Japanese tea ceremony

Tea ceremony

The tea ceremony ( Jap. 茶道 sa dō , obsolete chado , dt. Teeweg ; also の湯茶 , cha-no-yu , dt. Hot water for tea ), also known as tea ritual , is in its underlying philosophy the Zen close. It is a meeting following certain rules, at which one or more guests are served tea and light meals by a host . In order to offer the guest the opportunity to contemplate, the gathering takes place in a deliberately simply furnished tea house .

There are also other tea ceremonies .

procedure

Japanese women wait for the tea to be prepared in the Seiza . It is considered a special courtesy to praise the beauty of the tea service, as the porcelain is mostly of ancient origin.

The following is a rough outline of the process of a formal tea ceremony. The process is simplified and also saves the preparation and follow-up phases, in which, for example, a short preliminary visit ( zenrei ) takes place after the invitation .

There are fixed rules for a tea ceremony, but the process can vary from school to school. However, they all have a certain basic shape in common.

Those invited to tea stroll on a garden path ( 路地 , Roji ) - it symbolizes the first stage of enlightenment (shedding everyday life) - and thus prepare for the tea ceremony that follows.

At the invitation of the host, the guests can be found in the garden of the tea house . There they take a seat in the waiting room and are greeted by the host or his helper with hot water, which is later used to prepare the tea.

Then the guests go back to the garden path, where there is a waiting bench, the 待合い ( Machiai ), often an open pavilion.

While the guests are sitting in the Machiai , the host fills fresh water into a stone basin and lays a ladle ready. He then disappears without a word in the tea room. The guests now clean their mouths and hands with the fresh water. Symbolically, they wash away everything bad that they have done or said.

They then enter the tea house one after the other. The tea room ( 茶室 , Chashitsu ) is often accessed through the almost one meter high entrance ( 躙り口 , Nijiriguchi , crawl entrance ). Even if there is no crawl entrance, guests get down on their knees to enter the room. As a result, they enter the room with humility and respect. All social differences are put on the threshold.

In several courses - the kaiseki - light dishes such as rice, soups, pickled vegetables and rice wine ( sake ) are served. In summer, the host puts charcoal on the fire in the presence of the guests so that the tea water gets the right temperature later. In winter, the charcoal is placed in front of the kaiseki so that the room is adequately heated.

After the kaiseki , the guests go back to the waiting room until, after sounding a gong five times, they are asked into the tea room provided for the tea ceremony. As soon as everyone has entered, the last guest closes the door with a slight noise, this is the sign for the tea master or the host to start his preparations. He now carries the missing tea utensils into the tea room. They are arranged in such a way that they enable both pragmatic and harmonious movements during tea preparation.

The most important utensils ( 道具 , dōgu ) at the tea ceremony are: the tea bowl ( 茶碗 , chawan ), the tea caddy or the container for powdered tea - cha-ire ( 茶入れ ) for strong tea ( 濃茶 , koi-cha ) or Natsume ( 棗 ) for light tea ( 薄茶 , Usu-cha ) -, the fresh water vessel ( 水差し , Mizusashi ), the iron kettle ( 釜 , Kama ), the tea bamboo spoon ( 茶杓 , Chashaku ) and the tea whisk ( 茶筅 , Chasen ). The host wears the silk tea towel ( 袱紗 , Fukusa ) on his obi . With a full tea invitation, the host now serves the thick tea, the koicha . Then the charcoal fire has to be rearranged and then the thin tea, the usucha , is served.

The Usucha ceremony in the style of Urasenke is described in more detail here: The host continues in the knee seat before moving brazier ( 風炉 , Furo ) down, the used water tank (takes 建水 , Kensui ) the ladle ( 柄杓 , Hishaku ) and the Coasters ( 蓋置 , Futaoki ) and places both to the left of the fūro. He collects and concentrates, bows to his guests and now begins the tea ceremony.

