Cha-No-Yu: The Japanese Tea Ceremony

CHA-NO-YU

THE JAPANESE TEA CEREMONY

CHAPTER I

ORIGINS

Tea drinking began in China among the Zen monks, who used it as a method of preventing sleep, and from that progressed to the Cha King or Tea Gospel of Luh Wuh in the period of T'ang, but it was the Sung and Yuan ages with their devotion to philosophy on one hand and sentiment on the other that combined Tea and Zen to produce that characteristic culture that aimed at a life of calm and simplicity. This was brought to Japan and developed in the brilliant and luxurious days of Higashiyama and Momoyama and became the diversion of the military and wealthy classes, and passing through the eclectic hands of Shukō and Shō-ō it finally took shape under those of Sen Rikyu as that Way of Tea which is peculiar to Japan and which may be described as the mixture of Tea and Zen again blended and reinforced by the code of rigid self-control, Spartan simplicity and enthusiastic loyalty created by the military class and now known as Bushido. Later on the influence of Sen Sotan is especially noticeable in the development of the taste for neatness and detachment in all that pertains to the building of the Tea-room and the arrangement of its garden, while Kobori Enshu brought Teaism into harmony with the love of Waka, that Japanese verse that so entirely expresses the mind of the people, and which, like Tea, is the common possession of all classes of society. Among the three hundred aphorisms of Katagiri Sekishu we find it stated that Tea includes both Buddhist philosophy and poetry, and just as poetry makes new verses from old words so does Tea use old materials for new interests. And the reason that writing is preferred to painting in the Tokonoma of the Tea-room is that Ikkyu Osho observed to Shukō, when he presented him with a scroll by Engo Zenji, that the contemplation of the words of a profound thinker leads to enlightenment. And because Teika expressed the sentiment about using the old to create the new, his poems are appreciated by Tea Masters above all others. Thus Teaism may be called the religion of daily life in Japan since it combines in itself the essence of Zen, Poetry and Bushido.

As to etiquette, in early days Japan adopted the ceremony of the T'ang Court of China for her own state uses, but when the age of military rule followed there grew up a new code of behaviour that was a compromise between that of the Court Nobles and that of the Feudal Lords, and this is embodied in the two systems of deportment that go by the names of the Ise and Ogasawara Styles. But these were no more than rules for ceremony, and it is to Teaism that we must go for the rules for eating and drinking and entertaining guests. Eating and drinking are the fundamentals of life and if there is no proper etiquette in regard to them, people are no better than animals. There are, of course, rules of this sort in other countries too, but Japanese etiquette, embracing as it does not only the way of holding chop-sticks and ladles, the handling of the covers of vessels, taking up the cup and drinking, but also the correct things to say and the desirable thing to think, is far more elaborate and complete than any other, more advanced in complex simplicities. So it may not be far from the truth to describe Teaism as a religion, and one that is both spiritual and satisfying, for its chief aim is contentment with one's lot, and on its teaching of Urbanity, Respect, Cleanliness and Imperturbability the manners of the country are founded. In one sense Japanese civilisation is Tea civilisation, for the life of the people is coloured by Tea as it is permeated by Zen, and these two influences are likely to endure as long as the Empire they have so largely formed.

The origin of the ceremonial serving of Tea is described by the priests as being based on the Hyakujo Seiki of Toku-ki (Te-hui) of Sung. When the temple of Myoshinji at Shiojiri was rebuilt an inauguration festival was held and after it a meal was served. Then cakes were eaten and Koicha offered to the guests. There was a large number of priests present and they made the tea in one bowl and served it to five or six at a time, and these then went out and made room for others. The tradition is that Nambo Shomei, the founder of the Sufukuji temple in Chikuzen, went to Sung in the era Shogen (1259), studied Buddhism under Kyodo of the Keizanji, and came back in the 4th year of Bunei (1286) bringing with him a Daisu which he used at the Sufukuji. And this was the beginning of the Tea-ceremony in Japan. This Daisu was afterward taken to the Daitokuji at Murasakino, Kyoto, and given to Muso, the founder of Tenryuji. Muso began Cha-no-yu with this utensil and handed down rules for its use. (Ki-yu-sho-ran.) When Shuko was about thirty he became a Zen priest and went and lived at the Shinju-an Hall of the Daitokuji. Now they had a Daisu there, but no one knew what it was. It was, of course, the one brought from China by Shomei. When Shuko saw it he at once recognised what it was and proceeded to use it for serving Tea. With it were also the Furo and Water-jar and Slop-basin.

But the Teiyo-shu says that in the days of Ashikaga Takauji, Musō Kokushi made gardens and water-gardens, and also made Tea with the Daisu, that the military class imitated his taste and built Tea Arbours in their gardens, and that this use of the Daisu was handed down among them till the days of Yoshimasa, so that if this is correct there was nothing for Shuko to rediscover.

The Daisu called Kyudaisu was so called from its likeness to the tablet over the gate by which the scholars who had graduated (Kyudai) entered the T'ang Court. It was copied by Oribe. It was like a book stand and was lacquered.

