Tea culture

• Japanese: 茶道 (sadou, chadou)

Tea ceremony is one of the most famous Japanese traditional arts. Originally a relatively un-ritualized element of elite banquets, it became formalized into an art in the late 16th century (the Azuchi-Momoyama period), and came to be promoted as a key part of Japanese traditional culture in the Meiji period.

History

Tea may have been first introduced to Japan in 805 by Saichô, who also introduced Tendai Buddhism. Tea only first gained popularity in China around one hundred years earlier. Powdered tea, like that most typically used in tea ceremony, was then introduced alongside Rinzai Zen by Eisai, in 1191. However, it was not until the Muromachi period that tea ceremony as a practice really has its origins.

Muromachi

Emerging in the early Muromachi period, tea ceremony was originally just one of a number of activities in which samurai, court nobles, and other elites engaged at elegant but raucous banquets. It began to transform into a more subdued and refined art over the course of that period, however, influencing (and being influenced by) changes in the design or structure of the tearoom itself. These changes to the tearoom were profoundly influential in the history of Japanese architecture; in conjunction with certain other developments, they contributed to the development of the tokonoma (an alcove in which seasonally and thematically appropriate paintings and flowers are displayed, helping to set a tone for one's guest), and of features such as the chigaidana (a stepped, asymmetrical shelf).

It was with the influence of Sen no Rikyû in the late 16th century that tea ceremony came to be considerably toned down, associated with the aesthetic values of wabi and sabi, and formalized into a ritual activity.

Tea was employed by many daimyô of the time, including Oda Nobunaga and most especially by Toyotomi Hideyoshi, as a mark of refinement and cultivation. To that end, Hideyoshi held a Grand Kitano Tea Ceremony in 1587, and also built a tea room in which every surface, and every tea implement, was covered in gold foil, showing off his wealth and power at the same time that he demonstrated his deep involvement in cultural pursuits.

Edo

The Urasenke and Omotesenke schools of tea ceremony which, along with the Mushanokôji senke, dominate the world of tea ceremony today, were founded in 1646.

In the 18th century, many Sinophile literati enjoyed a Chinese-style sencha tea ceremony, as promoted by Baisaô among others.

Meiji

The 1872 Kyoto Exposition saw the introduction of ryûrei, a form of tea ceremony performed seated in chairs around a table, thus making it both more accessible & attractive to Westerners, and more accommodating to the Westernized decor, furnishings, and lifestyle of Meiji Japan.