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89-454: The English term " Teaism " was coined by Okakura Kakuzō to describe the unique worldview associated with Japanese tea ceremonies as opposed to focusing just on the ceremonial aspect . In the 1500s, Sen no Rikyū revolutionized Japanese tea culture, essentially perfecting what is now known as the Japanese tea ceremony and elevating it to the status of an art form. He redefined the rules of

178-468: A chaji is called "doing temae ". There are many styles of temae , depending upon the school, occasion, season, setting, equipment, and countless other possible factors. The following is a short, general list of common types of temae . Chabako temae ( 茶箱手前 ) is so called because the equipment is removed from and then replaced into a special box known as a chabako ( 茶箱 , lit.   ' tea box ' ) . Chabako developed as

267-566: A Buddhist temple. After the abolishment of the feudal system in 1871, his family moved from Yokohama to Tokyo. In 1875, Okakura joined them and won a scholarship to the Tokyo Institute of Foreign Languages. Quickly after, the school was renamed to Tokyo Imperial University . It was at this prestigious academy that he first met and studied under the Harvard -educated art historian Ernest Fenollosa . In 1886, Okakura became secretary to

356-586: A Zen government. The writing promotes the Zen ideals to bring Buddhism back to its morals and practices. Eisai's writing depends heavily on the idea that Buddhism is critical for a functioning society. The Kōzen gokokuron is often regarded as nationalistic propaganda, and due to the compromises he made when working to install Zen Buddhism in Japan, people disregard the significance of the Kōzen gokokuron when reading it from

445-451: A convenient way to prepare the necessary equipment for making tea outdoors. The basic equipment contained in the chabako are the tea bowl, tea whisk (kept in a special container), tea scoop and tea caddy, and linen wiping cloth in a special container, as well as a container for little candy-like sweets. Many of the items are smaller than usual, to fit in the box. This gathering takes approximately 35–40 minutes. Hakobi temae ( 運び手前 )

534-426: A decorative wallet or tucked into the breast of the kimono . After the meal, there is a break called a nakadachi ( 中立ち ) during which the guests return to the waiting shelter until summoned again by the host, who uses the break to sweep the tea room, take down the scroll and replace it with a flower arrangement, open the tea room's shutters, and make preparations for serving the tea. Having been summoned back to

623-596: A disciple of Xuan Huaichang , a master in the Linji ( Rinzai ) line, at Jingde Si (Ching-te-ssu, 景德寺) monastery. After his certification as a Zen teacher, Eisai returned to Japan in 1191, bringing with him Zen scriptures and green tea seeds. He immediately founded the Shōfuku-ji in Kyūshū , Japan's first Zen temple. The prayer rituals and recitation of sutras that Eisai integrated into his monastic routines can be traced back to

712-443: A formal tea gathering ( chaji ( 茶事 , 'tea event') ). A chakai is a relatively simple course of hospitality that includes wagashi (confections) , thin tea, and perhaps a light meal. A chaji is a much more formal gathering, usually including a full-course kaiseki meal followed by confections, thick tea, and thin tea. A chaji may last up to four hours. The first documented evidence of tea in Japan dates to

801-404: A little before the appointed time and enter an interior waiting room, where they store unneeded items such as coats, and put on fresh tabi socks. Ideally, the waiting room has a tatami floor and an alcove ( tokonoma ), in which is displayed a hanging scroll which may allude to the season, the theme of the chaji , or some other appropriate theme. The guests are served a cup of

890-709: A low ceiling, a hearth built into the floor, an alcove for hanging scrolls and placing other decorative objects, and separate entrances for host and guests. It also has an attached preparation area known as a mizuya . A 4.5-mat room is considered standard, but smaller and larger rooms are also used. Building materials and decorations are deliberately simple and rustic in wabi style tea rooms. Chashitsu can also refer to free-standing buildings for tea. Known in English as tea houses, such structures may contain several tea rooms of different sizes and styles, dressing and waiting rooms, and other amenities, and be surrounded by

979-438: A person walks through the tea room chashitsu , and the different seating positions. The use of tatami flooring has influenced the development of tea. For instance, when walking on tatami it is customary to shuffle, to avoid causing disturbance. Shuffling forces one to slow down, to maintain erect posture, and to walk quietly, and helps one to maintain balance as the combination of tabi and tatami makes for

