CHADO, the Way of Tea
TEA, a Universal Beverage
Whether you call it Cha, Chai, Tey, or Tea, the world's most popular
beverage comes from camellia sinensis, an evergreen camellia plant that
was discovered in Yunnan, China. The Chinese were the first tea drinkers
and cultivators. The British spread its use around the globe.
Tea is most often made by infusing dried tea leaves in boiling water. It
contains the gentle stimulant theine which is equivalent to one-third to
one-half the caffeine found in drip coffee. In addition, it has powerful
phytochemicals, including antioxidants, that are known to promote
human health.
The fresh tea leaf is processed into three main types: black, semi-
fermented, and green, depending upon the degree of oxidation.
To produce black tea, fresh plucked tea leaves are partially dehydrated
(withered) and then crushed to expose leaf enzymes to the air. They are
then oven-dried, sorted and packed into wooden chests. With oxidation,
also known as fermentation, the tea leaf color turns warm brown or
black. Black tea produces a dark amber or reddish-orange infusion, with
fruity, malty, or even flowery aromas.
Semi-fermented tea comes from the same plant, however, the leaf is
only partially fermented. It varies from greenish grey to almost black.
Oxidation is halted by steaming. An infusion of a semi-fermented tea,
often called oolong, ranges from very light to dark amber, with a flowery,
toasted or spicy aroma. Oolong teas are wonderful on their own or taken
with rich, spicy foods. They complement desserts, especially chocolate.
Depending on quality, these teas can be re-steeped.
Green tea is steamed then dried to preserve the vivid green leaf color
and flavor. Unoxidized green teas often have a vegetal aroma with hints
of grass or sea mist. Green teas can be delicate and sweet when brewed
in hot, not boiling, water. They go well with low-fat, delicately seasoned
foods and desserts. White teas, a sub-group, consisting mostly of
unopened leaf buds, produce an almost colorless liquor with an
extraordinarily delicate flavor.
Only green teas are produced in Japan, half of which comes from
Shizuoka Prefecture. Chanoyu enthusiasts however, recognize the Uji
region as a premier producer of powdered green teas since the 13th
century. There are five types of green teas produced in Japan: matcha
(powdered tea), gyokurocha (treasure dew tea), sencha (high-grade
tea), bancha (lesser-grade tea), hojicha (roasted bancha), and genmaicha
(bancha mixed with roasted brown rice).
Matcha and gyokurocha are the highest quality teas from the choicest
tender shoots of mature tea plants. They are protected from harsh
spring sunlight with blinds during the final weeks of cultivation to add
flavor, aroma, and color. The leaves selected for matcha undergo a
special drying process that prevents them from curling, so that they can
be ground into a fine, uniform powder. Unlike other Japanese green teas
that are brewed by steeping, hot water is added to the powder and
then rapidly beaten with a bamboo whisk to produce a frothy beverage.
In this method the whole tea leaf is consumed.
__________________________________
THE TEA CULTURE OF JAPAN
The tea culture of Japan known as chanoyu (also chado, the way of
tea), traces its beginnings to the 12th century when powdered tea
(matcha) was introduced from Sung China. Over the next four centuries,
the appreciation of matcha evolved from a medicinal beverage, to a social
drink and finally to a distinct spiritual discipline and artistic practice in the
16th century that profoundly influenced the culture of Japan.
As a spiritual discipline chado absorbed many streams of East Asian
thought to create a pattern for daily living based on harmony, respect,
purity and tranquility. As an artistic practice chanoyu masters embraced
the aesthetic of ‘wabi’ - quiet and simple taste - to create the tearoom
and garden, to craft tea implements that reflect seasonal change, and to
refine the choreographed procedures for preparing tea and receiving
guests.
In the 17th century families of chanoyu practitioners emerged to
preserve and transmit the accomplishments of earlier tea masters while
adapting to changing times with new expressions in architecture, tea
utensils and tea procedures.
