Tyas Sōsen

As a Japanology graduate of Belgium’s Leuven University, Tyas Sōsen relocated to Japan in order to pursue post-graduate studies in the literature, history and culture of 17th-century Japan at Kansai University, Osaka, from which he received a Master of Arts degree. In order to deepen his understanding of Japan’s complex cultural traditions, he has trained in kendō, karate, and jōdō, and studied both nō performance-practice and the rite-of-tea (sadō). By now a fully-qualified instructor in the Way of Tea as taught by the (warrior-style) Enshū school - thereby having become the youngest foreigner ever to have achieved this rank within the school -Sōsen instructs both Japanese and foreign pupils in ‘tea-ceremony’. He also conducts demonstrations, lectures and workshops concerning the tradition, philosophy and aesthetics of the-rite-of-tea. Sōsen is also the first Belgian to have become certified as a Nihoncha (Japanese tea) Instructor. Having thus become an expert in all aspects of Japanese tea and tea-culture, he, at The Tea Crane, offers his personal selection of organically-produced Japanese teas.