First he moves the used water container ( Kensui ) up to the level of his knees. Then he takes the tea bowls and places them about 20 cm in front of his knees. Now he takes the vessel with the powdered tea, the Natsume, and places it between the tea bowl and his knee. Now he takes the silk purple tea towel out of his obi and folds it, cleans the Natsume and places it on the left in front of the fresh water container. Now he folds the fukusa again, takes the tea bamboo spoon out of the tea bowl, cleans it and places it on the natsume. Then he takes the tea whisk out of the tea bowl and places it to the right of the Natsume.

Next he moves the tea bowl forward, then he takes the ladle ( hishaku ) with his right hand , grabs it with his left hand, and with his right hand he lifts the lid of the kettle, lets it drain and places it on the coaster ( futaoki ) discontinue. Then he takes the white linen cloth ( 茶きん , Chakin ) from the tea bowl and places it on the lid of the kettle. Now he takes hot water from the kettle with a ladle and pours it into the tea bowl. Next, the tea whisk is made supple in the hot water and checked. The hot water, which has now preheated the tea bowl, is emptied into the kensui - the service water container. Now the tea bowl is cleaned with the white linen cloth and wiped dry. With a "Dōzō okashi o" the guest is asked to take sweets.

The host then takes the Natsume with the powdered tea for thin tea and Teebambuslöffel, opens the tea container and puts the lid off to his right knee, takes using the Teebambuslöffels powdered tea ( matcha ), it is in the tea cup and pour hot water , which was heated over charcoal in the kama. After the infusion, he beats the relatively thick tea with a bamboo whisk , the chasen, until foamy (only in the Urasenke school a thick foam is whipped, Omotesenke avoids too much foam).

The host hands the main guest the tea bowl, which he accepts with a bow. With a gesture, the main guest offers the bowl to the person sitting next to him, but he refuses and asks the main guest to drink first. He turns the bowl twice in his hand and drinks the tea in about three sips. The bowl goes back to the host, who cleans the bowl and prepares the next tea. In turn, the tea is now served to those present. During this ritual usually there is silence, which is then broken to inquire about the type of tea used and their typically poetic name, and the Dogu marvel. In some ceremonies only Usucha is served, as described here. Koicha , the thick tea, is prepared in a different ceremony. It is so thick that it is not drunk but has to be 'eaten'. Here, the host only prepares a single bowl for all guests. Everyone drinks three small sips and then passes the tea bowl on.

If koicha (thick tea) was served, usucha (thin tea) is usually also prepared afterwards. After the small conversation, in which usually no topics from outside the tea room are addressed, the tea ceremony ends.

tea house

The typical tea house is surrounded by a small Japanese garden , often with a water basin. In the garden there is a waiting area for guests and a Roji ( 路地 ), or "deaf uncovered path", the - never in a straight line - leading to the teahouse.

A tea house is usually made of wood and bamboo. The only entrance is a small, rectangular sliding door that symbolically separates the small, simple, quiet interior from the outside world. It is so low that it can only be passed while kneeling - this is said to encourage a spirit of humility.

Teahouses usually consist of two rooms, one for preparing the tea and the other for the tea ceremony itself. The main room is often very small, often 4½ tatami , with a low ceiling. There is no furniture or furnishings. There is usually a pit for a charcoal fire ( 炉 , ro ) in the middle of the room to heat the tea water. The floor is covered with tatami mats. Guests and the host therefore sit on the floor in the Seiza . The decoration is minimal: mostly just a tokonoma (a niche in which a scroll, a brush drawing or a simple, small flower arrangement ( 茶花 , cha-bana ) is on display). All materials are intentionally simple and "peasant".

Doors and windows are kept in the traditional style, consisting of thin strips of wood (often cedar), which are covered with translucent Japanese paper ( Shōji ). This spreads the light evenly in the room, but does not allow a view to the outside. The ground is raised to keep it dry.