In the 20th century, three generations of the Sen Soshitsu family of the
Urasenke tradition of chanoyu have fostered international goodwill
through cultural exchange, and established branches and associations
worldwide. The teahouse in the Washington Park Arboretum Japanese
Garden was rebuilt in 1981 with a generous grant from Soshitsu Sen, XV.
Shoseian teahouse serves as a center for the Urasenke Foundation
Seattle Branch to transmit chado through university and community
classes, public demonstrations and special events.
The practice of chanoyu remains vital and relevant today as it offers calm
in a turbulent world and focus amidst distractions while emphasizing the
larger patterns that connect us to one another, society and nature.
_________________________________________________
ONE TIME/ONE MEETING
THE SPIRITUAL BASIS OF THE JAPANESE WAY OF TEA
Keith Snyder, Director, Urasenke Foundation of Vancouver
Although the Japanese Art of Tea, or chanoyu, is difficult to analyze in
terms of conventional art forms, three broad categories can be used to
describe the nature of this unique artistic activity. These three categories
are: 1) aesthetics, 2) discipline and 3) social interaction. The aesthetic
considerations of chanoyu, of course, deal with those elements of a Tea
Gathering which involve sensory experience: the shapes, sizes and
textures of the various utensils and how they are combined; the
appearance of the garden and the architecture of the tearoom; the
fragrance of incense; the tastes of various foods and sweets, and of the
tea itself. The discipline, for both host and guest, is as rigorous as any
martial art, perhaps even more so considering the extreme refinement of
details involved in the limited space of a few tatami mats. As for social
interaction, though it may be possible to sit alone in a cabin in the woods
and quietly enjoy a bowl of tea, it is the society of host and guest which
occasions the gathering and without which the aesthetic concerns and
the discipline lose all relevance.
There is an expression in Japanese whose origin lies in the Tea
experience of the early Tea masters. It is ichigo ichie: one time/one
meeting. If aesthetics, discipline and social interaction are the physical
aspects of chanoyu which can be readily perceived even by the casual
observer, one time/one meeting is the spiritual thread which runs
through the Art of Tea at every turn. For the practicer of chanoyu it is
the constant effort to hone aesthetic sense, to refine discipline and to
experience the encountering of host or guest that will eventually lead to
an understanding of one time/one meeting.
I would like to consider each of the three aspects of chanoyu in terms of
how it contributes to the realization of one time/one meeting.
I. The Aesthetics of Chanoyu
The practice of chanoyu as we know it today developed five centuries
ago in an atmosphere of extreme cultural refinement. Think of the court
of the Ashikaga shoguns with its love of the Noh theatre and its
appreciation of art works from the continent. In a way it can be said that
the love of the beautiful in chanoyu was born out of the sensibilities of
the ruling classes of fourteenth and fifteenth century Japan. However,
with the emergence of a few key figures such as Murata Shuko (1422-
1502) and Sen no Rikyu (1522-91), a new sense of beauty developed.
With emphasis on the beauty of the imperfect, and the appreciation of
wabi and sabi, a whole new visual and tactile culture of Tea evolved. This
is the "Tea world" which we inherit today when we take up the practice
of chanoyu, and the aesthetic which informs this world, from the
selection of utensils to the placement of flowers in the tokonoma, is
conveyed almost exclusively through silent example. However, what may
not be apparent from simply viewing the physical paraphernalia of Tea is
that along with the change in the types of utensils used, a fundamental
change in attitude toward the coming together of host and guest also
evolved. Whereas the lavish tea gathering of the Ashikagas took the
appreciation of rare and valuable pieces from China as an end in itself, the
new Tea of Shuko and Rikyu, the so-called "tea of the grass hut," took
the meeting of host and guests to be of equal, if not greater,
importance. In this way the feeling of one time/one meeting came to
the fore as the spiritual basis of the Tea Gathering. Every preparation
made by the host for a particular Tea Gathering would be made with the
understanding that such a gathering would never happen again. Even if
the host were to call the same guests to meet at the same time of year
and use the same arrangement of utensils, the gathering would be an
entirely other moment in the lives of all involved, not to mention in the
life of the tearoom and its own particular environment. One time/one
meeting then means that each moment is a unique set of variables that
come together for that time only and can never be repeated. In
selecting the utensils for a Tea gathering, therefore, the host must first
of all take into consideration the two critical questions: who are the
guests? and what is the occasion of their meeting? To disregard these
factors would be to reduce the entire event to nothing more than a
show.
