| .ll |
the way of tea |
| U R A S E N K E FOUNDATION OF SEATTLE Transmitting the living art of Chado, the Way of Tea, through harmony, respect, purity and tranquility |
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 of Seattle 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.
____________________________________________________
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 of Seattle 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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