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EN
The tea ceremony (chanoyu) is one of the representative Japanese traditional arts. It derives from tencha and tentō, meaning making tea as an offering. In the history of the tea ceremony, the efflorescence of the Way of Tea namely sadō, was led by Murata Jukō (1423–1502) who pursued the heart of tea. The Way of Tea he aimed at was nothing but the way that associates tea with the heart, in other words, shincha (tea of heart) and zencha (tea of Zen). Jukō preferred a calm and simple tea style rather than the showy tea-parties that were popular at the time, and carried out radical reforms. Later, Takeno Jōō (1502–1555) and Sen no Rikyū (1522–1591) inherited the way Jukō started. Jōō simplified the tea inherited from Jukō, and Rikyū furthered the change. Rikyū filtered out the space and preferred the smallest tearoom, a space that has only two tatami mats. Not only the tearoom but also the garden of a teahouse roji, utensils, manners and movements, especially the heart of tea were reconsidered and developed by Rikyū. He finally established the new style of tea called wabicha. More than 400 years after Rikyū’s death, tea people still believe that the aesthetics of yō no bi (the beauty of use), fukanzen no bi (the incomplete beauty) and kiyome (purification) are the immutable essences of the Way of Tea. Although we cannot describe everything about tea with only these three keywords, I shall focus on studying these three aesthetics in the four different fields given: the garden of a teahouse, the tearoom, the utensils, and making tea.
EN
Amongst the multiple treatises and documents that a chanoyu history researcher has at their disposal, the Yamanoue Sōji ki (Record of Yamanoue Sōji) holds a special place. First of all, written over the period from 1586 to 1590, it is a document written within the timeframe of the life of Sen no Rikyū (1522–1591) – the very person to whom the accomplished form of wabicha – tea in the style of the “beauty of noble poverty”, is attributed. It is the first tea document written with at least an attempt to record the history of chanoyu. Mostly focused on lists of noteworthy utensils, it is also a tea treatise that in a detailed manner describes the tearooms of Takeno Jōō (1502–1555) and Rikyū, including drawings to illustrate the descriptions. The Record relates the teachings of Murata Shukō (1423–1502), Takeno Jōō and Rikyū. Sōji became Rikyū’s disciple in 1565 and studied with Rikyū for over twenty years, therefore the Record is a source concerning the style and essence of Rikyū’s tea based on first-hand information. The article describes the contents of the Yamanoue Sōji ki and includes a closer analysis of two out of many aspects of the world of tea mentioned: the status of a tea jar among the widely described must-know tea utensils, and Sōji’s categories of tea men. It is the author’s belief, that study of the Record can provide a fresh insight into the nature of tea in Rikyū’s times, and can turn out to be of invaluable help for today’s tea practitioners in finding their approach to the essence of tea.
EN
The Way of Tea, called chadō or chanoyu in Japanese, is a comprehensive art and philosophy, uniting a rich material culture with a spiritual tradition. Some of the teachings of chadō masters can be found in treatises like Nampōroku, or The Southern Records (17th century, ascribed to Nambō Sōkei, supposedly – a disciple of Sen no Rikyū) or in anecdote collections, like Chawa shigetsushū, or The Collection of Tea Stories Pointing to the Moon (1683). Most of the chadō masters did not leave their respective collected writings or teachings put into treatises, but many of them made the effort to express the essence of the Way of Tea in the much shorter form of tanka poems. First of all, Rikyū hyakushu, or One hundred verses of Rikyū (called also Rikyū dōka – Rikyū’s poems of the way) must be mentioned. This is a collection of one hundred tanka poems, traditionally ascribed to Rikyū himself, although most of them were known since before Rikyū’s times and attributed to Takeno Jōō. The final collection of Rikyū hyakushu, as we know it now, was assembled probably by the eleventh head of the Urasenke school of tea, Gengensai (1810–1877). Among the poems we can find some very detailed instructions on how to use tea utensils or how to understand some parts of the tea making procedures, but there are also poems endeavouring to express the very essence of the Way of Tea philosphy. Apart from poems created especially to show the understanding of tea art, many tea masters used pre-existing poems, written originally without any connection to chanoyu. One of the most famous examples is a short exchange of poems recorded in Nampōroku: to illustrate the essence of the Way of Tea Takeno Jōō used a poem by famous poet, Fujiwara Teika (1162–1241), to which Rikyū answered with a poem by Fujiwara Ietaka (1158–1237). Later, the alleged author of Nampōroku, Nambō Sōkei, continued this poetic dialogue with a tanka of his own. The aim of this article is to introduce the poems used by the tea masters and to analyse the ways of expressing the essence of the way.
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