“10. Concerning the manner as a guest: attention should be given to building a unified gathering, There are may secretly transmitted provisions. For the sake of beginners, Jōō spoke of htis matter. At present, however, [such provisions] are rejected by Rikyū. He revealed bits and pieces during a nightfall tea gathering. To begin with, even during a morning or an evening gathering, and needless to say a gathering for the first showing of the jar of new tea, or even an ordinary chanoyu, from the moment you enter the garden pathway until the time you depart, hold the host in most respectful esteem, in the spirit that that encounter will occur but once in your life 一期ニ一度ノ会ノヤウニ.”

“The gathering in chanoyu is spoken of as ‘a single encounter in a lifetime’ (ichigo ichie). Thus, although the same host and guests may come together a number of times, when one considers that one cannot return again to the gathering of this very day, one realises it indeed occurs but once in one’s life. Therefore, the host is meticulously attentive to all things, applying deep mindfulness and complete sincerity so that there be not the slightest negligence. And the guest, fully discerning the preciousness of the circumstances leading to the gathering, should be sensitive to the host’s intentions not to be remiss in what is meant by ‘a single encounter in a lifetime’.”