Grand Kitano Tea Ceremony

• Date: 1587/10/1
• Japanese: 北野大茶の湯 (Kitano Oo-chanoyu)

The Grand Kitano Tea Ceremony was a mass tea ceremony held at Kitano in Kyoto by Toyotomi Hideyoshi. It was attended by over 1000 people, and tea was served not only by Hideyoshi, but also by the tea masters Sen no Rikyû, Tsuda Sôgyû, and Imai Sôkyû.

Hideyoshi had recently moved into the Jurakudai palace, which was famously fitted with a tearoom covered, walls and ceiling in gold. A great lover of the arts, and lover of showing off his love of the arts, Hideyoshi arranged this massive event as an opportunity for him to show off his collection of tea wares. Anyone and everyone, regardless of rank, was nominally invited, and it was originally announced that the event would last ten days. As the focus was meant to be on Hideyoshi's collection of teawares, guests were restricted to bringing one tea kettle, one bucket, one teabowl.

Hundreds of temporary tea huts were erected at Kitano, and lots were drawn to see who would earn the distinction of being served tea by Hideyoshi himself; the remaining attendees were served by the aforementioned tea masters. Hideyoshi is said to have served at least 803 people himself, after which he retired to the Jurakudai and called a premature end to the event.

Scholars have suggested several theories as to Hideyoshi's decision to retire and call off the party. Some have suggested that he was upset, or disappointed, at the relative lack of attention paid to his collection, and therefore to a relative lack of admiration or prestige earned him by the event; perhaps the wabi-sabi aesthetic of the tea masters' items outshone his own, so to speak. Other scholars suggest that he was simply physically and mentally drained from serving so much tea.

References

• Elison, George. "Hideyoshi, the Bountiful Minister." in Elison, George and Bardwell L. Smith (eds.) Warlords, Artists, and Commoners: Japan in the Sixteenth Century. Honolulu: University of Hawaii Press, 1981. pp239-241.