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1
Select every vessel before cooking begins. Wabi-aesthetic earthenware — Oribe, Shino, or Bizen ware — is chosen in coordination with the season, the occasion, and the mood of the ceremony. Porcelain has no place at this table. The vessel choice is a communication to the guest; it must be settled before the first ingredient is prepared.
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2
Wash the rice and cook it in sufficient water in a covered pot. The rice is transferred to the meshibitsu (rice jar) and brought to the table still hot. The freshness of the rice — its steam on opening — is the primary signal of the host's timing and care. If the rice is cold or dry, the meal's first message has already failed.
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3
Prepare the dashi cleanly from kombu and katsuobushi. Whisk the miso smooth into the hot dashi; do not boil after the miso is added. Add the seasonal garnish in small, considered cuts. The soup must be clean and unassertive — a clear, savoury warmth that settles the stomach without demanding attention. This is where the meal lives or dies: a soup that is too rich, too complex, or too generous in portion has already contradicted the purpose of cha-kaiseki. The bowl is lifted; the broth must be still, clear, and mild on the palate.
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4
Prepare the mukōzuke (raw preparation) — seasonal sashimi or a dressed vegetable — arranged without elaboration on its selected dish. It is set on the tray before the guest is seated. The arrangement must signal restraint; any excess of garnish or surface area contradicts the wabi aesthetic. The cut surface should be clean and bright.
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5
Simmer the seasonal vegetables or fish gently in dashi lightly seasoned with soy and mirin. The nimono (simmered dish) is cooked until the ingredient yields just to the touch of a chopstick — not soft, not resistant. The braising liquid should be largely absorbed or minimal; nothing on the plate is left unconsumed. The yaku-zake principle governs every portion: the amount placed before the guest is exactly what should be eaten, nothing remaining.
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6
Grill the fish or vegetable simply — lightly salted beforehand, cooked over direct heat until the surface colours to a pale gold and the flesh lifts cleanly from the skin. No elaborate saucing, no decorative garnish beyond what the season requires. The yakimono (grilled preparation) is served hot. Its surface should be dry, not lacquered.
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7
When the sequential preparations are complete and the meal portion of the chaji has been consumed in full — no food remaining on any plate, in accordance with the yaku-zake rule — present the higashi (dry sweets) with usucha (light tea). Subsequently present the namagashi (fresh sweets) immediately before the koicha (thick tea) service. The sweets are seasonal and calibrated in sweetness to prepare the palate for the bitterness of matcha. The transition from namagashi to koicha marks the close of the cha-kaiseki sequence.