Perhaps even more than in Rikyu's day this is the emphasis of today's Tea
gatherings. It is not simply to evoke pleasant images of flowers in spring
and coloured leaves in autumn that seasonal references are so valued in
the modern Tea gathering. These references serve as anchors which
keep us focused on the particular moment in time at which we are sitting
with a particular group of people, a moment which only comes once.
II. The Discipline of Chanoyu
The first thing one notices in learning the Way of Tea is that nothing is
done arbitrarily. There seems to be a rule for every movement of the
hand or foot, and a lesson, especially in the early stages, consists largely
of a series of cut-and-dry commands on the part of the teacher: "left
foot - right foot - place that three lines from the edge - elbows out -
fingers together...." The student is forced to become aware of every
move he makes and of each placement of a utensil. And awareness is the
aim here, the means and the end; for once awareness extends beyond
the utensil mat to the guests, and a reciprocal awareness is extended on
the part of the guest, the truly profound spirit of one time/one meeting
is realized.
There is a great beauty in concentrated effort. Who can fail to
appreciate the beauty of the intense drama which unfolds when the
pitcher in baseball stands ready to wind up? Pitcher, catcher and batter
have nothing in mind but the next pitch. This nothing in mind is called
mushin in Japanese, and it is the state of mind of the tea person who is
making tea with no other thought in mind than to carry on with the task
at hand. There is no thought, however, of making tea; there is only the
performing of what one has trained so hard to do. Needless to say, this is
not something which comes easily. It takes many years of practice to
assimilate the rules so that they operate naturally in one's tea making.
And yet, as wonderful as this state of naturalness may be, if it remains
contained within the practice of one individual, it is a very low form of tea
making compared to the true ideal of Tea based on one time/one
meeting.
The rules involved in making tea according to the procedures of chanoyu
always include host and guest. Even though concentration may bring the
individual to a state of heightened awareness and abandon to the
moment, the rules involved have as their fundamental purpose the union
of host and guest in the common experience of the Tea Gathering. It is
the same with any game involving several players. The game cannot exist
apart from the rules, for once the rules are removed you have neither
the game nor the common spirit generated by the playing of the game.
In the case of the Tea Gathering, the common spirit which ideally arises
out of the union of discipline and mutual consideration is the spirit of wa-
kei-sei-jaku (wa-harmony, kei-respect, sei-purity, jaku-tranquillity). It is
especially important for the guest, whose role is seemingly passive, to
approach the tea gathering in the spirit of one time/one meeting if the
framework of the gathering laid out by the rules is to achieve its purpose.
III. Social Interaction
As indicated in the discussion on aesthetics and discipline in Tea, the
meeting of host and guest is the event around which the practice of
chanoyu revolves. I have referred to this meeting as the Tea Gathering
(Jpn. chakai). In this context it should be pointed out that the idea of
the "encounter" has always played an important part in Japanese culture.
Even chance meetings are taken as having some kind of significance
which is not apparent to the eye, while in the heightened awareness
shared in the tearoom the mere fact that the host and the guests are
meeting takes on a quality of great wonderment. Because it is an extra-
ordinary event, because one is removed from the everyday world,
because one is following the etiquette peculiar to another world, the Tea
gathering assumes a special significance which contributes to the feeling
of one time/one meeting.
Each meeting is a unique meeting in that it never happened before and it
will never happen again, which is, of course, the nature of all things
which exist in time. The Japanese appreciation of impermanence (in the
Buddhist sense) and the physical manifestations of impermanence in the
form of the natural world's changes is well known. In the Way of Tea,
with its setting aside of a special time and a special place for which truly
special arrangements have been made, we see an art form which perhaps
more than any other has the potential of bringing its participants to a
realization of the uniqueness of the moment and a corresponding
appreciation of the succession of moments called life.
