itteQ 27.05.2012 - Entertainer Tegoshi in China! EPISODE SUMMARY
This was such an awesome episode that it would be criminal not to share.
Tegoshi went to Sichuan (China) to learn the traditional art of tea performance, which involves putting on a show of pouring tea using a teapot with a very long spout. It’s almost like martial arts though not quite… so after ‘naruhodox3’ in the NTV studio, Tegoshi flew off to Ya’An in Sichuan, China.
What greeted him at the professional school was a really smiley sensei and he introduced Tegoshi to the class. Tegoshi was shocked at the length of the spout and after the sensei explained that this type of teapot is specially used for tea performances, Tegoshi must have said ‘naruhodo’ at least 6 times? The sensei then showed off his skills (which were certainly impressive) Tegoshi thought that was really cool and that it would get the audience excited if it was done right in front of their eyes. So he performed a ceremony to accept the sensei as his ‘Master’, in which he was told that he had to give a precious personal item to the sensei, as a ‘collateral’ till his sensei is happy with his skills. As he was unprepared, he ended up giving his very glittery belt.
Just as he thought that it was time to start learning the techniques, the sensei told him that he had to study the history of tea. Sichuan is the first place in China to cultivate tea. *cues Chinese music* and Tegoshi’s drawings were shown to depict ancient China, tea cultivation and how people started drinking tea.
Tegoshi then asked about the art of tea performance. *cues in Chinese love song from the 90’s* and we see Tegoshi dressed up as a Chinese scholar. (Start of a mini drama) Apparently the scholar saw a swordsman practising and thought that it looked fun. (Tegoshi started doing a random dance with his teapot) And then the scholar thought it would looked even better if the spout of the teapot was to be lengthened to resemble a sword. (Tegoshi started another type of dance, this time with the teapot that had a long spout)
When they finally started practising, Tegoshi realised that there were 18 styles to learn and perform. He started to try the most basic step but ended up squirting some water on the camera man instead. So it wasn’t that easy after all. In order to convey how difficult the task was, they got Miyagawa to try it in the studio. Miyagawa ended up squirting water all over the front row. Tegoshi did the basic step quite well and was allowed to try 5 other styles. The level of difficulty for each style was marked by the number of stars. I particularly like the last style (飛龍在天 / 'flying dragon in the sk'y) but it’s really difficult. Tegoshi’s tea was completely off the mark. Tegoshi had to attend more lessons to learn about the different types of tea - green, oolong and black. They are actually made from the same type of leaves but have undergone different levels of processing. Black tea is the most processed and green tea, the least. Green tea is best made with hot water (but not boiling) while it is okay to use boiling water for black tea.
That night, they brought back the game ‘Guess the animal in the dark’. If he guessed it correctly, he would be able to take pictures with pandas. If not, he’ll have to eat a very spicy chilli pod (Sichuan is known for its extremely spicy cuisine) As luck would have it, Tegoshi did not guess correctly and had to eat the chilli. I shouldn’t laugh but his expression was really cute when he was desperately trying to pour tea to quench the spiciness.
Next Tegoshi showed off the result s of his practice and did the 5 styles quite well. Next he had to learn the remaining 12 styles as well as to perform with hot water in the teapot. It was hot and the sensei told him, “Even if it was hot, you must remember to smile.” Tegoshi agreed and said that even if he were to suffer a fracture on stage, he wouldn’t show his pain on stage. To which the itteQ staff said, “So what’s the problem?” So the staff decided to show unedited footage of Tegoshi, to show the audience the real Tegoshi.
They showed footage of Tegoshi saying, ‘Ah this is hot!’,'this is hell', ‘Cool it, cool it (referring to the water)’ and him complaining about how hot the teapot was and asking the sensei to touch the teapot.
They continued to show Tegoshi learning the remaining styles and as time was running out, he would have to continue practising in Japan. The sensei then asked Tegoshi why he had to go back and Tegoshi replied that he had to attend the press conference for ‘Hotaru no Hikari’. (cues in advert for the movie)
Back at the studio, it was time for Tegoshi to show what he learnt in China. Imoto was dressed in a white cheongsam (she looked good in it) and had to hold the cup on top of her head. Miyagawa touched the teapot and exclaimed that it was hot. Imoto looked considerably nervous. For this section, Tegoshi’s actions will speak louder than my words… All in all, he did a great job and looked very serious (probably concentrating really hard) Two lucky members in the audience were poured tea by Tegoshi (which Uchimura said that it was ‘Yuya’s service time). He cleared all the styles and did them well too!
Otsukaresama, Yuya!
(The ratings for last night's episode was 15.7%, which Japanese fans tweeted about and i took it as a sign of it being high?)
Apparently his sensei micro-blogged about Tegoshi and his learning in China. He thought that Tegoshi was a really hardworking and good student, who persevered with all the training even though his ligament was hurting, and that he is proud to have Tegoshi as his student. (*V*)
Apart from singing, I like Tegoshi best in itteQ. After all, it was itteQ who got me interested in Tegoshi Yuya. I watched their episode as Festival Men’s team in Germany on YouTube and thought Tegoshi was absolutely brilliant in that episode (Cycling across that frozen lake on such a narrow bridge!)
Side note: My favourite rock band,L'Arc~en~Ciel, held their final concert in Tokyo last night and Tegoshi sent a bouquet to congratulate them. I(^o^) Tegoshi, the fanboy.