Window of the Joan Tea House in the Urakuen Tea Garden in Inuyama

Teahouses are specially built for the tea ceremony and every detail is designed with the utmost care. The house itself can be considered one of the “devices” for the tea ceremony. The simple, sober architecture of the tea houses also had a great influence on Japanese architecture .

Teahouses first appeared in the Sengoku period . Teahouses were mostly built by monks, daimyo , samurai and traders who practiced the tea ceremony. They were looking for simplicity and tranquility, which was consistent with the values of Zen.

history

Under Prince Shōtoku (572–622 AD), Japan went through a phase in which many new cultural values were adopted by China , mostly through mediation through the Korean kingdom of Baekje . The Japanese later traveled directly to China to study Buddhism there, and when they returned they brought tea to Japan, among other things. In the Nara period (709–784), for example, the tea imported from China was first drunk by Buddhist monks who initially used the new drink as medicine. In 729, Emperor Shōmu (724-748) invited a hundred priests to read the Buddhist script Hannyakyo . The next day he gave her tea.

Drinking tea only slowly became popular, it was not until the Heian period (784–1185) that Japanese lay people switched to drinking tea. The first tea ceremony goes back to the founder of the Tendai-shū school Saichō , who cultivated tea brought from China around 805, near Kyoto (Sakamoto in Shiga province). From the 10th to the 12th centuries, however, the practice was almost completely forgotten.

The tea ceremony is said to have been introduced by the Buddhist state priest Musō Kokushi . He was given a daisu from China, a shelf-like frame for setting up the tea cult equipment. He used the daisu to make the tea and began to lay down rules.

As the father of the tea ceremony, the Japanese consider the Buddhist abbot Shogu, whose lord the Shogun Ashikaga Yoshimasa , resigned all his government offices to devote himself exclusively to an artistic life; he built the silver pavilion in Kyōto, where he and the abbot invented the refined ritual of drinking tea. Even then, the size of the tea room was standardized. Since that time it has always been four and a half mats, about three by three meters. Shogu and his master were also the first to value art and fabric authenticity when selecting all items necessary for the tea cult.

We owe the first Japanese treatise on tea to the fact that its author, the Buddhist abbot Eisai, wanted his master, the youthful and apparently rather dissolute shogun of Japan, Minamoto-no-Sanetomo (1203–1268), to wean the abundant consumption of wine . Eisai not only describes the beneficial effects of tea on health, but also gives precise instructions on how to prepare it and how to drink it. In fact, he elevates the drinking of tea to a religious act with beating the gong and burning incense. To this day, the tea ceremony has retained some of this religious origin. Eisai used tea that he grew near Fukuoka in Kyushu . The plantations of Uji that still exist today go back to these tea plants, which he brought with him from China .

By 1400, tea drinking had finally spread from the upper class to the samurai caste to the citizens. Phases followed in which particularly splendid forms of the tea ceremony as well as counter-movements emerged that propagated a particularly simple form of tea gathering ( 草庵茶 , sōancha , "grass hut tea "; or 侘び茶 , wabicha , "tea of the quiet taste") . It's just a game of words when arguing about whether the tea ceremony is an artistic cult or a cultic art. It belongs to the Japanese arts in the broader sense, to those arts that only exist in Japan.

Oda Nobunaga and Toyotomi Hideyoshi , the greatest generals of Japan, were enthusiastic followers and promoters of tea drinking, to such an extent that one gets the impression from the traditions of that time that they were aesthetic patrons of art, but not the glorious unites Japan's and sword-used conquerors, who set up the largest fleet in the world even before the Armada . Hideyoshi probably gave the largest tea party that has ever taken place on earth. In the autumn of 1587 he invited all tea lovers in Japan, regardless of their class, to Kyoto and asked them to bring their tea utensils with them: bowls, fire tongs, incense containers, kettles and more. Each of the many thousands of invited people pitched a small tent, and Hideyoshi is said to have gone to each tent, according to his promise, tasted the tea and examined the objects. The tea party lasted nine days.