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1068-465: A slippery surface; it is also a function of wearing kimono, which restricts stride length. One must avoid walking on the joins between mats, one practical reason being that that would tend to damage the tatami . Therefore, tea students are taught to step over such joins when walking in the tea room. The placement of tatami in tea rooms differs slightly from the normal placement in regular Japanese-style rooms , and may also vary by season (where it

1157-410: A table, or outdoors, using a thermos pot in place of the tetsubin and portable hearth. In the ryūrei ( 立礼 ) style, the tea is prepared with the host seated on a chair at a special table, and the guests also seated on chairs at tables. It is possible, therefore, for ryūrei -style temae to be conducted nearly anywhere, even outdoors. The name refers to the host's practice of performing

1246-473: A tea garden called a roji . Seasonality and the changing of the seasons are considered important for enjoyment of tea and tea ceremony. Traditionally, tea practitioners divide the year into two main seasons: the sunken hearth ( 炉 , ro ) season, constituting the colder months (traditionally November to April), and the brazier ( 風炉 , furo ) season, constituting the warmer months (traditionally May to October). For each season, there are variations in

1335-474: A week or so, Kakuzo felt a little better and was able to talk with people, but on August 25, he had a heart attack and spent several days in great pain. Surrounded by his family, relatives and his disciples, he passed away on September 2." In Japan, Okakura, along with Fenollosa, is credited with "saving" Nihonga , or painting done with traditional Japanese technique, as it was threatened with replacement by Western-style painting, or " Yōga ", whose chief advocate

1424-597: Is a record of his treatment from the Azuma Kagami : Eisai was more focused on the medicinal aspects than anything else, and the main reason for this was the common conception of the time that the world was in mappō , the Latter age of the Dharma, which was considered by many to be a time of decline. Eisai lived through an era of heavy fighting in Japan, so mappō played a big role in his promotion of tea, as he thought it

1513-426: Is a simple procedure for making usucha (thin tea). The tea bowl, tea whisk, tea scoop, chakin and tea caddy are placed on a tray , and the hot water is prepared in a kettle called a tetsubin , which is heated on a brazier. This is usually the first temae learned, and is the easiest to perform, requiring neither much specialized equipment nor a lot of time to complete. It may easily be done sitting at

1602-518: Is heated in a raised brazier. The weather determines the exact time to use the sunken hearth or brazier. During the time of year when the brazier does not provide enough heat to the room for the guests to be warm, but the hearth was too warm, the Chajin could cover the hearth with the lid, and put the brazier on top of it. The location of the hearth or brazier is the biggest change between seasons, however, there are many other changes that are made, such as

1691-558: Is his continued eclecticism. He never renounced his status as a Tendai monk, and until the end of his life continued to engage in Tendai esoteric practices. Though he is credited with transmission of the Rinzai line to Japan, it remained for later teachers to establish a distinctly Japanese Zen free of admixture with the teachings of other schools. Among his notable disciples was Eihei Dōgen , who himself traveled to China and returned to found

1780-490: Is in 1575. As the terms imply, koicha is a thick blend of matcha and hot water that requires about three times as much tea to the equivalent amount of water than usucha . To prepare usucha , matcha and hot water are whipped using the tea whisk ( 茶筅 , chasen ) , while koicha is kneaded with the whisk to smoothly blend the large amount of powdered tea with the water. The host serves thin tea to each guest in an individual bowl, while one bowl of thick tea

1869-446: Is limited to a few formal comments exchanged between the first guest and the host, in the usucha portion, after a similar ritual exchange, the guests may engage in casual conversation. After all the guests have taken tea, the host cleans the utensils in preparation for putting them away. The guest of honour will request that the host allow the guests to examine some of the utensils, and each guest in turn examines each item, including

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1958-478: Is over. A tea gathering can last up to four hours, depending on the type of occasion performed, the number of guests, and the types of meal and tea served. Every action in chadō – how a kettle is used, how a teacup is examined, how tea is scooped into a cup – is performed in a very specific way, and may be thought of as a procedure or technique. The procedures performed in chadō are known collectively as temae . The act of performing these procedures during