TEA, a Universal Beverage
Whether you call it Cha, Chai, Tey, or Tea, the world's most popular
beverage comes from camellia sinensis, an evergreen camellia plant that
was discovered in Yunnan, China. The Chinese were the first tea drinkers
and cultivators. The British spread its use around the globe.
Tea is most often made by infusing dried tea leaves in boiling water. It
contains the gentle stimulant theine which is equivalent to one-third to
one-half the caffeine found in drip coffee. In addition, it has powerful
phytochemicals, including antioxidants, that are known to promote
human health.
The fresh tea leaf is processed into three main types: black, semi-
fermented, and green, depending upon the degree of oxidation.
To produce black tea, fresh plucked tea leaves are partially dehydrated
(withered) and then crushed to expose leaf enzymes to the air. They are
then oven-dried, sorted and packed into wooden chests. With oxidation,
also known as fermentation, the tea leaf color turns warm brown or
black. Black tea produces a dark amber or reddish-orange infusion, with
fruity, malty, or even flowery aromas.
Semi-fermented tea comes from the same plant, however, the leaf is
only partially fermented. It varies from greenish grey to almost black.
Oxidation is halted by steaming. An infusion of a semi-fermented tea,
often called oolong, ranges from very light to dark amber, with a flowery,
toasted or spicy aroma. Oolong teas are wonderful on their own or taken
with rich, spicy foods. They complement desserts, especially chocolate.
Depending on quality, these teas can be re-steeped.
Green tea is steamed then dried to preserve the vivid green leaf color
and flavor. Unoxidized green teas often have a vegetal aroma with hints
of grass or sea mist. Green teas can be delicate and sweet when brewed
in hot, not boiling, water. They go well with low-fat, delicately seasoned
foods and desserts. White teas, a sub-group, consisting mostly of
unopened leaf buds, produce an almost colorless liquor with an
extraordinarily delicate flavor.
Only green teas are produced in Japan, half of which comes from
Shizuoka Prefecture. Chanoyu enthusiasts however, recognize the Uji
region as a premier producer of powdered green teas since the 13th
century. There are five types of green teas produced in Japan: matcha
(powdered tea), gyokurocha (treasure dew tea), sencha (high-grade
tea), bancha (lesser-grade tea), hojicha (roasted bancha), and genmaicha
(bancha mixed with roasted brown rice).
Matcha and gyokurocha are the highest quality teas from the choicest
tender shoots of mature tea plants. They are protected from harsh
spring sunlight with blinds during the final weeks of cultivation to add
flavor, aroma, and color. The leaves selected for matcha undergo a
special drying process that prevents them from curling, so that they can
be ground into a fine, uniform powder. Unlike other Japanese green teas
that are brewed by steeping, hot water is added to the powder and
then rapidly beaten with a bamboo whisk to produce a frothy beverage.
In this method the whole tea leaf is consumed.
__________________________________
THE TEA CULTURE OF JAPAN
The tea culture of Japan known as chanoyu (also chado, the way of
tea), traces its beginnings to the 12th century when powdered tea
(matcha) was introduced from Sung China. Over the next four centuries,
the appreciation of matcha evolved from a medicinal beverage, to a social
drink and finally to a distinct spiritual discipline and artistic practice in the
16th century that profoundly influenced the culture of Japan.
As a spiritual discipline chado absorbed many streams of East Asian
thought to create a pattern for daily living based on harmony, respect,
purity and tranquility. As an artistic practice chanoyu masters embraced
the aesthetic of ‘wabi’ - quiet and simple taste - to create the tearoom
and garden, to craft tea implements that reflect seasonal change, and to
refine the choreographed procedures for preparing tea and receiving
guests.
In the 17th century families of chanoyu practitioners emerged to
preserve and transmit the accomplishments of earlier tea masters while
adapting to changing times with new expressions in architecture, tea
utensils and tea procedures.
In the 20th century, three generations of the Sen Soshitsu family of the
Urasenke tradition of chanoyu have fostered international goodwill
through cultural exchange, and established branches and associations
worldwide. The teahouse in the Washington Park Arboretum Japanese
Garden was rebuilt in 1981 with a generous grant from Soshitsu Sen, XV.