The Daisu was modified by various Tea Masters, and a board also was used instead, the utensils being then arranged in a different manner. Yoshimasa used this board with Furo and Slop-bowl and Ladle-stand and Lid-rest. Both this and the Daisu can be used in an ordinary room or out of doors, and the Daisu ceremony still remains the most formal style. It is also handed down that in the time of Ashikaga Takauji, Zekkai Osho, pupil of Muso Kokushi, went to China about 1340, and when he came back Musō began to perform Cha-no-yu with the Daisu that had been long disused, and the custom spread, but not to the ordinary people. Ashikaga Yoshimitsu and Yoshimasa were both addicted to it. When the latter Shogun appointed Shuko as Tea Master (Cha-no-yu-shi), No-ami used to sit in the chief place, but afterwards Shuko took it.

Cha-no-yu was originally called Cha-e, as for instance in the Taiheiki, but Shō-ō and Rikyu began to use the expression Cha-no-yu. This they took from the Buddhist phrase Ten-cha-ten-tō shortened to Cha-tō or Sa-tō, and meaning the Tea-offering made before Buddha, ancestral spirits, or the dead. This was altered to Cha-no-yu to avoid confusion of the two institutions by the simple expedient of using the Japanese reading Yu for the Sinico-Japanese Tō. But in the Ryuteiki it is said that the expression Tea Hot-water means just what it says, the hot water in which Tea is boiled, and quotes the Kissa Yoseiki of Eisai Zenji, where the phrase is paralleled by that of Kuwa-yu or Mulberry Hot-water, which Eisai thought also very salubrious. The expression Cha-no-yu was probably transferred to the ceremonial making of Tea as being longer and therefore more dignified than the simple Cha. The ceremony from which much of the detail of Cha-no-yu was taken was that of Incense Comparing (Ko-awase), which had grown up at Court from the use of incense at the Buddhist temples in the same way as had the various other comparing pastimes (Mono-awase) such as Cock-comparing or Cock-fighting, Flower, Plant, Fan, Shell, Armour Comparing, accompanied usually by the making of suitable verses. This Incense Ceremony was very fashionable in the Ashikaga period, and Yoshimitsu and Yoshimasa were both addicted to it, the latter especially being credited with finalising its form. It is noticeable that most of the early Tea-masters are also quoted as teachers of Incense, for as the ceremony became more elaborate schools and teachers had also appeared. So in the wake of Sanjo Sanetaka, the founder of the main school, are found Shino Sōshin, Botankwa Shōhaku, Sōgō, Sōgi, Shukō, Shō-ō, Oda Yuraku, Rikyu, Oribe and Honami Kōetsu.

Evidently taken from the Incense Ceremony is the number of guests, which is just half the ten of Ko-awase, the style of the programme, the use of the terms Jo-kyaku, Chief Guest, Tsume and Batsu, Last Guest, Ko-no-mono or Incense things, for pickles, since nothing stronger than these was allowed before incense sniffing for fear of blunting the power of smell. There are descriptions of this Incense ceremony in Brinkley's Japan and China and also in Lafcadio Hearn's In Ghostly Japan.

The original Tea Ceremony was a competition for Tea Comparing of the same kind as the Incense Ceremony, to distinguish between Hon-cha or Real Tea, i.e. that of Toga-no-o, and Hi-cha or Non-Tea, i.e. that of other places. On this the Daimyos and great merchants would stake fine incense, gold dust, valuable silks and brocades, and armour and swords, though when they won these things they thought it beneath them to keep them, but gave them as presents to the Dengaku players and dancing girls.

EARLY USE OF TEA

It is recorded that in the era of the Three Kingdoms in China (221-265 A.D.) Wei Yao* of Wu used Tea instead of liquor at entertainments, and that Wang Mêng† of Tsin also offered it to his guests. In the days of Hsuan Tsung of T'ang (713) lived Luh Wuh who wrote the Cha King, which contains all the lore of Tea vessels, Tea making, quality of water, and methods of infusing in vogue in his day, for which he himself was perhaps largely responsible. Evidently Tea was a fashionable amusement of the T'angs as well as liquor, for this was the great era of the tipsy poets. It became more so still under the Sungs when the custom of drinking Powder Tea came in.

In Japan Shomu Tenno (724-749) was the first to offer Tea ceremonially, for it is written that he entertained a hundred priests with it after they had chanted the Sutras for him in the palace. Hiki-cha is the expression used here, and it is uncertain whether it was imported or not.

From the era Enryaku (782) to that of Konin (810) Tea is mentioned in the Anthologies of Chinese poems called Shin-shu and Ryoun-shu, and again in those of the period Ninna (885) to Engi (901). Sugawara Michizane also refers to it in one of his poems. In the second year of Engi (903) when the Emperor Uda retired the Emperor Daigo visited him at Ninnaji and was offered Tea. In the Manyoshu appears the expression Usucha-no-setchie.* It seems evident that from these days right through the Kamakura period Tea was a luxury for the Court and Nobility and was not in use among the ordinary people. And it was not made in the way afterwards practised. There is mention of Japanese tea of Ureshino, a special kind called Kanime-gata or Crab's eye shape evidently of the brick tea variety used by the Sungs, which seems to have been the sort made by Eisai Zenji from the shrubs that he planted at Seburiyama.