Back then, warlords and princes gave their bravest and most successful vassals tea pots and cups as the highest recognition. Some people are said to have been more pleased about a particularly artistic cup than about economic benefits or a higher rank. To this day, many aristocratic families use tea bowls that were given to an ancestor of the family by Nobunaga, Hideyoshi or Tokugawa Ieyasu . It is documented as early as 1572 that Chajin preferred Korean tea bowls. Hideyoshi's Imjin War (1592–1598) is also known as the “Ceramic War”, as hardly any territory, but a lot of ceramics, changed hands.

In 1564 the tea master Sen no Soeki , better known by his name Rikyū, recorded these rules in their classic form. He wrote them on the wall of the waiting room of the first tea house in Higashiyama-ku . It is often said that all tea masters after Sen no Rikyū are under his influence. Hideyoshi was close friends with Rikyu. The general showed the master a respect and admiration like hardly any other person. But it was a dangerous age in which one did not trust one's relatives and friends. The tea master's enemies managed to convince Hideyoshi that his friend Rikyu was involved in a conspiracy against him and that he wanted to poison him. Hideyoshi became suspicious and sentenced him to death. The only favor he did to Rikyu was to die at his own hand.

Rikyū's descendant Sōtan (1578–1658) founded the wabi tea tradition, which is based on the theory that tea and Zen are one. Sōtan was the son of Rikyū's stepson from his second marriage. He also used the names Gempaku and Totsutotsusai. Overall, the family was divided into three 'tribes': Fushin'an , Konninchian and Kankyuan , named after the most important tea room of the family tribes . Fushin-an 不審菴 of the Omote Valley is now a tea room with 2 ¾ tatami. The name comes from a Zen poem: 不審花開今日春 Fushin hana hiraku konnichi no haru: The flowers open mysteriously - today a spring day. Fushin-an mysterious hut. Originally it was probably a room with 1 ½ tatami without tokonoma, which Sen Sōtan had built based on a model by Rikyū. Rikyu had built this room in Hideyoshi's residence Yuraukdai, but Hideyoshi didn't like this tiny room, so Rikyu enlarged it. The original Fushin-An room was also later rebuilt to the size of 2 ¾ tatami.

The Konnichi-an der Urasenke tea room is a 1 ¾ tatami large tea room without tokonoma, which Sen Sōtan had built. There he received Daitoku-ji monks for tea. The name comes from an incident: Sen Sōtan once invited a monk to tea, but he came late. Angrily, Sōtan put a note in the tea room: “Today I don't have any more time. Come back tomorrow! ”For his part, the monk wrote on the piece of paper:“ How can a lazy monk like me know what tomorrow is? ”Sōtan was ashamed and called the room“ Today-Hut ”- Konnichi-an ( 今日菴 )。

The tea room Kankyu-an ( 官休庵 ) of the Mushakōji sink is a room with 1 ¾ tatami. The name means "withdrawal from service (with the Shogun)". The room was built in 1667 by the Grand Master of the Mushakōjisenke when he retired from government service.

Yugensai Itto (1719–1771), the 8th generation head of the family, wrote Shichijishiki Cha-no-yu , exercise instructions. The male line would have died out with the 10th generation, but continues thanks to adoption.

During the Meiji period , the Sekishu School, which held the view that the tea ceremony should reflect the social structure of Japan, eventually lost its influence because it was too closely associated with the old feudal system and received little support from the population . The Senke schools , which had always been egalitarian and representing the wabicha , gained influence, the three Senke schools (Urasenke, Omotesenke, Mushakōjisenke) are among the largest in Japan today. After the Sen family had lost their benefices in the Meiji Restoration , Ennosai Tetchu (1872-1924) managed to strengthen the Cha-do again. Especially under Tantansai (1893–1964) the Urasenke (the rear Sen house) was put on a stable economic basis and a. through books and the Konnichian Monthly News and the inclusion of Cha-do in the curriculum in vocational schools for girls. Today there is an association called Tankokai , which is committed to promoting Cha-do in the tradition of the Urasenke.

