Sasaki Sanmi - Chado, the Way of Tea: A Japanese Tea Masters Almanac

Many people have assisted us with this book. We are grateful to them all but would like to mention by name some of those who helped us.

Since neither of us is an expert on poetry we relied heavily on advice from Professor Minoru Matsuda of Kokugakuin University in Tokyo for the Chinese poems, and on freelance translator Ms Taeko Funasaki for waka poems. Because of them this work is a far better one than it might otherwise have been.

Ms Gretchen Mittwer, editor of Chanoyu Quarterly , was most kind and generous with her time and knowledge and saved us from making many terrible mistakes.

Mr Tomohiko Hattori, Executive Vice-President of Tank-sha Publishing Co., Ltd. encouraged us to complete the translation by assisting with difficult terms seen in the original.

Many thanks to Mr John Moore, Vice-President, Tokyo, and Mr Eric Oey, President, for the decision to publish, and to Ms Taeko Kamei for her design and layout, Ms Kimiko Mitani for coordinating and proofing, and the entire team at Tuttle Publishing for their enthusiasm and kindness.

Our editor Mr Winston Priest took us gently in hand and guided us through the intricacies of copyediting with the patience of a saint.

The staff of Toita Women's College Library, Mrs Ryko Sato, Ms Yko Kosaka and Ms Kaori Soma, were immensely supportive in many ways.

Ms Yukimi Ueda, librarian of the National Diet Library, and Ms Rei Iwasaki, assistant professor of Notre Dame Women's College of Kyoto, helped search for reference books with professional interest and eagerness.

Finally, without the help and computer expertise of Ms Masako Suzuki we would never have finished the manuscript.

(Table Comparing Christian and Japanese Eras)