Eisai also sent some seeds to Myoei Shonin, Abbot of Toga-no-ō in Yamashiro in a jar called Kogaki or Little Persimmon, and this jar is now one of the great treasures of that temple. The seeds he planted at Fukase at Toga-no-Ō and afterwards some of the plants that came up were transferred to Uji, where the soil was found to be extremely suitable. So more and more tea came to be planted there and the methods of treating the leaves by steaming and roasting were studied and improved, with the result that the Tea of Uji is the finest in the country.

Tradition has it that the seed was first sown in the footprints of a horse that was ridden between the old plants in the garden, and that it is for this reason that one of the oldest gardens of Uji, that belonging to Matsui of Kobata, is called Koma-no-Ashikage or Colt's Hoofprint.

After this, tea was planted at Ninnaji and Daigo, at Takarao in Yamato, at Tanabe in Kii, at Hattori in Iga, at Kawai in Ise, at Hongo in Totomi, at Kiyomi in Suruga, and at Kawagoe in Musashi.

Uji also received attention from the Shogun Ashikaga Yoshimitsu, who ordered his minister Ouchi Yoshihiro to have plantations of tea made there, and the five gardens of Asahi, Kambayashi, Kyogoku, Yamana and Umoji, which were then established, are still in existence. Then the Governors and Jito of all provinces were ordered to plant tea in their domains, and it was probably at this time that they discovered the existence of the Japanese wild tea.

Tea is plucked about the fifth month, and as some is early and some later it is distinguished as First, Second and Third crop. The early plucked leaf is called Cha and the later Bei . It is prepared in various ways, but in all it is first steamed and then cooled and roasted. When the leaves are infused with water it is called Ha-cha , Dashi-cha or Sen-cha When however it is powdered and mixed with water it is known as Mat-cha or Tencha , Ground or Grated Tea. There is another kind called Kawara-cha or Tile Tea, made of leaves pressed into a hard flat mass some seven or eight sun long by seven bu thick. The kind exported is put into a damp place before roasting and the leaves allowed to ferment. This is known as Ko-cha or Red Tea.

When the leaf germinates it is covered up with straw to remove the astringency if the tree is intended for powder tea, but if it is for Sen-cha this is not done. The leaf is then plucked and dried and winnowed with a fan, and the lightest that flies off first from the tops of the leaves is classified as Superior, Medium and Inferior Thin Tea Usu-cha . What remains after this process is called Koi-cha or Thick Tea. The stems and stalks that remain at the last are used for Sen-cha. Sen-cha is classed as Orimono Broken, Taka-no-Tsume Hawk's Talons and Kashira-ha or Top Leaves. Koicha is classed as Hatsu Mukashi, Ato Mukashi etc.

KAKOI AND SUKIYA

The Tea-room is called sometimes Kakoi and sometimes Sukiya. Of these words the former has the meaning of Enclosure, and signifies a portion of a larger room enclosed by a screen in a square form of four and a half mats or more in which Cha-no-yu was given according to the original manner. This is still done in a house where there is no regular Tea-room. Sukiya, on the other hand, denotes a special room separated from the main house, or sometimes attached to it as a lean-to, and its meaning is more complicated.* Taking it in the plain sense of the characters used to write it namely, Kazu wo yosuru (to bring together a number of objects), it may be explained as referring to the acquisitive collector spirit of the early Tea Masters. lkkyu, however, takes the second character Ki in the sense of Kimyo (wondrous), when it would mean Many wondrous things, according to an observation that he made to Shukō that Cha-no-yu is in harmony with the Wondrous Way of Buddha, for it utilises the marvellous workings of the Universal Mind. By others this syllable Ki is taken to mean Odd, in the sense that Teaism is associated with what is odd and not even, since it dislikes the complete and prefers the imperfect. Again the word Suki may be regarded as the equivalent of Tashinami, Taste, thus signifying those who have a tasteful feeling generally, then applied in a particular manner to those who liked Tea. This is the view of an older work on the subject, the Roji Chōsho, but a more modern writer thinks the sense of Oddness is best, and certainly Suki is explained as meaning Uneven in passages where it occurs in the Chinese classics. So the Tea devotee is one who finds his interest in spheres that are apart from the ordinary spheres of life and remote from the dust of this world. There is a certain oddness about him as well as his Tea-room. Its situation should not be specially chosen, neither should any roughness in its eaves or windows, or lack of symmetry in its posts cause the owner any uneasiness. All he should think about is the equilibrium of his mind, and however great or distinguished his visitor may be, he must forget all his magnificence and put off for the time the fetters of the world to which it belongs and become a guest above the clouds. Rikyu would not permit those in a humble position to show any deference in the Tea-room for he said, "In the Sukiya and its garden (Roji) there are but Host, Guest and