2047-412: Is possible to rearrange the mats). In a 4.5 mat room, the mats are placed in a circular pattern around a centre mat. Purpose-built tea rooms have a sunken hearth in the floor which is used in winter. A special tatami is used which has a cut-out section providing access to the hearth. In summer, the hearth is covered either with a small square of extra tatami , or, more commonly, the hearth tatami

2136-652: Is registered as a national monument. Eisai The way The "goal" Background Chinese texts Classical Post-classical Contemporary Zen in Japan Seon in Korea Thiền in Vietnam Western Zen Myōan Eisai/Yōsai ( 明菴栄西 , 27 May 1141 – 1 August 1215) was a Japanese Buddhist priest, credited with founding the Rinzai school , the Japanese line of

2225-463: Is replaced with a full mat, totally hiding the hearth. Okakura Kakuz%C5%8D Okakura Kakuzō ( 岡倉 覚三 , February 14, 1863 – September 2, 1913) , also known as Okakura Tenshin ( 岡倉 天心 ) , was a Japanese scholar and art critic who in the era of Meiji Restoration reform promoted a critical appreciation of traditional forms, customs and beliefs. Outside Japan, he is chiefly renowned for The Book of Tea : A Japanese Harmony of Art, Culture, and

2314-429: Is shared among several guests. This style of sharing a bowl of koicha first appeared in historical documents in 1586, and is a method considered to have been invented by Sen no Rikyū. The most important part of a chaji is the preparation and drinking of koicha , which is followed by usucha . A chakai may involve only the preparation and serving of thin tea (and accompanying confections), representing

2403-499: Is so called because, except for the hot water kettle (and brazier if a sunken hearth is not being used), the essential items for the tea-making, including even the fresh water container, are carried into the tea room by the host as a part of the temae . In other temae , the water jar and perhaps other items, depending upon the style of temae , are placed in the tea room before the guests enter. Obon temae ( お盆手前 ) , bon temae ( 盆手前 ) , or bonryaku temae ( 盆略手前 )

2492-419: The roji to the tea house. They remove their footwear and enter the tea room through a small "crawling-in" door ( nijiri-guchi ), and proceed to view the items placed in the tokonoma and any tea equipment placed ready in the room, and are then seated seiza -style on the tatami in order of prestige. When the last guest has taken their place, they close the door with an audible sound to alert

2581-409: The temae performed and utensils and other equipment used. Ideally, the configuration of the tatami in a 4.5 mat room changes with the season as well. During the sunken hearth season, the Chajin opens the sunken hearth in the middle of the tea room. Water is heated using the sunken hearth. The sunken hearth is the only form of heat in the room during the winter. During the brazier season, water

2670-628: The shōgun and the newly ascendant warrior class enthusiastically welcomed his teachings. Hōjō Masako , Yoritomo's widow, allowed him to build Jufuku-ji , the first Zen temple in Kamakura. Eisai founded Kennin-ji in Kyoto in 1202 on land gifted to him by Yoritomo's son, the second Kamakura shōgun Minamoto no Yoriie . Eisai died in 1215 at the age of 74, and is buried in Kennin-ji's temple grounds. One feature of Eisai's activity not often noted

2759-563: The Kinki region of Japan. However, the interest in tea in Japan faded after this. In China , tea had already been known, according to legend, for more than three thousand years (though the earliest archaeological evidence of tea-drinking dates to the 2nd century BCE). The form of tea popular in China in Eichū's time was dancha ( 団茶 , "cake tea" or "brick tea") – tea compressed into a nugget in

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2848-666: The Kōzen gokokuron or The Promotion of Zen for the Protection of the Country , was heavily influenced by the Ninno kyo which states “the preservation of Buddhism is inextricably bound to the preservation of their own country”. The Kōzen gokokuron was written with the intention to correct established schools of Buddhism by giving them examples of moral practice and to convince the Minamoto military rulers to support Zen Buddhism and

2937-595: The Linji school of Zen Buddhism . In 1191, he introduced this Zen approach to Japan, following his trip to China from 1187 to 1191, during which he was initiated into the Linji school by the master Hsü an. It is also said that he popularized green tea in Japan, following this same trip. He was also the founding abbot of Japan's first Zen temple Shōfuku-ji and Kennin-ji . He is often known simply as Eisai/Yōsai Zenji (栄西禅師), literally "Zen master Eisai". Born in Bitchū Province (modern-day Okayama, Okayama ), Eisai

