Tea ceremony - Chado (English spelling)

Japanese: 茶道 - ちゃどう（英語表記）tea ceremony

"Sado" is also called chanoyu. It is a custom of drinking tea that was introduced from China and has developed uniquely in Japan. It is a comprehensive culture that includes the etiquette of host-guest interaction, tea utensils, gardens, architecture, paintings, calligraphy, and even spiritual training.
The custom of drinking tea was brought to Japan by Japanese envoys from the Nara period to the early Heian period, and was practiced among some intellectuals. At that time, tea was a solid form of tea called "dancha." However, with the flow of national culture, the custom of drinking tea was eventually lost.
Drinking matcha tea began in the Song Dynasty in China. It was Eisai, a Zen monk of the Kamakura period, who brought this Song-style tea drinking to Japan. Eisai extolled the health benefits of tea in his book "Kissa Yojoki." The custom of drinking tea gradually spread to Zen temples, where tea was offered to the Buddha, and to samurai society, and by the late Kamakura period, common people also began to enjoy tea ceremonies as a hobby. Eventually, tea expanded in scope to include tea ceremonies as a pastime, such as "tocha" (a game in which one guesses the name of the tea by tasting it), and tea ceremonies as an art form that involved collecting luxurious Chinese tea utensils (tang dynasty tea utensils). During the Muromachi period, Ashikaga Yoshimasa and others collected a large number of Chinese tea utensils, and the practice of drinking tea, mainly with tang dynasty tea utensils, in shoin-style buildings became established in samurai culture.
From the mid-Muromachi period onwards, the etiquette for preparing tea and serving it to guests was established, and simple tea ceremonies were started by Murata Juko, Takeno Joo and others in small rooms of thatched huts. Murata Juko, in opposition to the luxurious tea ceremony that mainly used Chinese goods, used simple utensils and pursued beauty in imperfection. Takeno Joo was the first to use the word "wabi". Joo sympathized with Juko and in the 16th century was a central figure among the tea lovers of Sakai, the largest commercial city at the time. During the Azuchi-Momoyama period, Joo's disciple Sen no Rikyu further advocated wacha, elevating the tea ceremony to an enlightened state that emphasized harmony, respect, purity and tranquility, and thus achieving the essential perfection of the tea ceremony. Rikyu's idea of wacha destroyed not only existing aesthetic values but also the hierarchical relationships in secular society. Rikyu's pure and passionate tea eventually angered Hideyoshi, leading to his own suicide by seppuku. Famous early tea masters were Tsuda Sotatsu and Tsuda Soeki, father and son, Imai Sokyu, Furuta Oribe, Hosokawa Sansai, Kanamori Sowa, and in the Edo period, Kobori Enshu and Katagiri Sekishu. Furuta Oribe, who inherited Rikyu's passionate tea style, also committed seppuku. After Rikyu, tea ceremony split into two schools: daimyo tea, which focused on tea utensils and tea rooms, and tadashi tea, which continued Rikyu's lineage. Rikyu's grandson, Sotan, handed over Fushin-an to his third son, Soza, and ran Konno-an behind his house. Konno-an was taken over by his fourth son, Soshitsu, and Soza's lineage is called Omotesenke, and Soshitsu's lineage is called Urasenke. The three Sen schools are called Mushakojisenke, which began with Kankyu-an, built by Rikyu's second son, Somori, in Mushakoji, Kyoto. There are many other schools of tea ceremony. The iemoto system did not come into being until the mid-Edo period, in the 18th century.
In the early Meiji period, the tea ceremony temporarily declined, but then gradually recovered along with the popularity of art collecting, and in the Showa period, the tea ceremony population rapidly became more popular and more female. Today, it is said that there are several million tea ceremony practitioners, and the tea ceremony is attracting international attention as a traditional culture representative of Japan.

Tea ceremony

Please see the "Tea Ceremony" page.

Source: Encyclopaedia Britannica Concise Encyclopedia About Encyclopaedia Britannica Concise Encyclopedia Information

Japanese:

「さどう」，茶の湯ともいう。中国伝来の喫茶の風習が日本独自の発達をとげたもの。亭主・客の交歓の作法や茶道具，庭園や建築，絵画，書，さらに精神的訓練までをも含めた総合的な文化。
喫茶の習慣は遣唐使によって奈良時代から平安時代の初期に日本に伝えられ，一部の知識人の間でたしなまれた。当時の茶は「団茶」という茶を固形状にしたものであった。しかし国風文化の流れを受け，やがて喫茶は失われてゆく。
抹茶を喫することは中国の宋代に始る。この宋風の喫茶を日本にもたらしたのは鎌倉時代の禅僧，栄西である。栄西は『喫茶養生記』で茶の健康面での効用をうたった。喫茶の習慣は，仏前に茶を献じる禅宗寺院や武家社会に次第にひろがり，鎌倉時代後期には庶民も趣味的な茶会を楽しむようになった。やがて茶は「闘茶」 (味で茶銘を当てるゲーム) などの遊びとしての茶道と，中国の豪華な茶器 (唐物) を集める美術品鑑賞としての茶道などへとその幅を広めていった。室町時代には足利義政などにより多数の中国茶器が収集され，書院造りの建物に唐物を中心とした喫茶法が武家文化に定着した。
室町時代中期以後，茶をたて客に供する礼法が確立し，村田珠光，武野紹鴎らにより草庵の小座敷で質素な茶会が始められた。村田珠光は唐物を中心とした豪華な茶に反し，粗末な道具をそろえ，不完全なもののうちにある美を追求した。「わび」ということばを最初に使ったのは武野紹鴎である。紹鴎は珠光に共感し，16世紀，当時最大の商業都市堺で茶を愛好する町衆の中心的存在であった。安土桃山時代，紹鴎の弟子，千利休はさらに佗茶を主唱して茶の湯を和敬清寂を旨とする悟道的なものにまで高め，茶道としての本質的な大成をとげた。利休の佗茶の思想は既成の美観のみならず，世俗的な社会の上下関係も破壊した。利休の清寂にして激しい茶はやがて秀吉の逆鱗にふれ，みずからの切腹を招いた。初期の茶人としては津田宗達，津田宗及の父子，今井宗久，古田織部，細川三斎，金森宗和，江戸時代になって小堀遠州，片桐石州らが有名。利休の激しい茶風を受け継いだ古田織部もやはり切腹している。利休以後，茶道は道具や茶室に数寄を凝らす大名茶と，利休の系統を継ぐ佗茶の2系統に分れた。利休の孫，宗旦は不審庵を三男宗左に譲り，みずからは自宅裏に今日庵を営んだ。今日庵は四男の宗室が継ぎ，宗左の系統を表千家，宗室の系統を裏千家と呼んでいる。これに次男宗守が京都武者小路に建てた官休庵に始まる武者小路千家を加えて三千家という。茶道にはこのほか多くの流派がある。家元制度が完成するには江戸時代中期，18世紀のことである。
明治初期，茶道は一時衰退するが，その後美術品収集の流行とともに次第に復興し，昭和に入ると茶道人口の大衆化・女性化が急速に進んだ。現在茶道人口は数百万ともいわれ，日本を代表する伝統文化として国際的にも注目されている。