Lotus garden in Tatsuta, Aisai City, Aichi Prefecture.

The lotus flowers are very beautiful right now.

Today I attended a lotus-viewing party hosted by Tajima Lotus Garden.

Unfortunately, the lotus flowers bloom early in the morning. By the time we went lotus viewing at 10:30 a.m., most of the lotus flowers had already wilted. However, it was still a large lotus field. We were able to see many flowers.

While looking at the lotus flowers, we were given a lecture about the many types of lotus flowers, the knots of lotus root, how to dig lotus root, lotus fruit, and so on. This was also interesting!

Upon entering the room, we were served matcha and Japanese sweets with hojicha (roasted green tea) bean paste.

The representative of Tajima lotus garden made tea for us.

We were told that in Aisai City, it is not a special thing to make matcha, and that children and men also make tea. How chic!

It was very delicious matcha and sweets.

Then, we were served lotus flower tea, which is made by wrapping white tea in a lotus flower, leaving it overnight, and pouring hot water over it.

This tea is said to have been drunk by Yang Gui Fei under the moonlight to cure her sorrow.

It smelled so good that I felt as if I were Yang Gui Fei herself. (Though not under the moonlight, but under a fluorescent light.)

The taste of white tea with a hint of lotus flavor was very elegant.

After that, I was very interested in Elephant nose cup experience

The lotus stem has the same number of holes as lotus root, which was used to pour sake.

Of course, this time we did it with barley tea.

After that, we played Totoro.

At the end of the event, we had soba noodles prepared by the representative.

It was delicious soba with a very nice flavor of grated daikon radish and nori seaseeds, and tempura bits added a richness to it.

The other participants were also very attractive people. It was a very precious experience for me.

I am filled with gratitude.

Next time, I would like to participate in the experience of digging for lotus root.