3026-589: The Rules of Purity established during the Chinese Song dynasty . Eisai set about slowly propagating the new faith, trying to gain the respect of both the Tendai school and the Imperial court through careful diplomacy. Faced with the sometimes violent opposition of traditional schools of Buddhism such as Tendai , Shingon and Pure Land , Eisai finally left Kyoto for the north-east to Kamakura in 1199, where

3115-666: The Sōtō school of Zen in Japan. Eisai is also credited with the beginning of the tea tradition in Japan, by bringing green tea seeds from China, back from his second trip in 1191, and writing the book 喫茶養生記, Kissa Yōjōki (in English, Drinking Tea for Health ). Legend says that he planted the seeds "in the garden of the Ishigamibo at Seburiyama in Hizen". In addition to his book, Eisai also garnered attention from another act involving his tea; using it as treatment for shōgun Sanetomo. This

3204-642: The 9th century. It is found in an entry in the Nihon Kōki having to do with the Buddhist monk Eichū ( 永忠 ) , who had brought some tea back to Japan on his return from Tang China . The entry states that Eichū personally prepared and served sencha (tea beverage made by steeping tea leaves in hot water) to Emperor Saga , who was on an excursion in Karasaki (in present Shiga Prefecture ) in 815. By imperial order in 816, tea plantations began to be cultivated in

3293-647: The East to him". Writing in the aftermath of the Russo-Japanese War , Okakura commented that the Westerner regarded Japan as "barbarous while she indulged in the gentle arts of peace", and began to call her civilized only when "she began to commit wholesale slaughter on the Manchurian battlefields". Okakura's final work, The White Fox , written under the patronage of Isabella Stewart Gardner in 1912,

3382-616: The East with Special Reference to the Art of Japan , published on the eve of the Russo-Japanese War , is famous for its opening paragraph in which he sees a spiritual unity throughout Asia, which distinguishes it from the West: Asia is one. The Himalayas divide, only to accentuate, two mighty civilisations, the Chinese with its communism of Confucius, and the Indian with its individualism of

3471-482: The Simple Life (1906). Written in English, and in the wake of the Russo-Japanese War , it decried Western caricaturing of the Japanese, and of Asians more generally, and expressed the fear that Japan gained respect only to the extent that it adopted the barbarities of Western militarism. The second son of Okakura Kan'emon, a former Fukui Domain treasurer turned silk merchant, and Kan'emon's second wife, Kakuzō

3560-683: The Vedas. But not even the snowy barriers can interrupt for one moment that broad expanse of love for the Ultimate and Universal, which is the common thought-inheritance of every Asiatic race, enabling them to produce all the great religions of the world, and distinguishing them from those maritime peoples of the Mediterranean and the Baltic, who love to dwell on the Particular, and to search out

3649-476: The White Disaster itself." In The Book of Tea , written and published in 1906, has been described as "the earliest lucid English-language account of Zen Buddhism and its relation to the arts". Okakura argued that "Tea is more than an idealization of the form of drinking; it is a religion of the art of life". [Teaism] insulates purity and harmony, the mystery of mutual charity, the romanticism of

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3738-531: The Zen– Chán Buddhist school. His ideas would have a strong influence in the development of the Japanese tea. Around the end of the 12th century, the style of tea preparation called tencha ( 点茶 ) , in which powdered matcha was placed into a bowl, hot water added, and the tea and hot water whipped together, was introduced to Japan by Buddhist monk Eisai on his return from China. He also took tea seeds back with him, which eventually produced tea that

3827-451: The best quality tea leaves used in preparing thick tea. Historically, the tea leaves used as packing material for the koicha leaves in the tea urn ( 茶壺 , chatsubo ) would be served as thin tea. Japanese historical documents about tea that differentiate between usucha and koicha first appear in the Tenmon era (1532–1555). The first documented appearance of the term koicha

3916-462: The best quality tea – that was grown in Kyoto , deriving from the seeds that Eisai brought from China. The next major period in Japanese history was the Muromachi period , pointing to the rise of Kitayama Culture ( ja:北山文化 , Kitayama bunka ) , centered around the cultural world of Ashikaga Yoshimitsu and his villa in the northern hills of Kyoto ( Kinkaku-ji ), and later during this period,

