Japan Travel : The Japanese Tea Ceremony Japan is famous the world over for its culture and preservation of traditional art, crafts and pastimes. One of the most popular aspects of traditional Japanese culture is the Japanese tea ceremony. The Japanese tea ceremony, also called the Way of Tea, is a Japanese cultural tradition that includes the ceremonial preparation and presentation of what is known as matcha ( powdered green tea ). In Japanese language, it is called chanoyu or chadou. The actual stlye which in which the ceremony is conducted is known as otemae. Tea ceremony gatherings come under two classifcations - ochakai or chaji. Chakai is the simpler of the two styles of service and usually consists on a light blend of tend, some confections and a casual light meal on occasion. Chaji is a more formal gathering, usually with a full-course meal of smaller dishes known as kaiseki, followed by confections, a thicker tea and thin tea. A chaji ceremony can run over four hours and as such requires years of formal training to master perfectly . Tea was originally introduced to Japan when the Buddhist monk Eich returned to Japan from China in the 9th century, bringing a number of tea samples with him. The idea of drinking tea whether it be for medicinal purposes or purely for pleasure was already popular throughout mainland China. Powdered green tea was first used in religious ceremonies in Buddhist temples. By the 13th century when the samurai warrior class ruled throughout Japan, tea and the frills associated with it consumption became a kind of status symbol among the samurai. This lead to tea-tasting parties which gave contestants the chance to win extravagant prizes for guessing the best quality tea. Over the past 500-600 years, the Japanese tea ceremony began to evolve its own aesthetic known as Wabi-sabi. Wabi represents the spiritual, experiences of our lives.Boiled down to its barest essence, wabi-sabi is the Japanese art of looking for beauty in imperfection and profundity in nature, of accepting the natural cycle of growth, decay, and death. Its simple, slow, and uncluttered-and it reveres authenticity above all. Through wabi-sabi, we learn to embrace liver spots, rust, and frayed edges, and the march of time they represent. By the 16th century, tea drinking had spread to all levels of society in Japan, from the humble street vendor to the emperor is his palace. The tea ceremony is held both indoor and outdoor ( weather permitting ). Ideally the venue should have a 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 guests. Generally speaking a full formal tea ceremony will be held indoor in a special room with tatami mat flooring. Visitors to Japan can often see tea ceremonies held outdoors around some of the more famous castles and temples during the spring and autumn seasons when the weather is is ideal for outdoor performance. 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, 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. The equiepment used in the tea equipment is called chadougu ( cha meaning tea and dougu meaning tool or implement ). There are many styles available and which style is used depends on the type of ceremony and time or season of the year. All the tools for tea ceremony are handled with complete care. They are meticulously cleaned before and after each use and before storing. Some equipment are so respected they are only handled while wearing gloves. Tea bowls are available in a wide range of sizes and styles, and different styles are used for thick and thin tea. In the summer , shallow bowls are used as they allow the tea to cool quicker which is ultimately more desirable in Japans hot and humid summers. Deep bowls are used in winter. Bowls are frequently named by their creators or owners, or by a tea master. Bowls over four hundred years old are in use today, but only on unusually special occasions. The best bowls are thrown by hand, and some bowls are extremely valuable. Irregularities and imperfections are prized: they are often featured prominently as the front face of the bowl. That is not to say that bowl makers intentionally go about creating imperfections. That is generally left to the random wabi sabi ethic as mentioned earlier. The tea whisk , known as chasen, is the implement used to mix the powdered tea with the hot water. Tea whisks are carved from a single piece of bamboo. The whisks come under a lot of usage during the ceremony and are too frail to survive more than one ceremony. As such, new whisks are used with each subsequent team ceremony. The host ritually cleanses each tool in the presence of the guests and in a exact order and using prescribed movements. The utensils are placed in an exact arrangement according to the particular ceremony procedure being performed. When the preparation of the utensils is over, the host prepares thick tea using set movements. When the tea is ready it will either be served to the first guest by an assistant or the guest will retrieve the bowl from the host. 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 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 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 will then continue with the preparation of an individual bowl of thin tea to be served to each guest present at the ceremony. After all the guests have taken tea, the host cleans the equipment in readiness for putting them away. The guest of honor will request that the host allow the guests to examine some of the utensils, and each guest in turn examines each item, including the tea caddy and the tea scoop. The items are treated with extreme care as some of the items may indeed by rather old or expensive antiques. A cloth is usually provided for the handling of such items. The host then collects the utensils, and the guests leave the tea house. The host bows from the entrance, and the ceremony is complete. A tea ceremony can last up to four hours, depending on the type of ceremony performed, the number of guests, and the types of meal and tea served. Many of the movements and components of tea ceremony are as a result of wearing kimonos and, although it is not uncommon for students nowadays to wear western clothes for practice, most will practice in kimono at least some of the time, for this is essential to properly learn the required movements of the tea ceremony . On formal occasions the host, male or female, will always wear a Japanese kimono. Proper attire for guests is kimono or western formal wear. In Japan, those who wish to study the tea ceremony typically join what is known in Japanese as a circle, which is a generic term for a group that meets regularly to participate in a given activity. There are also tea clubs at many junior and high schools, colleges and universities. Classes may be held at community centers, dedicated tea schools, or at private homes. Tea schools often have widely varied groups that all study in the same school but at different times. New students usually begin by observing more advanced students as they practice. New students may be mentored by more advanced students; the most advanced students are taught exclusively by the teacher. The first things new students learn are how to correctly open and close sliding doors, how to walk on tatami, how to enter and exit the tea room, how to bow and to whom and when to do so, how to wash, store and care for the various equipment, how to fold the fukusa, how to ritually clean tea equipment, and how to wash and fold chakin. Like so many training exercises in Japanese culture - the training requires so many what may seem incidental tasks but are all part of the whole. As they master these essential steps, students are also taught how to behave as a guest at tea ceremonies: the correct words to say, how to handle bowls, how to drink tea and eat sweets, how to use paper and sweet-picks, and many, many other details. Once these basic steps have been mastered, students begin to practice the simplest temae, typically beginning with O-bon temae (see above). Only when the first ceremony has been mastered will students move on. Study is through observation and hands on practice; students do not often take notes, and many teachers discourage the practice of note-taking. Yoshi Ito is host of the Japanese names information website. There you can find lots of information about Japanese male names and Japanese female names as well as articles on Japanese culture.
Posted on: Tue, 09 Sep 2014 19:34:04 +0000
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