{"id":5120,"date":"2025-09-17T15:05:16","date_gmt":"2025-09-17T06:05:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/oh-mama.tokyo\/?p=5120"},"modified":"2025-10-20T15:51:44","modified_gmt":"2025-10-20T06:51:44","slug":"osakini-the-secret-phrase-of-tea-ceremony","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/oh-mama.tokyo\/?p=5120","title":{"rendered":"\u201cOsakini\u201d\u2014The Secret Phrase of Tea Ceremony"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p>Did you know that if you can naturally say \u201c<em>Osakini<\/em>\u201d (\u304a\u5148\u306b), you might already be a Japanese language master?<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>In a traditional tea ceremony, while the host prepares matcha, guests usually remain quiet. This is because the main guest (\u6b63\u5ba2, <em>sho-kyaku<\/em>) and the host take center stage. The following guests are considered companions of the main guest\u2014just like in the samurai era, when lords would visit a tea master accompanied by their retainers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Yet, there is one short and elegant exchange between guests:<br>When drinking tea before the next person, you say \u201c<em>Osakini<\/em>\u201d\u2014which means \u201cPlease excuse me for going before you.\u201d<br>The reply would be a silent bow, which means \u201cPlease, go ahead.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>This phrase is still alive in modern daily life in Japan. For example, when leaving the office while colleagues are still working, people say \u201c<em>Osakini shitsurei shimasu<\/em>\u201d (\u304a\u5148\u306b\u5931\u793c\u3057\u307e\u3059)\u2014\u201cExcuse me for leaving before you.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>I remember as a teenager, someone kindly let me go first at a doorway or elevator. I said \u201cThank you, <em>osakini<\/em>\u201d, and an adult nearby praised me: \u201cHow wonderful that you can say \u2018<em>osakini<\/em>\u2019 so naturally!\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>So, if you can use \u201c<em>osakini<\/em>\u201d smoothly, Japanese people will notice and admire your manners. Try it at your next tea ceremony experience\u2014you\u2019ll be one step closer to mastering Japanese culture!<\/p>\n\n\n<style>.wp-block-kadence-advancedbtn.kb-btns5120_e8193f-c8{gap:var(--global-kb-gap-xs, 0.5rem );justify-content:center;align-items:center;}.kt-btns5120_e8193f-c8 .kt-button{font-weight:normal;font-style:normal;}.kt-btns5120_e8193f-c8 .kt-btn-wrap-0{margin-right:5px;}.wp-block-kadence-advancedbtn.kt-btns5120_e8193f-c8 .kt-btn-wrap-0 .kt-button{color:#555555;border-color:#555555;}.wp-block-kadence-advancedbtn.kt-btns5120_e8193f-c8 .kt-btn-wrap-0 .kt-button:hover, .wp-block-kadence-advancedbtn.kt-btns5120_e8193f-c8 .kt-btn-wrap-0 .kt-button:focus{color:#ffffff;border-color:#444444;}.wp-block-kadence-advancedbtn.kt-btns5120_e8193f-c8 .kt-btn-wrap-0 .kt-button::before{display:none;}.wp-block-kadence-advancedbtn.kt-btns5120_e8193f-c8 .kt-btn-wrap-0 .kt-button:hover, .wp-block-kadence-advancedbtn.kt-btns5120_e8193f-c8 .kt-btn-wrap-0 .kt-button:focus{background:#444444;}<\/style>\n<div class=\"wp-block-kadence-advancedbtn kb-buttons-wrap kb-btns5120_e8193f-c8\"><style>ul.menu .wp-block-kadence-advancedbtn .kb-btn5120_c0c2a5-ac.kb-button{width:initial;}<\/style><a class=\"kb-button kt-button button kb-btn5120_c0c2a5-ac kt-btn-size-standard kt-btn-width-type-auto kb-btn-global-fill  kt-btn-has-text-true kt-btn-has-svg-false  wp-block-kadence-singlebtn\" href=\"https:\/\/oh-mama.tokyo\/?page_id=3312\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\"><span class=\"kt-btn-inner-text\">Try our Tea Ceremony<\/span><\/a><\/div>\n\n\n\n<p><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Did you know that if you can naturally say \u201cOsakini\u201d (\u304a&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":5121,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_themeisle_gutenberg_block_has_review":false,"_kad_post_transparent":"","_kad_post_title":"","_kad_post_layout":"","_kad_post_sidebar_id":"","_kad_post_content_style":"","_kad_post_vertical_padding":"","_kad_post_feature":"","_kad_post_feature_position":"","_kad_post_header":false,"_kad_post_footer":false,"_kad_post_classname":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[27],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-5120","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-cultural-tips"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/oh-mama.tokyo\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5120","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/oh-mama.tokyo\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/oh-mama.tokyo\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/oh-mama.tokyo\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/oh-mama.tokyo\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=5120"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/oh-mama.tokyo\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5120\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":5292,"href":"https:\/\/oh-mama.tokyo\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5120\/revisions\/5292"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/oh-mama.tokyo\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/5121"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/oh-mama.tokyo\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=5120"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/oh-mama.tokyo\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=5120"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/oh-mama.tokyo\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=5120"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}