In the western world, Okakura Kakuzō contributed to the popularity of the tea ceremony with the publication of the book The Book of Tea (1906) in the USA . It also describes Rikyū's last hour.

Legends of Tea

" Tea is a blessing tree of the south ", so begins the often quoted sentence from Lu Yu's work Chajing ( The Classic of Tea ). This suggests that the tea does not come from China , but from India , the home of Buddha . Some sources state that the Chinese began as early as 2780 BC. Discovered the stimulating effect of scalded tea leaves while researching various herbs, roots and plants.

There are many legends surrounding the topic of tea and its discovery. One of the legends tells the story of the Chinese Emperor Shennong , who died in 2737 BC. Chr. Walked in his garden, holding a drinking bowl filled with hot water in his hands. A breeze blew three leaves from a wild tea bush into this bowl. A pleasant smell rose in the emperor's nose and he tasted it. The Emperor's saying “ Tea awakens the good spirit and wise thoughts. It refreshes the mind. You're down, so tea will cheer you up. “Shows the knowledge he gained about the invigorating effects of the tea drink.

Another story is about the first patriarch of Chan (Japanese Zen ), Bodhidharma ( 達磨 , Daruma ), who sat for many years in front of a rock face and practiced his strict meditation exercises. One night he closed his eyes from weariness doing religious practice. Angry at this, he tore off his eyelids and threw them away. Overnight the lids took root and two evergreen tea bushes sprout. Bodhidharma tasted it and immediately felt more alert and invigorated to counteract his tiredness with the nightly exercises. In Japan, the character 茶 means both tea and eyelid. The tea was brought to Japan by Buddhist student monks during the early Heian period .

In hardly any other culture has the mysticism of tea left such a lasting influence as in the Japanese. Be it that it found its expression in special characters or in the tea ceremony, which has been practiced unchanged for centuries.

designation

Some followers of the chadō consider the often chosen translations tea ceremony (or tea ceremony in English) or tea ritual to be mistranslations. They argue that the literal meaning is tea path , and chadō is not about performing a ceremony or ritual , but about a life path . The translation tea ceremony is questionable because there are tea ceremonies in the literal sense: so-called kenchashiki ( 供茶式 ) a special form, the sacrificial tea ceremony.

Nature and principles of the tea path ( 和敬清寂 , wakeiseijaku )

Sen no Rikyū established four principles for the Sadō : Wa (harmony), Kei (respect), Sei (purity) and Jaku (silence).

和 ( Wa ) means harmony. During the Chanoyu there is a harmonious feeling between guest and host. The dishes served and the tea utensils used are harmoniously coordinated with each other, the changing rhythm of the seasons and the feeling of people with themselves and nature permeate the tea path. This harmony leads to a harmony with nature and an understanding of the transience of all being.
敬 ( Kei ) means respect, awe and respect between people and all things, which arises from a natural feeling of gratitude. Respect applies not only to the people, but also to the careful handling of the tea machines. Consideration of the guests for one another and the hospitality of the host make it easier for laypeople to access the Sadō.
清 ( Be ) means the purity, cleanliness and order of things and of the heart. Before the guests enter the tea room, the tea master cleans the tea utensils - whereby his attention is exclusively focused on the act of cleaning - and his heart and mind at the same time. The guests wash their hands in front of the chanoyu and rinse their mouths at a low stone water basin in front of the tea house to get rid of the "dust of everyday life".
寂 ( Jaku ) means silence. This does not only mean the absence of external noises, but also the inner contemplation and its radiation in the community. Mindfulness and serenity arise through the continuous practice of Wa, Kei and Sei .

