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| Tea ceremony: Part of Japanese culture |
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Tea drinking is the most formal, relaxing, rule-bound, and innovative culture in Japan. It took many years to learn the right procedures and tiny gestures, and it is a highly prized art form. The drinking of the tea together signifies intimacy and equality and tranquility. The Japanese tea ceremony (cha-no-yu, chadō, or sadō) is a traditional ritual influenced by Zen Buddhism in which powdered green tea, or matcha, is ceremonially prepared by a skilled practitioner and served to a small group of guests in a tranquil setting. Cha-no-yu ("hot water for tea"), usually refers to a single ceremony or ritual, while sadō or chadō ("the way of tea") refers to the study or doctrine of tea ceremony. More particularly, cha-ji refers to a full tea ceremony with kaiseki (a light meal), usucha (thin tea) and koicha (thick tea), lasting approximately for four hours. A chakai (literally "tea meeting") does not include a kaiseki meal. Since a tea practitioner must be familiar with the production and types of tea, with kimono, calligraphy, flower arranging, ceramics, incense and a wide range of other disciplines and traditional arts in addition to his or her school's tea practices, the study of tea ceremony takes many years and often lasts a lifetime. Even to participate as a guest in a formal tea ceremony requires knowledge of sadō, including the prescribed gestures and phrases expected of guests, and the proper way to take tea and sweets, and general deportment in the tea room. The custom of drinking tea, first for medicinal, and then for purely pleasurable reasons, was already widespread throughout China. In the early 9th century, Chinese author Lu Yu wrote the Ch'a Ching, a treatise on tea focusing on its cultivation and preparation. Buddhism, particularly the school that would become known in Japan as Zen, had heavily influenced Lu Yu’s life and his ideas would have a strong influence in the development of the Japanese tea ceremony. In the 12th century, a new form of tea, matcha, was introduced. This powdered green tea, which derives from the same plant as black tea but is unfermented, was first used in religious rituals in Buddhist monasteries. By the 13th century, samurai warriors had begun preparing and drinking matcha, and the foundations of the tea ceremony were laid. The Art of Tea became of great importance to Zen Buddhist meditation. Zen essentially means "meditation" or "conception." Zen had been introduced to Japan several times, but had not lasted; however, the pioneers of this style of teachings were Eisai (1141-1215) and Dogen (1200-1253). Thus, the tea ceremony came to be not only a social attraction but a ritual as well. The tea ceremony involves preparing powdered tea for guests according to custom and enjoying its austere taste quietly and serenely. The tea ceremony seeks to purify the mind and attain oneness with nature. The ceremonial serving of tea used to be exclusively practiced by nobles and priests who gave it its original form around the middle of the fourteenth century. Its popularity gradually spread to wealthy merchants, warlords during the era of civil warfare (1467-1568), and their retainers. The tea ceremony has been modified in many ways over the years. Until the end of the Edo period (1603-1868) it was practiced almost entirely by men; women joined in only after the beginning of the Meiji period (1868-1912). There are many schools of tea ceremony, including the three Senke schools of Ura, Omote, and Mushanokoji. They all uphold the spirit of the ceremony while observing their own distinctive styles of preparing and serving tea, Nowadays, the tea ceremony is a relatively popular kind of hobby. Many Japanese who are interested in their own culture, take tea ceremony lessons with a teacher. Tea ceremonies are held in traditional Japanese rooms in cultural community centres or private houses. The ceremony itself consists of many rituals that have to be learned by heart. Almost each hand movement is prescribed. Basically, the tea is first prepared by the host, and then drunken by the guests. The tea is bitter matcha green tea made of powdered tealeaves. The ceremony is equally designed to humble participants by focusing attention on the profound beauty of the simplest manifestations of nature, such as light, the sound of water, the glow of a charcoal fire, which are emphasized in the setting of a rustic tea hut and also manifestations of the creative force of the universe through human endeavor, for example in the crafting of beautiful objects. Conversation in the tearoom is focused on these subjects. The guests will not engage in small talk or gossip, but limit their conversation to a discussion of the origin of utensils and praise for the beauty of natural manifestations. The objective of a tea gathering is that to live in this moment and the entire ritual is designed to focus the senses so that one is totally involved in the occasion and not distracted by mundane thoughts. People may wonder if a full-length formal tea ceremony is something that Japanese do at home regularly for relaxation. This is not the case. It is rare in Japan now that a person has the luxury of owning a teahouse or the motivation to entertain in one. Entertaining with the tea ritual has always been, with the exception of the Buddhist priesthood, the privilege of the elite. The tea ceremony is now being taught around the world, while in Japan both men and women are reappraising the value of the tea ceremony as a valuable system for attaining mastery of life. Women became the main practitioners of tea, the ceremony is something that every young woman is required to study to cultivate fine manners and aesthetic appreciation. At the time, political and business leaders and art collectors used tea as a vehicle for collecting and enjoying fine art and crafts. Source: www.nation.ittefaq.com Aug 23, 05 |
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