Japanese

A Day in the Life

The Art of Making Tea

This dish was made specifically to be used in chanoyu (the way of tea), often referred to as the tea ceremony. In the 16th century in Japan, chanoyu grew in popularity and sophistication, and is still practiced today. On the one hand, it is simply making a cup of green tea for guests; on the other, it is a profound exercise of aesthetic, moral, and even spiritual sensitivity. What exactly is the tea ceremony and how did it develop? Find out in the following video from the Asian Art Museum.

© 2014 Asian Art Museum Chong-Moon Lee Center for Asian Art and Culture

Transcript Summary:

The way of tea goes back at least 800 years. Tea was first imported from China and Korea. At first, it was valued for its health benefits. In the 13th and 14th centuries, the political and military elite drank tea in elaborate settings with luxury Chinese goods. During the 1500s, a series of tea masters developed a different approach that came to be known as chanoyu, the way of tea (literally “hot water for tea”). They used simple dishes and utensils in unpretentious settings. Small groups gathered for a single meal, tea, and a time for appreciating calligraphy, poetry, and other decorative arts. The host would plan an event long in advance, choosing the appropriate utensils and decoration for the season and theme, creating a singular experience. Chanoyu supported the development of other arts, including calligraphy, basketry, and pottery. Some samurai warriors were practitioners of the way of tea, including the famous military leader Hideyoshi.

The way of tea is still practiced today by different schools, but they share the similar values of harmony, respect, purity, and tranquility. Also, artisans continue to make refined products for use today. Chanoyu is an art that engages all the senses and is a window onto traditional Japanese culture.

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Perfect Imperfection

This dish is an example of Mino ceramics, which come from the area of Mino near present-day Nagoya in central Japan. It is a particular type called Shino, which uses a unique feldspathic glaze. In the case of this dish, the design was painted onto the clay with an iron slip and then it was glazed and fired. Look closer at this dish, including from the side, and notice the uneven shape and glaze—there are even areas that are unglazed, such as the orange spots along the edges.

These are not flaws or mistakes; rather, certain tea masters worked with Mino potters to create objects with these features. As the tea ceremony developed in the 16th century, a specific style emerged that contrasted with the typical use of luxury Chinese objects. This was the wabi tea ceremony, particularly associated with the greatest tea master, Sen no Rikyū (1522–1591). This form of tea ceremony placed a high value on mundane, misshapen, or even broken implements for expressing wabi, a form of beauty marked by simplicity, imperfection, and austerity. By contemplating such beauty one could attain a sense of peace and equanimity in a constantly changing world.

Just for Kids

Create!

When you drink tea what kind of dishes do you use? Do you use a big mug or small tea cup? In 16th-century Japan, this dish was used for tea ceremonies. During this ceremony people met, drank tea, and talked about art and poetry.

Sculpt your own dish using clay like Crayola Model Magic. Knead the clay and press a layer of clay until it is half an inch thick. Form the clay to the shape you want. After you have finished sculpting, decorate your dish by adding extra clay, carving a design, or adding color with paint or markers.

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A Peachy Time

This dish was made during the Momoyama period (1573-1615). It was a brief time of intense political change. The Ashikaga shogunate that had been in power for over 150 years was ousted, attempts were made to unify the country, and there was increased contact with European traders and missionaries. At the center of this was the brilliant military leader Toyotomi Hideyoshi (1537-1598), a pivotal figure in Japanese history. The name of the period—Momoyama—means “peach blossom hill” and comes from the many peach trees that were planted on the site of Hideyoshi’s castle after it was torn down. The following questions contain true facts about Hideyoshi's life, but also some false ones. Try to find the correct ones!

Arts Intersected

Read a poem, write a poem!

When trying to express the essence of the tea ceremony, tea masters would often quote famous poems from hundreds of years earlier. For example, the following two poems were favorites of the tea masters Sen no Rikyū and Takeno Jōō.

To those who wait
Only for flowers,
Show them a sprig
Of grass amid the snow
In a mountain village.

Fujiwara no Ietaka

Translation in Haga Koshiro, “The Wabi Aesthetic through the Ages,” trans. Martin Collcutt, in Japanese Aesthetics and Culture: A Reader, ed. Nancy G. Hume (Albany: State University of New York Press, 1995), 245–278.

Gaze out far enough
Beyond all cherry blossoms
And scarlet maples,
To those huts by the harbor
Fading in the autumn dusk.

Fujiwara no Teika

Translation in William F. LaFleur, The Karma of Words: Buddhism and the Literary Arts in Medieval Japan (Berkeley: University of California Press, 1983)./p>

Both of these poems express the aesthetic of wabi, an appreciation for the simple, unpretentious, and even imperfect. The DAI’s dish captures this both in its shape, color, and finish, and also in the clump of plain autumn grass painted on the surface.

These poems are examples of waka. You may be familiar with haiku, a 17-syllable poem of 5, 7, and 5 syllables per line. Haiku developed out of waka, a much older poetic form. There are 5 lines, with lines of 5, 7, 5, 7, and 7 syllables. Like haiku, waka creates a kind of rich emotion through an impersonal description of nature. Try to create your own waka in the box below!

Total Syllables:

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