The following anecdote is often cited to explain the essence of the tea path:

A disciple of Rikyū once asked: “ What exactly are the most important things to understand and consider at a tea gathering? "

“ Make a delicious cup of tea; put the charcoal so that it heats the water; arrange the flowers as they grow in the field; a feeling of coolness in summer, warm security in winter; prepare everything in time; prepare for rain and give all your heart to those you find yourself with. "

The student was somewhat dissatisfied with this answer because he could not find anything in it of so great value that it could have been called the secret of the procedure. " I already know all that ... "

Rikyu replied, “ So if you can run a tea meeting without deviating from any of the rules I mentioned, then I want to be your student! "

(Answers from the master along the lines of "... then I want to become your disciple" are not uncommon in Zen stories.)

literature

Franziska Ehmcke: The Japanese Tea Way. Consciousness training and total work of art . DuMont Buchverlag, Cologne 1991, ISBN 3-7701-2290-9
Wolfgang Fehrer: The Japanese tea house. Architecture and ceremony . Edition Niggli, Sulgen 2005, ISBN 3-7212-0519-7
Andreas Gruschke, Andreas Schörner, Astrid Zimmermann: Tea. Sweet dew of heaven . DTV, Munich 2001, ISBN 3-423-36242-1
Horst Hammitzsch : Cha-Do the tea way , Otto Wilhelm Barth-Verlag, Munich-Planegg 1958
Horst Hammitzsch: Japan manual. Country and people, culture and intellectual life . Steiner, Stuttgart 1990, ISBN 3-515-05753-6
Horst Hammitzsch: Zen in the art of the tea path. OW Barth bei Scherz, Munich 2000, ISBN 3-502-67011-0
Volker Heubel: Moments on the way. Aspects of a philosophy of the tea path in the constellation of Rombach, Hisamatsu and Laozi. , Projektverlag, Bochum / Freiburg 2014, ISBN 978-3-89733-295-9
Detlef Kantowsky: CHADO - TEEWEG: literature and practice in the German-speaking area; Verb. U. with e. Supplementary supplement, 2nd edition ( online )
Okakura Kakuzō : The book from tea transferred and provided with an afterword by Horst Hammitzsch and an essay by Irmtraud Schaarschmidt-Richter; Insel-Verlag, Frankfurt am Main 2002, ISBN 3-458-34655-4
Jana and Dietrich Roloff: Zen in a cup of tea. Introduction to the Japanese tea ceremony. Lotos Verlag, Munich 2003, ISBN 3-7787-8154-5
Achim Schwarze : Tea drinkers are better people. Suggestions for hardened connoisseurs . Eichborn Verlag, Frankfurt / M. 1991, ISBN 3-8218-2182-5
Sōshitsu Sen: Chado. The tea way . Theseus-Verlag, Berlin 1998, ISBN 3-89620-129-8
Sōshitsu Sen: The spirit of tea . Theseus-Verlag, Berlin 2004, ISBN 3-89620-237-5
Sōshitsu Sen: The Japanese way of tea. From it's Origins in China to Sen no Rikyû . University of Hawai Press, Honolulu 1998, ISBN 0-8248-1897-0
Sōtei Akaji, Hermann Bohner (ex.): Zen words in the tea room (茶道掛物禅語道訳, Chashitsu-Kakemono Zengo) ; Tōkyō 1943 (German Society for Nature and Ethnology of East Asia); Leipzig 1943 (commissioned by O. Harrassowitz) 1943, 116 S; Sert .: Communications of the German Society for Natural and Ethnographic East Asia; Suppl. XX (reprinted in a shortened version that distorts the meaning by iudicium-Verlag Munich 2007 ISBN 978-3-89129-199-3 )

Web links

Commons : Japanese tea ceremony - collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

↑ See also: Soshitsu Sen in an interview

[1] See also: Soshitsu Sen in an interview