The Spirit and History of Chado
Origin
During the reign of Prince Shotoku Taishi, missionaries were sent to China to gather information on their society. These missionaries included Japanese priests. While they were learning about Buddhism, they adopted the Chinese way of drinking powdered green tea (Sen 5) One Japanese priest, Myoan Eisai, traveled to China to study philosophy and religion. Once he returned to Japan, he founded Zen Buddhism. He began to use tea for religious purposes, despite the fact that before then it had been used for medical purposes. His method of grinding tea leaves before adding hot water became formed the basis for the modern tea ceremony (TJTC).
The Spirit of Tea is Lost
A Buddhist prince by the name of Yenisei brought the first tea seeds to Japan from China. Yenisei was known as the "father of tea" because he valued tea greatly and believed that it was a way into a world of tranquility. Due to Yenisei's influence on the Japanese tea, Zen Buddism was often associated with tea. When tea was introduced in Japan, it spread rapidly from the royal courts to monasteries and especially to samurai. As more people got involved with the Japanese tea, the concept of Zen Buddhism was lost. Three great Zen priests restored tea to its original religious and spiritual value. First was Ikkyu, who achieved great success in guiding the nobles out of a period of corruption, in which the nobles no longer did not admire the tea and its meaning. Second was Murata Shuko, a student of Ikkyu. He influenced the re-introduction of the tea ceremony into the Japanese society after a time of chaos. Lastly was Sen Rikyu, who set the original standards and rules of the ceremony. He integrated tea ceremonies into the daily lives of the Japanese and brought back the importance of the tea. Sen Rikyu also influenced Toyotomi Hideyoshi about the importance of tea and eventually Hideyoshi became Japan's greatest patron for the "art of tea". If it wasn't for these three great Japanese tea influences, the tea ceremonies would not have the same religious and sacred meaning to the Japanese society today (China and Japan).
A Buddhist prince by the name of Yenisei brought the first tea seeds to Japan from China. Yenisei was known as the "father of tea" because he valued tea greatly and believed that it was a way into a world of tranquility. Due to Yenisei's influence on the Japanese tea, Zen Buddism was often associated with tea. When tea was introduced in Japan, it spread rapidly from the royal courts to monasteries and especially to samurai. As more people got involved with the Japanese tea, the concept of Zen Buddhism was lost. Three great Zen priests restored tea to its original religious and spiritual value. First was Ikkyu, who achieved great success in guiding the nobles out of a period of corruption, in which the nobles no longer did not admire the tea and its meaning. Second was Murata Shuko, a student of Ikkyu. He influenced the re-introduction of the tea ceremony into the Japanese society after a time of chaos. Lastly was Sen Rikyu, who set the original standards and rules of the ceremony. He integrated tea ceremonies into the daily lives of the Japanese and brought back the importance of the tea. Sen Rikyu also influenced Toyotomi Hideyoshi about the importance of tea and eventually Hideyoshi became Japan's greatest patron for the "art of tea". If it wasn't for these three great Japanese tea influences, the tea ceremonies would not have the same religious and sacred meaning to the Japanese society today (China and Japan).
Ikkyu Murata Shuko Sen Rikyu
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/4/40/Portrait_of_Ikky%C5%AB_by_Bokusai.jpg
http://teeweg.de/graphik/lit/juko/shuko.gif
http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_ckY4lZ1Awo4/S7-Zi7RtrbI/AAAAAAAAAXE/9fIbu1Cu08U/s1600/Sen+Rikyu+Portrait.jpg
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/4/40/Portrait_of_Ikky%C5%AB_by_Bokusai.jpg
http://teeweg.de/graphik/lit/juko/shuko.gif
http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_ckY4lZ1Awo4/S7-Zi7RtrbI/AAAAAAAAAXE/9fIbu1Cu08U/s1600/Sen+Rikyu+Portrait.jpg
Uses of the Tea
- enjoyment
- medical purposes
- relief from hangovers
- relaxation and withdrawal
- showed the status of samurai
- many would make a competitive game about who could guess the kind of tea based on the taste
- the ritual of the ceremony that could bring enlightenment
- relieve fatigue
- refreshing
Spread of the Tradition
As the benefits to drinking tea became more apparent throughout Japanese society, more and more people caught on the fad. While this fad grew, more and more tea became available to all classes. In the beginning, the Samurai class began to embrace this ceremony, for they admired the Song dynasty. Later on, the Noble families began holding tea ceremonies which attracted the attention of the public, as these families were well known. At the ceremonies held the by the noble families, they would hold the competitions about who could distinguish the tea based on the taste. This game become so popular that many began betting on the game and the winner would receive a large sum of money, which attracted even more interest. As commoners saw these lavish ceremonies held by samurai and nobles, they began to hold their own, less extravagant ones, according to their status (TJTC).
Toyotomi Hideyoshi's Influence
One shogun, Toyotomi Hideyoshi, greatly valued the tea ceremonies. In 1587, he invited anyone who was an "an earnest practitioner of cha no yu" (Statler 96) to attend a ten day ceremony in Kyoto. He invited all kinds of people, from farmers to samurai to anyone who appreciated the art of the tea ceremony. Not only were the guests honored to be in the presence of Hideyoshi, but they were also able to see his famous set of miebutsu, or utensils for the tea ceremony. His guests were also able to see his portable tea hut, equipped with three mats covered in a red and gold brocade and windows covered in a golden leaf material (Statler 96).