Shoseian teahouse serves as a center for the Urasenke Foundation
Seattle Branch to transmit chado through university and community
classes, public demonstrations and special events.
The practice of chanoyu remains vital and relevant today as it offers calm
in a turbulent world and focus amidst distractions while emphasizing the
larger patterns that connect us to one another, society and nature.
_________________________________________________
ONE TIME/ONE MEETING
THE SPIRITUAL BASIS OF THE JAPANESE WAY OF TEA
Keith Snyder, Director, Urasenke Foundation of Vancouver
Although the Japanese Art of Tea, or chanoyu, is difficult to analyze in
terms of conventional art forms, three broad categories can be used to
describe the nature of this unique artistic activity. These three categories
are: 1) aesthetics, 2) discipline and 3) social interaction. The aesthetic
considerations of chanoyu, of course, deal with those elements of a Tea
Gathering which involve sensory experience: the shapes, sizes and
textures of the various utensils and how they are combined; the
appearance of the garden and the architecture of the tearoom; the
fragrance of incense; the tastes of various foods and sweets, and of the
tea itself. The discipline, for both host and guest, is as rigorous as any
martial art, perhaps even more so considering the extreme refinement of
details involved in the limited space of a few tatami mats. As for social
interaction, though it may be possible to sit alone in a cabin in the woods
and quietly enjoy a bowl of tea, it is the society of host and guest which
occasions the gathering and without which the aesthetic concerns and
the discipline lose all relevance.
There is an expression in Japanese whose origin lies in the Tea
experience of the early Tea masters. It is ichigo ichie: one time/one
meeting. If aesthetics, discipline and social interaction are the physical
aspects of chanoyu which can be readily perceived even by the casual
observer, one time/one meeting is the spiritual thread which runs
through the Art of Tea at every turn. For the practicer of chanoyu it is
the constant effort to hone aesthetic sense, to refine discipline and to
experience the encountering of host or guest that will eventually lead to
an understanding of one time/one meeting.
I would like to consider each of the three aspects of chanoyu in terms of
how it contributes to the realization of one time/one meeting.
I. The Aesthetics of Chanoyu
The practice of chanoyu as we know it today developed five centuries
ago in an atmosphere of extreme cultural refinement. Think of the court
of the Ashikaga shoguns with its love of the Noh theatre and its
appreciation of art works from the continent. In a way it can be said that
the love of the beautiful in chanoyu was born out of the sensibilities of
the ruling classes of fourteenth and fifteenth century Japan. However,
with the emergence of a few key figures such as Murata Shuko (1422-
1502) and Sen no Rikyu (1522-91), a new sense of beauty developed.
With emphasis on the beauty of the imperfect, and the appreciation of
wabi and sabi, a whole new visual and tactile culture of Tea evolved. This
is the "Tea world" which we inherit today when we take up the practice
of chanoyu, and the aesthetic which informs this world, from the
selection of utensils to the placement of flowers in the tokonoma, is
conveyed almost exclusively through silent example. However, what may
not be apparent from simply viewing the physical paraphernalia of Tea is
that along with the change in the types of utensils used, a fundamental
change in attitude toward the coming together of host and guest also
evolved. Whereas the lavish tea gathering of the Ashikagas took the
appreciation of rare and valuable pieces from China as an end in itself, the
new Tea of Shuko and Rikyu, the so-called "tea of the grass hut," took
the meeting of host and guests to be of equal, if not greater,
importance. In this way the feeling of one time/one meeting came to
the fore as the spiritual basis of the Tea Gathering. Every preparation
made by the host for a particular Tea Gathering would be made with the
understanding that such a gathering would never happen again. Even if
the host were to call the same guests to meet at the same time of year
and use the same arrangement of utensils, the gathering would be an
entirely other moment in the lives of all involved, not to mention in the
life of the tearoom and its own particular environment. One time/one
meeting then means that each moment is a unique set of variables that
come together for that time only and can never be repeated. In
selecting the utensils for a Tea gathering, therefore, the host must first
of all take into consideration the two critical questions: who are the
guests? and what is the occasion of their meeting? To disregard these
factors would be to reduce the entire event to nothing more than a
show.
