On Apr. 27th, I finished my first 3years of apprenticeship under the highly regarded Watanabe Taeko Sensei.
It has been a pleasure to study with her and I look forward to the next year of her lessons.
On graduation day, she gave us some advice to ponder.
She said that in order to grow, we have to cultivate a deep sense of refinement. This means, that we have to become more refined in person to be able to recognize truly refined craftsmanship. It is a never ending process full of constant attention to detail and character that will eventually bare fruit, if it is conducted in the proper way.