Sure, Sacramento State has the University Union and a bunch of Java City coffee shops, but have you been to the tea room and garden?

Sokiku Nakatani Tea Room and Garden, one of eight university-based tearooms in the nation, opened in June after an anonymous donor had the idea of memorializing his mother’s collection of traditional Japanese tea sets and artifacts at Sac State.

The tearoom, located below the library, also houses a kimono exhibit and a sculpture of the donor as a young boy.

Sally Hitchcock is the Sac State library outreach coordinator who offers tearoom tours by appointment for the community as well as students.

Outside, a winding path through trees, plants, stones and water running from a fountain all lead up to the tea garden. The winding path is culture-specific as a straight path is considered bad luck. Walking along a winding path is a way to “rid the dust of the world,” Hitchcock said.

“The idea is people walk through the garden and they change gears and reach a different, more calm state of mind,” Hitchcock said.

Though the donor still wishes to remain anonymous, the tea room is named after his mother Sokiku Nakatani, who came from Japan as a master of the art of traditional Japanese tea ceremonies in the early 1900s.

The donor’s family worked as immigrant farmers in the Sacramento area. They were later forced to leave their home and work behind when the family was placed in an internment camp in the mid-1940s. Once the family was released from the camp, they moved to Los Angeles and later moved back to Sacramento, Hitchcock said.

Today, Sokiku Nakatani’s way of tea lives on through the 18 traditional tea ceremonies and lectures which have been held in the tea room since the opening ceremony.

Hitchcock said the tea room has brought students, faculty and other members of the community together.

She said a group of elementary school students from kindergarten to the third grade recently came to participate in a tea ceremony.

“Most of the students said they felt calm, peaceful and quiet,” she said. “One kindergartner said, ‘I feel very focused right now.'”

Hitchcock said many ethnic and Asian studies professors have held lectures in the tea room this semester.

“The purpose of the tea room is to maintain, share and continue the 1,500 year tradition of the tea ceremony from Japan,” said Timothy Fong, director of Asian American studies.

“The tea room will help to perpetuate the art and spirit of the traditional tea ceremony. It is the best demonstration tea room in the United States,” Fong said.

Students who have participated in a tea ceremony said they enjoyed learning about an ancient culture and art.

Victor Rodriguez, senior mechanical engineering major, said, “It was a nice chance to experience something new and interesting, especially learning about a different culture.”

Rodriguez said the tea master at Sokiku Nakatani Tea Room and Garden offered insightful background on Japanese tea-making traditions when he went to a ceremony in August.

Aurelia Chrisantin, a graduate psychology student, said the tea master served a cookie-like treat followed by tea for each person sitting at the mat.

She said she recommends students get involved and participate in a tea ceremony.

“I liked how you get to learn about the way tea is prepared and served in a traditional sense while given information about Japanese culture and art,” Chrisantin said.

The tea master is Christy Bartlett, founding director of the Urasenke Foundation in San Francisco, which works closely with Sokiku Nakatani Tea Room and Garden.

Bartlett said she became interested in “chanoyo,” which refers to the Japanese tea ceremony, as a college student studying ceramics in Japan.

“I remember I went to look at different types of ceramics and the (ones) I thought of being most brilliant were those designed for tea,” Bartlett said. “Once I started to learn about tea in its richness and all encompassing qualities, it became an art form that I knew I wanted to study.”

Bartlett has spent the past 35 years learning about “the way of tea” and now offers her knowledge of the art form to Sac State students.

“It’s really a rare resource for students to have a tea room on campus,” she said.

Bartlett said the actual benefits of having such a resource on campus are being explored through lectures and education.

“It can be used as a supplement for many courses, such as Japanese history, art, anthropology and even drama classes,” she said. “There are numerous ways of enhancing a student’s learning experience through a traditional tea ceremony.”

Hitchcock said she enjoys showing people the tea room and welcomes anyone who is interested in learning about the Japanese tradition to take a moment and have some tea.

“The tea master always gives the message that you should appreciate every moment because you are only in this moment once,” Hitchcock said. “Other days won’t be the same. The weather will be different just as the moment will be.”

Lana Saipaia can be reached at [email protected],/i>