4005-545: The best-known – and still revered – historical figure in tea, followed his master Takeno Jōō 's concept of ichi-go ichi-e , a philosophy that each meeting should be treasured, for it can never be reproduced. His teachings perfected many newly developed forms in architecture and gardens , art , and the full development of the "way of tea". The principles he set forward – harmony ( 和 , wa ) , respect ( 敬 , kei ) , purity ( 清 , sei ) , and tranquility ( 寂 , jaku ) – are still central to tea. Sen no Rikyū

4094-459: The concepts of omotenashi , which revolves around hospitality . Murata Jukō is known in chanoyu history as an early developer of tea as a spiritual practice. He studied Zen under the monk Ikkyū , who revitalized Zen in the 15th century, and this is considered to have influenced his concept of chanoyu . By the 16th century, tea drinking had spread to all levels of society in Japan. Sen no Rikyū and his work Southern Record , perhaps

4183-632: The doctors say is the usual complaint of the twentieth century— Bright's disease ," he wrote a friend in June 1913. "I have eaten things in various parts of the globe—too varied for the hereditary notions of my stomach and kidneys. However I am getting well again and I am thinking of going to China in September." In August, 1913, "Kakuzo insisted on going to his mountain villa in Akakura , and finally his wife, daughter and his sister took him there by train. For

4272-597: The first and last bows while standing. In ryūrei there is usually an assistant who sits near the host and moves the host's seat out of the way as needed for standing or sitting. The assistant also serves the tea and sweets to the guests. This procedure originated in the Urasenke school, initially for serving non-Japanese guests who, it was thought, would be more comfortable sitting on chairs. The Japanese traditional floor mats, tatami , are used in various ways in tea offerings. Their placement, for example, determines how

4361-482: The host, who enters the tea room and welcomes each guest, and then answers questions posed by the first guest about the scroll and other items. The chaji begins in the cool months with the laying of the charcoal fire which is used to heat the water. Following this, guests are served a meal in several courses accompanied by sake and followed by a small sweet ( wagashi ) eaten from special paper called kaishi ( 懐紙 ) , which each guest carries, often in

4450-481: The hot water, kombu tea, roasted barley tea, or sakurayu . When all the guests have arrived and finished their preparations, they proceed to the outdoor waiting bench in the roji , where they remain until summoned by the host. Following a silent bow between host and guests, the guests proceed in order to a tsukubai (stone basin) where they ritually purify themselves by washing their hands and rinsing their mouths with water, and then continue along

4539-531: The importance to the modern world of Asian culture , attempting to bring its influence to realms of art and literature that, in his day, were largely dominated by Western culture . In 1906, he was invited by William Sturgis Bigelow to the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston and became the Curator of its Department of Japanese and Chinese Art in 1910. His 1903 book on Asian artistic and cultural history, The Ideals of

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4628-399: The incense, utensils, and clothing worn. During the winter, a type of incense known as Neriko, a type of incense that is formed into pellets, is used. Jin or Byakudan are used in the summer, and during the end of spring or the beginning of autumn, the Chajin puts out Kokukobei or Umegako. Guests drink tea from a more cylindrical style of bowl in the winter to keep in heat, and use a flat bowl in

4717-416: The inner, or spiritual, experiences of human lives. Its original meaning indicated quiet or sober refinement, or subdued taste "characterized by humility, restraint, simplicity, naturalism, profundity, imperfection, and asymmetry" and "emphasizes simple, unadorned objects and architectural space, and celebrates the mellow beauty that time and care impart to materials." Sabi , on the other hand, represents

4806-517: The lifeless conservatism" of traditionalists and the "equally uninspired imitation of western art" fostered by early Meiji enthusiasts. Limiting himself to more sympathetic aspects of art in the West, at the school, and in a new periodical Kokka , Okakura sought to rehabilitate ancient and native arts, honoring their ideals and exploring their possibilities. When, in 1897, it became clear that European methods were to be given ever increasing prominence in

4895-414: The long history of chadō and are active today. Japanese tea ceremonies are typically conducted in specially constructed spaces or rooms designed for the purpose of tea ceremony. While a purpose-built tatami -floored room is considered the ideal venue, any place where the necessary implements for the making and serving of the tea can be set out and where the host can make the tea in the presence of

