The first evidence of tea in Japan dates back to the ninth century. After its introduction, the drink grew in popularity, becoming more widespread and commonplace, with the Japanese tea ceremony as we know it today becoming widely practiced and well-known by the beginning of the sixteenth century. The Japanese tea ceremony, or Cha Dao, follows general guidelines with some variation to provide each guest with a unique experience. Raku ware is traditionally used to enhance the experience and helps to reveal the priorities of Japanese culture. These components all work together to create the Japanese tea ceremony.
The Chado ceremony generally operates along a rough outline of procedures for the host and guests. According to Paul Varley's " The Evolution of the Tea Ceremony," a very basic outline of the operation of a ceremony would be: first, the host prepares for the ceremony, the guest prepare for the ceremony, and the host cleans their tools. Then, the host prepares and serves Matcha and the host and guests complete the ceremony. Within these steps there are a variety of different detailed steps, procedures, and variations that can be altered for each ceremony, but most all ceremonies follow this general outline. Procedures vary based on the tea school, time of year, time of day, venue, and other considerations.
For each season, there are variations in the temae (the ritual preparation of the tea) performed, the utensils and other equipment used. Ideally, the configuration of the tatami in a mat room changes with the season as well. The tea can also be prepared thick or thin. No matter the ceremony’s variation, “The guests are expected to abide by tea room etiquette with regard to the gestures used to drink the tea and the appreciation of the utensils. When presented with a bowl of tea, a guest will notice and reflect upon the warmth of the bowl and the color of the bright green Matcha against the clay before he begins to drink” (Anna Willman, "The Japanese Tea Ceremony").
The ceremony really emphasizes the interaction between the host, guests, and tea utensils. It represents a traditional Japanese ritual that focuses on aesthetic value and tranquility. A unique experience is intended for each participant; since each tea gathering is unique based upon season, guests, decorum, and other factors, each tea experience is a once-in-a-lifetime event and can never be duplicated. The Japanese tea ceremony operate off of a rough guideline of procedures and offers a unique experience to each guest.
Raku ware is a very important to the Japanese tea ceremony. It is necessary for one of the main functions of the ceremony: serving and drinking tea. Raku usually appears in the ceremony in the form of the small, handmade tea bowls used to drink with. This form of ceramics is most closely associated with the tea ceremony because it was one of the most popular “new” types of tea-ware ceramics created and popularized in the early seventeenth century.
These new Raku bowls were molded by hand, rather than thrown using a potter’s wheel. The people said that the handmade bowls better reflected the maker and emphasized the creation process. Two concepts called “wabi” and “sabi” even became popularized. These concepts embraced and popularized the uneven, or flawed aspects of handmade pottery and celebrated their uniqueness. Willmann even relates Raku wares all the way back to the Raku family of potters in “The Japanese Tea Ceremony” article, saying, “Although many tea practitioners made their own Raku ware, the style has come to be most closely linked with the Raku family of potters, which traces its lineage to the time of the early tea master Sen no Rikyū, and still produces tea bowls today" (Willmann). Raku shows how the Japanese culture prioritizes aesthetic value and originality. They also concentrate on the mind and creativity.
A quote from Enshu in Christian Tschumi’s book, "Rebel in the Garden" reveals this culture. It says, “Tea is the best way to cultivate one’s mind.” It really brings into perspective all of the thought, organization, and planning that goes into tea-making and a tea ceremony. It must be extremely difficult to choose plants and decorations for a tea garden that looked festive, decorative, and all flow well together, and this quote makes evident the difficulty of that. The philosophy that, “. . . a person well-versed in the art of tea would also have the potential to make a good garden” also seems to represent the Japanese’s value of creativity and uniqueness (Tschumi). It is very interesting that the Japanese relate these two seemingly dissimilar things: tea and a garden. Still, it makes sense that the two would be connected since they both involve some of the values of Japanese society: creativity and sensitivity: for tea, sensitivity to the amount of desired flavor, and for the garden, sensitivity to the perfect amount of decoration. These two philosophies really help to connect tea, tea ceremonies, and Japanese gardens, and show how they can all be related.
Cha Dao, or the Japanese tea ceremony, gives each guest a unique experience by following the ceremony’s general guidelines with some occasional variations. The ceremony generally uses Raku ware, which reflects the historical (and some current) priorities of Japanese culture. The tea ceremony is a very important part of Japanese culture and history. There are still many tea schools in Japan that have evolved throughout history, but still remain true to the original teachings of Cha Dao.