Perhaps even more than in Rikyu's day this is the emphasis of today's Tea
gatherings. It is not simply to evoke pleasant images of flowers in spring
and coloured leaves in autumn that seasonal references are so valued in
the modern Tea gathering. These references serve as anchors which
keep us focused on the particular moment in time at which we are sitting
with a particular group of people, a moment which only comes once.
II. The Discipline of Chanoyu
The first thing one notices in learning the Way of Tea is that nothing is
done arbitrarily. There seems to be a rule for every movement of the
hand or foot, and a lesson, especially in the early stages, consists largely
of a series of cut-and-dry commands on the part of the teacher: "left
foot - right foot - place that three lines from the edge - elbows out -
fingers together...." The student is forced to become aware of every
move he makes and of each placement of a utensil. And awareness is the
aim here, the means and the end; for once awareness extends beyond
the utensil mat to the guests, and a reciprocal awareness is extended on
the part of the guest, the truly profound spirit of one time/one meeting
is realized.
There is a great beauty in concentrated effort. Who can fail to
appreciate the beauty of the intense drama which unfolds when the
pitcher in baseball stands ready to wind up? Pitcher, catcher and batter
have nothing in mind but the next pitch. This nothing in mind is called
mushin in Japanese, and it is the state of mind of the tea person who is
making tea with no other thought in mind than to carry on with the task
at hand. There is no thought, however, of making tea; there is only the
performing of what one has trained so hard to do. Needless to say, this is
not something which comes easily. It takes many years of practice to
assimilate the rules so that they operate naturally in one's tea making.
And yet, as wonderful as this state of naturalness may be, if it remains
contained within the practice of one individual, it is a very low form of tea
making compared to the true ideal of Tea based on one time/one
meeting.
The rules involved in making tea according to the procedures of chanoyu
always include host and guest. Even though concentration may bring the
individual to a state of heightened awareness and abandon to the
moment, the rules involved have as their fundamental purpose the union
of host and guest in the common experience of the Tea Gathering. It is
the same with any game involving several players. The game cannot exist
apart from the rules, for once the rules are removed you have neither
the game nor the common spirit generated by the playing of the game.
In the case of the Tea Gathering, the common spirit which ideally arises
out of the union of discipline and mutual consideration is the spirit of wa-
kei-sei-jaku (wa-harmony, kei-respect, sei-purity, jaku-tranquillity). It is
especially important for the guest, whose role is seemingly passive, to
approach the tea gathering in the spirit of one time/one meeting if the
framework of the gathering laid out by the rules is to achieve its purpose.
III. Social Interaction
As indicated in the discussion on aesthetics and discipline in Tea, the
meeting of host and guest is the event around which the practice of
chanoyu revolves. I have referred to this meeting as the Tea Gathering
(Jpn. chakai). In this context it should be pointed out that the idea of
the "encounter" has always played an important part in Japanese culture.
Even chance meetings are taken as having some kind of significance
which is not apparent to the eye, while in the heightened awareness
shared in the tearoom the mere fact that the host and the guests are
meeting takes on a quality of great wonderment. Because it is an extra-
ordinary event, because one is removed from the everyday world,
because one is following the etiquette peculiar to another world, the Tea
gathering assumes a special significance which contributes to the feeling
of one time/one meeting.
Each meeting is a unique meeting in that it never happened before and it
will never happen again, which is, of course, the nature of all things
which exist in time. The Japanese appreciation of impermanence (in the
Buddhist sense) and the physical manifestations of impermanence in the
form of the natural world's changes is well known. In the Way of Tea,
with its setting aside of a special time and a special place for which truly
special arrangements have been made, we see an art form which perhaps
more than any other has the potential of bringing its participants to a
realization of the uniqueness of the moment and a corresponding
appreciation of the succession of moments called life.
CHADO, the Way of Tea
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