Tea ceremony and Zen: The Wabicha mind

Following the introduction of Buddhism, a lot of Chinese culture was brought to Japan. In the middle Muromachi period, the pursuit of Japan’s unique philosophical and aesthetic cultural practices led to the “Cha no Yu” (tea ceremony), born from the simple Chinese custom of drinking tea called “Yum Cha” and while adopting Zen ideology. By greatly changing the status quo, the tea ceremony was sublimated as Japan’s own culture. From this starting point, the founder of the tea ceremony, and the *Dobosyuu of the Ashikaga Shogunate, Juko Murata said, “By drinking tea, one can rule their spirit.” This allusion came from the “Zen” of Daitoku-ji Temple monk Sojun Ikkyu.

　　 村田珠光 Jyukou MURATA (1423-1502)

Through Nohami, who was of the same *Dobosyuu and who learned the Chinese-style tea ceremony “Syoincha”, Juko at that time adopted the plain and simple tea ceremony “Chikachanoyu” in practice among common people. By adding the Zen spirituality he had learned from Ikkyu, he created “Sado” (the tea ceremony/the way of tea) with its spiritual and artistic character. Gambling, drinking liquor, and other such pleasurable aspects that had dominated tea parties up until then, were reformed. Tea parties then emphasized a spiritual exchange between the host and guest, completely changing the status quo. This became the source of “Wabicha.” Juko’s tea ceremony gained its identity of spirituality in the absence of things, compensated for with the richness of the mind.

Juko and other *Dobosyuu in Buddhism, became close to the Shogun and Daimyo and were in charge of various arts. Masters in the arts also came to give the same spirituality to No theater, Renka poetry, calligraphy, and other arts. After Juko, Joo Takeno developed the tea ceremony, and through Sen no Rikyu, the form of the tea ceremony as it has continued up to the present day was largely completed. The tea ceremony then went from being deeply spiritual to becoming a cultural norm in Samurai society. Throughout traditional Japanese culture as a whole, this influence has remained strong.

*Dobosyuu: groups of monks who became advisors to the Shogun and the Daimyo, and who were in charge of miscellaneous affairs and various arts.

“Shi cyu san kyo” Finding mountains within the city

(The tea ceremony Soan and Niwa)

The place where the tea ceremony is held and where guests are entertained started from a traditional architectural space that had a rather solemn impression. It is called the Muromachi period Shoinzukuri. Afterwards, in order to realize “Wabicha,” the ceremony was moved to a small, simple space, created by Sen no Rikyu, called a “Soan.” This has become the base form of many tea houses up to the present. Rikyu’s design did not stop with the interior of the Soan. There are also large traces of his design in the production of the natural garden that encircles the outside surroundings.

A Soan may be in a city but the path that continues up to the tea house breaks off into a small path known as a Roji. Greenery grows in the surrounding area, which may seize a person with the illusion of being lost in the mountains. Positioned at the far end of the garden where silence seems to float, is a small room or Soan, which is where guests are entertained. Only during this time do the host and the guest become residents in an extraordinary world and through the medium of a cup of tea, quietly open their minds and pass the time. The tea ceremony of the Soan was a realization of the Zen-like “Wabicha,” which is what tea ceremony master Sen no Rikyu had been aiming for.

“Ukiyo no soto no michi” (The road outside the floating world) Sen no Rikyu

In the still world of the Zen garden, designed to lead to meditation, the Roji of the teahouse garden was built with the idea of trying to take people to a state in which they step from the everyday into the extraordinary. The path to the Zen utopia of deep mountains and dark valleys was condensed on the tens of steps of the Roji. When people stepped into the space that fulfilled the ingenuity needed for the diversion, there would be a different world which could be compared to the deep mountains of the Senkyo (Enchanted Land). Rikyu called the path leading up to this mountain utopia the “Ukiyo no soto no michi” (The road outside the floating world). When one of his disciples asked him how to build a Roji, Rikyu answered with a poem by Saigyo.

“kashi no ha no momiji nukari ni chiritsumoru okuyamadera no sabishisa” Saigyo

“ Leaves of oak trees fallen without turning red and gold. The loneliness of a temple at the ends of the mountains ” Saigyo

He made the state of mind of tracing a path to a mountain temple the “Wabi” (beauty in simplicity) state of mind. This observation is a basic ethos of the tea ceremony. It expresses that even as a person is in a city, the mind is in a world of deep mountains and dark valleys.