The Japanese tea ceremony, also called the Way of Tea, is a Japanese cultural activity involving the ceremonial preparation and presentation of matcha, powdered green tea. In Japanese, it is called chanoyu (茶の湯) or chadō (茶道; also pronounced sadō?). The manner in which it is performed, or the art of its performance, is called temae (点前?). Zen Buddhism was a primary influence in the development of the tea ceremony.
According to the Nihon Kōki (Latter Chronicle of Japan), drinking of tea was introduced to Japan in the 9th century, by the Buddhist monk Eichū (永忠), who had returned to Japan from China. This is the first documented evidence of tea in Japan. The entry in the Nihon Kōki states that Eichū personally prepared and served sencha (unground Japanese green tea) to Emperor Saga who was on an excursion in Karasaki (in present Shiga Prefecture) in the year 815. By imperial order in the year 816, tea plantations began to be cultivated in 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 a thousand years. The form of tea popular in China in the era when Eichū went for studies was "cake tea" (団茶, dancha?)—tea compressed into a nugget in the same manner as Pu-erh. This then would be ground in a mortar, and the resulting ground tea decocted together with various other herbs and/or flavorings.
The custom of drinking tea, first for medicinal, and then largely also for pleasurable reasons, was already widespread throughout China. In the early 9th century, Chinese author Lu Yu wrote the 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 the Zen–Chán school.[citation needed] His ideas would have a strong influence in the development of the Japanese tea ceremony.
Around the end of the 12th century, the style of tea preparation called "tencha" (点茶?), in which matcha was placed in a bowl, hot water poured into the bowl, and the tea and hot water whipped together, was introduced by Eisai, another Japanese monk returning from China. He also brought tea seeds back with him, which eventually produced tea that was of 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 the samurai warrior class ruled supreme, tea and the luxuries associated with it became a kind of status symbol among the warrior class, and there arose tea-tasting (闘茶, tōcha?) parties wherein contestants could win extravagant prizes for guessing the best quality tea—that 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 (北山文化, Kitayama bunka?), centered around the elegant cultural world of Ashikaga Yoshimitsu and his villa in the northern hills of Kyoto. This period saw the budding of what is generally regarded as Japanese traditional culture as we know it today.[citation needed]
Tea ceremony developed as a "transformative practice", and began to evolve its own aesthetic, in particular that of wabi. Wabi, meaning quiet or sober refinement, or subdued taste, "is characterized by humility, restraint, simplicity, naturalism, profundity, imperfection, and asymmetry [emphasizing] simple, unadorned objects and architectural space, and [celebrating] the mellow beauty that time and care impart to materials."[6] Murata Jukō is known in chanoyu history as the early developer of this, and therefore is generally counted as the founder of the Japanese "way of tea". 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[7]
By the 16th century, tea drinking had spread to all levels of society in Japan. Sen no Rikyu, perhaps the most well-known—and still revered—historical figure in tea ceremony, 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 Japanese architecture and gardens, fine and applied arts, and the full development of chadō, "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 ceremony.
Many schools of Japanese tea ceremony have evolved through the long history of chadō and are active today.
Venue
Chashitsu
Almost any place where 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 the seated guest(s), can be used as a venue for tea. For instance, a tea gathering can be held outdoors, in the open air. This is known as nodate (野点?). On the other hand, a tatami-floored room with adjacent mizuya space for the host to conduct preparations of the various items to be used is required for a full chaji.
Tea rooms (chashitsu) that are designed specifically for use for the wabi style of tea developed by Sen no Rikyū are usually small, typically 4.5 tatami. Rooms larger than 4.5 mats may be used for tea as well, particularly with larger numbers of guests, though they are often general-purpose rooms not exclusively used for tea ceremony. Building materials and decorations are deliberately simple and rustic in wabi style tea rooms. Sometimes chashitsu are in free-standing buildings known in English as tea houses.
Seasonality and the changing of the seasons are important in tea ceremony. Traditionally the year is divided by tea practitioners 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 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.
Koicha and usucha
There are two main ways of preparing matcha for tea ceremony: thick (濃茶, koicha?) and thin (薄茶, usucha?), with 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 ceremony which differentiate between usucha and koicha first appear in the Tenmon era (1532-55).[8] The first documented appearance of the term koicha is in 1575.[9]
As the terms imply, koicha is a thick blend of matcha and hot water which uses 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.
Thin tea is served to each guest in an individual bowl, while one bowl of thick tea is shared among several guests. This style of sharing a bowl of koicha first appears in historical documents in 1586, and is a method considered to have been invented by Sen no Rikyū.[10]
The most important part of a chaji is the preparation and drinking of koicha, which is followed by thin tea. A chakai may involve only the preparation and serving of thin tea (and accompanying confections), representing the more relaxed, finishing portion of a chaji.
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