tea master prepared matcha, her whisk creating a frothy green sea in a ceramic bowl. I left with a camellia petal in my