4984-551: The means, not the end, of life. In his subsequent book, The Awakening of Japan , published in 1904, he argued that "the glory of the West is the humiliation of Asia." This was an early expression of Pan-Asianism . In this book Okakura also noted that Japan's rapid modernization was not universally applauded in Asia: ″We have become so eager to identify ourselves with European civilization instead of Asiatic that our continental neighbors regard us as renegades—nay, even as an embodiment of

5073-691: The minister of education and was put in charge of musical affairs. Later in the same year he was named to the Imperial Art Commission and sent abroad to study fine arts in the Western world. After his return from Europe and the United States, in 1887 he helped found, and a year later became director of, the Tokyo School of Fine Arts (東京美術学校 Tōkyō Bijutsu Gakkō ). The new arts school represented "the first serious reaction to

5162-409: The more casual portion, and the host will return to the tea room to bring in a smoking set ( タバコ盆 , tabako-bon ) and more confections, usually higashi , to accompany the thin tea, and possibly cushions for the guests' comfort. The host will then proceed with the preparation of an individual bowl of thin tea to be served to each guest. While in earlier portions of the gathering conversation

5251-412: The more essential components of tea ceremony are: Procedures vary from school to school, and with the time of year, time of day, venue, and other considerations. The noon tea gathering of one host and a maximum of five guests is considered the most formal chaji . The following is a general description of a noon chaji held in the cool weather season at a purpose-built tea house. The guests arrive

5340-439: The more relaxed, finishing portion of a chaji . The equipment for tea ceremony is called chadōgu ( 茶道具 ) . A wide range of chadōgu is available and different styles and motifs are used for different events and in different seasons. All the tools for tea are handled with exquisite care, being scrupulously cleaned before and after each use and before storing, with some handled only with gloved hands. Some items, such as

5429-400: The outer, or material side of life. Originally, it meant "worn", "weathered", or "decayed". Particularly among the nobility, understanding emptiness was considered the most effective means to spiritual awakening, while embracing imperfection was honoured as a reminder to cherish one's unpolished and unfinished nature – considered to be the first step to satori , or enlightenment. Central are

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5518-402: The preparation of the utensils is complete, the host prepares thick tea. Bows are exchanged between the host and the guest receiving the tea. The guest then bows to the second guest, and raises the bowl in a gesture of respect to the host. The guest rotates the bowl to avoid drinking from its front, takes a sip, and compliments the host on the tea. After taking a few sips, the guest wipes clean

5607-453: The regent ordered his teamaster to commit ritual suicide . The way of tea was never so closely intertwined with politics before or after. After the death of Rikyū, essentially three schools descended from him to continue the tradition. The way of tea continued to spread throughout the country and later developed not only from the court and samurai class, but also towards the townspeople. Many schools of Japanese tea ceremony have evolved through

5696-410: The rim of the bowl and passes it to the second guest. The procedure is repeated until all guests have taken tea from the same bowl; each guest then has an opportunity to admire the bowl before it is returned to the host, who then cleanses the equipment and leaves the tea room. The host then rekindles the fire and adds more charcoal. This signifies a change from the more formal portion of the gathering to

5785-491: The rise of Higashiyama culture , centered around the elegant cultural world of Ashikaga Yoshimasa and his retirement villa in the eastern hills of Kyoto ( Ginkaku-ji ). This period, approximately 1336 to 1573, saw the budding of what is generally regarded as Japanese traditional culture as it is known today. The use of Japanese tea developed as a "transformative practice" and began to evolve its own aesthetic, in particular that of wabi-sabi principles. Wabi represents

5874-517: The same manner as the pu-er tea is today. This then would be ground in a mortar, and the resulting ground tea mixed together with various other herbs and flavourings. The custom of drinking tea, first for medicinal, and then largely for pleasurable reasons, was already widespread throughout China. In the early 9th century, Chinese author Lu Yu wrote The Classic of Tea , a treatise on tea focusing on its cultivation and preparation. Lu Yu's life had been heavily influenced by Buddhism, particularly

5963-568: The school curriculum, he resigned his directorship. Six months later he renewed the effort, as he saw it, to draw on western art without impairing national inspiration in the Nihon Bijutsuin (日本美術院, lit. "Japan Visual Arts Academy"), founded with Hashimoto Gahō and Yokoyama Taikan and thirty-seven other leading artists. At the same time, Okakura had opposed the Shintoist Haibutsu Kishaku movement which, in

