The Japanese Tea Ceremony: Cha-no-yu

The act of preparation and drinking of matcha, the powdered green tea known as “The Japanese Tea Ceremony”, is referred to as ‘Cha-no-yu”, (茶の湯) by Japanese people, literally means “Hot water for tea”. The procedure involves much more than its name implies. Better translated as Sado (茶道), ”the way of tea”, it is a way of life or a life style in devotion to preparing the best possible bowl of powdered green tea for the guests, Sado is a choreographed art and spiritual discipline requiring many years of study to master. (This “way of life style” also applies to disciplines, like, Budo (武道)-martial art, Kado (華道)-flower arrangement and Shodo (書道)-calligraphy as well).

As an art, the tea ceremony is an occasion to appreciate the simplicity of the tea room’s design, the tranquility of the garden, the feel of the chawan or tea bowl in the hand, the company of friends, and simply a moment of purity. As a discipline, aesthetic contemplation of flower arranging, ceramics, calligraphy, is required. The ritual preparation requires the host or Teishu to know how to arrange the flowers which will be placed in the alcove or Tokonoma, how to cook a Kaiseki meal in a special occasion, When choosing tea utensils, the host has to consider the rank and type to make sure that they will stand out. Even when placing the tea utensils, the host has to considered the guests’ view point, gestures and movement

Tea is said to have been brought to Japan from China during the Nara period. It was gradually accepted after the Zen master Eisai wrote the book “Kissa Yojo-ki” (喫茶養生記, Cure on Drinking Tea for Health) during the Kamakura era, stressing the effectiveness of tea as medicine. The act of drinking tea became a special experience during the Muromachi period, during which the shoin design was developed, which evolved as the tea houses that we see today. Procedures for making tea called Temae for tea ceremony were established, with deep roots to the philosophy of Zen,

The culture and spirit of the Tea Ceremony: Sen Rikyu, Wabi-sabi and Ichi-go-ichie

Sen Rikyu was a tea master during the Azuchi-Momoyama era in the 1500s. He served two Shoguns, Oda Nobunaga and Toyotomi Hideyoshi, a time when tea ceremony had been popular among warriors as a symbol of refined culture. A tea master needs to be able to properly determine the utensils for tea ceremony. With his discerning eye, Rikyu stood out among the tea masters. Rikyu surprised those around him by introducing innovative ideas for tea ceremony such as the  four-and-a-half mats koma or dark, tiny tea room where the ceilings were too low to stand upright, and the use of black raku-ware tea bowls he had made by Japanese craftsmen to use in place of Chinese imports for use in the wabi-style tea ceremony.

Wabi-sabi refers to a quiet, serene world in its simplicity. In its root form, wabi includes “the pain of not having things proceed as desired”, and sabi means “the state of the power of life deteriorating”, both negative expressions of condition. Inversely, it is possible to see a uniquely Japanese sense of beauty and culture from the use of these terms as “appreciating the beauty of things that are simple and natural,” and that began after the Edo period as “positive terms for expressing the beauty of Japan. “The tea room’s interior will seem imperfect and rustic. The wall might be unpainted and visible wooden pillars and beams are untreated, just as it would look like in nature”.

Ichi-go-ichie: “One opportunity, one encounter”, meaning that every encounter should be cherished as it may never happen again. Today, remains a symbol of the spirit of tea ceremony, the term Ichi-go-ichie was mentioned by Yamanoue Soji, an apprentice of Sen Rikyu as, “This tea ceremony, held on this day of this year, is an irreplaceable moment that will never again be repeated. Tea ceremony can only be a success when the minds of both the person serving and those being served come together as one”. Ichi-go-ichie applies not only to tea ceremony but other situations as well, where every moment is unique, and will never come again