6052-417: The seated guest(s) can be used as a venue for tea. For instance, a tea gathering can be held picnic -style in the outdoors, known as nodate ( 野点 ) . For this occasion a red parasol called nodatekasa ( 野点傘 ) is used. A purpose-built room designed for the wabi style of tea is called a chashitsu , and is ideally 4.5- tatami in floor area. A purpose-built chashitsu typically has

6141-460: The social order. It is essentially a worship of the Imperfect, as it is a tender attempt to accomplish something possible in this impossible thing we know as life. None of this, he suggested, was appreciated by the Westerner. In his "sleek complacency", the Westerner views the tea ceremony as "but another instance of the thousand and one oddities which constitute the quaintness and childishness of

6230-451: The standard Japanese fare of the time contained abundant amounts of each, except for the bitter flavor, which was the cause of the many heart diseases the Japanese suffered from. He asserted that his green tea was essential for providing the bitter flavor, and thereby keeping the heart healthy. During the Nara and Heian periods in Japan, Buddhism was used as a tool to unify the country. Eisai

6319-429: The summer to release heat. Different designs are depicted on the tea bowl based on the season. During the summer, participants wear a kimono made up of one layer to ensure that it is not too hot. However, outside the summer, participants wear a double-layered kimono so they will be warmer. There are two main ways of preparing matcha for tea consumption: thick ( 濃茶 , koicha ) and thin ( 薄茶 , usucha ) , with

6408-404: The tea caddy and the tea scoop. (This examination is done to show respect and admiration for the host.) The items are treated with extreme care and reverence as they may be priceless, irreplaceable, handmade antiques , and guests often use a special brocaded cloth to handle them. The host then collects the utensils, and the guests leave the tea house. The host bows from the door, and the gathering

6497-619: The tea ceremony is influenced by the Shinto purification ritual of misogi . The architectural style of the chashitsu and the gate that serves as the boundary between the tea garden and the secular world have been influenced by Shinto shrine architecture and the torii (shrine gate) . Much less commonly, Japanese tea practice uses leaf tea, primarily sencha , a practice known as senchadō ( 煎茶道 , 'the way of sencha') . Tea gatherings are classified as either an informal tea gathering ( chakai ( 茶会 , 'tea gathering') ) or

6586-445: The tea ceremony spread not only to daimyo (feudal lords) and the samurai class but also to the general public, leading to the establishment of various tea ceremony schools that continue to this day. Zen Buddhism was a primary influence in the development of the culture of Japanese tea. Shinto has also greatly influenced the Japanese tea ceremony. For example, the practice of purifying one's hands and mouth before practicing

6675-492: The tea house, tea garden, utensils, and procedures of the tea ceremony with his own interpretation, introduced a much smaller chashitsu (tea house) and rustic, distorted ceramic tea bowls specifically for the tea ceremony, and perfected the tea ceremony based on the aesthetic sense of wabi . Sen no Rikyū's great-grandchildren founded the Omotesenke , Urasenke , and Mushakōjisenke schools of tea ceremony, and

6764-441: The tea room by the sound of a bell or gong rung in prescribed ways, the guests again purify themselves and examine the items placed in the tea room. The host then enters, ritually cleanses each utensil – including the tea bowl, whisk, and tea scoop – in the presence of the guests in a precise order and using prescribed motions, and places them in an exact arrangement according to the particular temae procedure being performed. When

6853-421: The tea storage jar which has the name Chigusa , are so revered that, historically, they were given proper names like people, and were admired and documented by multiple diarists. The honorary title Senke Jusshoku  [ ja ] is given to the ten artisans that provide the utensils for the events held by the three primary iemoto Schools of Japanese tea known as the san-senke . Some of

6942-769: The wake of the Meiji Restoration had sought to expel Buddhism from Japan. With Ernest Fenollosa, he worked to repair damaged Buddhist temples, images and texts. Okakura was a high-profile urbanite who retained an international sense of self. He wrote all of his main works in English . Okakura researched Japan's traditional art and traveled to Europe , the United States and China , and lived two years in India during which he engaged in dialogue with Swami Vivekananda and Rabindranath Tagore . Okakura emphasised

7031-464: Was a cure for many ailments and hence would help people get through this perceived difficult time. In Kissa Yōjōki , the beginning bulk of text after the prefaces concern the alignment of the five elements of Chinese science (earth, fire, water, wood, and metal) with five major organs (the liver, lungs, heart, spleen, and kidneys) and the respective five flavors that each major organ preferred (acidic, pungent, bitter, sweet, and salty). Eisai claimed that

7120-548: Was a firm believer that it should be Zen Buddhism to aid the protection of the country. He identified previously established schools of Buddhism as responsible for contributing to Japan's struggles. During this time, three major scriptures were used to promote this idea of a unified Buddhist Japan: the Lotus Sutra , Golden Light Sutra , and the Humane King Sutra ( Ninnōkyō ). Eisai's famous written piece,

7209-579: Was also one of a trio of Japanese artists who introduced the wash technique to Abanindranath Tagore , the father of modern Indian watercolor. As part of the Izura Institute of Arts & Culture, Ibaraki University manages Rokkakudō , an hexagonal wooden retreat overlooking the sea along the Izura coast in Kitaibaraki, Ibaraki Prefecture , that was designed by Okakura and built in 1905. It

7298-580: Was an English-language libretto for the Boston Opera House. The libretto incorporates elements from both kabuki plays and Wagner 's epic Tannhäuser and may be understood, metaphorically, as an expression of Okakura's hoped-for reconciliation of East and West. Charles Martin Loeffler agreed to Garner's request to put the poetic drama to music, but the project was never staged. Okakura's health deteriorated in his later years. "My ailment

7387-401: Was artist Kuroda Seiki . In fact this role, most assiduously pressed after Okakura's death by his followers, is not taken seriously by art scholars today, nor is the idea that oil painting posed any serious "threat" to traditional Japanese painting. Yet Okakura was certainly instrumental in modernizing Japanese aesthetics, having recognized the need to preserve Japan's cultural heritage, and thus

7476-404: Was at its height. However, it was increasingly at odds with the rustic and simple aesthetics continuously advertised by his tea master, which the regent increasingly saw as a threat to cementing his own power and position, and their once close relationship began to suffer. In 1590, one of the leading disciples of Rikyu, Yamanoue Sōji , was brutally executed on orders of the regent. One year later

7565-492: Was considered to be the most superb quality in all of Japan. This powdered green tea was first used in religious rituals in Buddhist monasteries . By the 13th century, when the Kamakura shogunate ruled the nation and tea and the luxuries associated with it became a kind of status symbol among the warrior class , there arose tōcha ( 闘茶 , "tea tasting") parties wherein contestants could win extravagant prizes for guessing

7654-593: Was named for the corner warehouse (角蔵) in which he was born, but later changed the spelling of his name to different Kanji meaning "awakened boy" (覚三). Okakura learned English while attending Yoshisaburō, a school operated by a Christian missionary, Dr. James Curtis Hepburn , of the Hepburn romanization system. Here, he became well-versed in the foreign language but couldn't read Kanji, the characters of his homeland. As such, his father got him to concurrently study western culture at Yoshisaburō and traditional Japanese in

7743-505: Was one of the major reformers during Japan's period of modernization beginning with the Meiji Restoration . Outside Japan, Okakura influenced a number of important figures, directly or indirectly, who include Swami Vivekananda , philosopher Martin Heidegger , poet Ezra Pound , and especially poet Rabindranath Tagore and art benefactor, collector and museum founder Isabella Stewart Gardner , who were close personal friends of his. He

7832-573: Was ordained as a monk in the Tendai sect. Dissatisfied with the state of Buddhism at the time, in 1168 he set off on his first trip to Mount Tiantai in China, the origin of the sect, where he learned of the primacy of the Chan (later known in Japan as Zen ) school in Chinese Buddhism of the time. He spent only six months in China on this first trip, but returned in 1187 for a longer stay as

7921-592: Was the leading teamaster of the regent Toyotomi Hideyoshi , who greatly supported him in codifying and spreading the way of tea, also as a means of solidifying his own political power. Hideyoshi's tastes were influenced by his teamaster, but nevertheless he also had his own ideas to cement his power such as constructing the Golden Tea Room and hosting the Grand Kitano Tea Ceremony in 1587. The symbiotic relationship between politics and tea

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