Explaining Tea Ceremony simplifying the history tools and traditions from a foreigner s view

Hello everyone and welcome to Mark Williams Media YouTube channel. Today we are going to explore the wonderful world of tea ceremony. Before I begin, I'd just like to thank Edogawa Council for their wonderful creation of this tea house. Edogawa in Tokyo has created a series of tea houses that the general public can use and rent if they wish to enjoy the harmony and serenity of the tea ceremony. Surrounded by a lovely garden, this truly is a magical place and I am very honoured to be here. So again, thank you Edogawa Council for respecting and following and admiring and trying to promote the traditions of Japan. The principle of tea ceremony can be summarised in four forms. WA, SE, KE and JAKU. WA meaning harmony, SE and KE meaning purity of life and respect and JAKU meaning tranquillity. The history of tea ceremony is quite an interesting one. It came to Japan in around the Nara period which is around 500 AD after Christ. Tea came from China but of course originally was processed in India. But the Chinese version of tea came to Japan through monks who were spreading the message of harmony in Buddhism. And so tea and Buddhism and harmony and philosophy joined and merged hand in hand in those original days. That is the essence of what the tea was about. So monks would bring in their tea, they would share their tea and they would discuss the philosophy of Buddhism and all the tranquillity that that brings. Tea ceremony was very popular in Nara period and then when the capital moved to Heian in Kyoto it was equally popular, actually even more so. The Heian period was one of beauty, celebration, poetry, harmony and art and culture. One of the greatest books that came from that era is of course Genji Monogatari or the Tales of Genji. Now while ostensibly it's about a playboy I guess courting many girls, it gives us a wonderful insight into not only tea ceremony but also into the culture of the court at the time and as well as into the aspects of poetry, harmony, clothing and art that was predominant during this period. After the fall of Kyoto and the rise of the Kamakura period, the national capital moved to Kamakura, there was a lot of infighting and after Kamakura fell there was no harmony in Japan. There was actually a civil war that lasted many many years, maybe 200 odd years and this was called the Sengoku period. The Sengoku period has many I guess sub-periods, one of which is the Momachi period which is when Kyoto was burnt and gutted and fell and of course then there were other periods that followed that and that was basically a civil dispute throughout Japan. Families were fighting for power, the daimyos or the warlords were trying to get their own little part of Japan and there was no harmony and it was quite a dangerous place. During the end of the Sengoku period, which is the Momoyama period, tea ceremonies started to make a comeback. Let me go back a bit. So during this Sengoku fighting period, the warrior class became the predominant class. During the Heian period, the artisans, the court, the emperor was more important, but now it was the world of the warrior, of the soldier, of the fighter, of the killer. The warriors wanted to find some way of showing their wealth and their power and they used tea ceremony to do that. They didn't call it tea ceremony, they called it tea parties. So in these tea parties, these yotas, these chayoris, people would come and they would see all these fancy, fancy tea products and that was basically the host trying to show the guests, look at me, I have power, look at me, I am rich, I can afford gold or silver or beautiful mammoth objects for my tea event. It was basically an opportunity to show off. It was also a little bit of a quiz or a little bit of a test for the guests. So there would be various teas and the guests would have to guess or choose which tea was real tea. And by real tea, we meant tea from Uji, which is in Kyoto in Japan. If they could guess that this tea was Uji tea, they were deemed worthy and if they guessed it incorrectly and it was tea from China or some other part of Japan, then everyone could laugh at them. And that was basically what the tea ceremony or the tea event or the tea party was all about. Very different to the origins of tea. This changed in the Momoyama period, just before the end of the Sengoku and the start of the Tokugawa. And this changed via one man, Senrikyu. Now Senrikyu was a philosopher, a priest for a little while, a tea maker and a thinker. He wasn't born in Kyoto, but he spent a lot of time in Kyoto. And he said that no, the tea ceremony is not about showing off, it's not about ego, it's not about I. It's about giving your guests the best tea experience they can have and respecting your guests and coming together as one. He went back to the old Zen philosophies and he actually promoted a lot of those Zen philosophies. He said instead of Hade Dogu, fancy tools, it's time to go to more earthly tools. Something simple, something from nature. Wabesabe started to flow in. The fact that all things die, all things wither and things are reborn. These philosophies changed the tea event, tea party, into what we know today as Chanoyu or tea ceremony. After Senrikyu's death, he actually committed suicide. He was forced to by a Daimyo, Hiroshi, who thought that he was a traitor to his clan. After his suicide, several other tea masters came in and the Senrikyu line continued after he was forgiven for his treacherous act, even though there was no treachery at all involved. There are two main schools of Japanese tea ceremony here. One is Urasenke and one is Matasenke. Matasenke is the original, I guess. It founded all the other tea schools. Urasenke came a close second. Both have history, both are linked to Senrikyu. Just Matasenke is a bit older. Urasenke tends to be more popular overseas. They tend to have a lot more branches overseas. Their style of making tea involves more bubbles and a bit more froth and a little bit more flair. Now, let's talk about the products of tea or the Dogu, the tools of the tea ceremony. The first thing I want to talk about is the Chawan or tea bowl. This Chawan is made in Arita, which is in Saga Prefecture. As you can see, these Chawans here, very simple design, earthly tones. Chawans come in many shapes. This is a nice earth shape and if you can see, it's uneven. This is fine. This shows the potter's hand and it's actually well sought after. Some Chawans have a face to it and this face is very important, especially in tea ceremony. Because when you're preparing the tea, you offer the face to the guest and the guest takes it and turns it away. So the guest will get it like this, the face facing the guest. He'll look at this and he'll respect it, he'll acknowledge it and then turn the face away. Enjoy the tea, turn it back and offer the face back to the preparer or the host. The Chawan is used to make the tea and to drink the tea, so it's very important. There are several places that make really good Chawans and really good pottery or Yakimono. Ichizen in Fukui, Mizen which is in Okayama, as I said before, Arika which is in Saga Prefecture. There's also a place in Yamaguchi called Higi. Higi pottery is quite different to Mizen or Rikyu which is from Kyoto or Ichizen. It's more ornate, a little bit more ornate and it's more processed. So you can really see the difference between Pagi and other forms of Yakimono here in Japan. The other thing that's important is this which is Take, bamboo and it's a bamboo scoop and we call this Chashaku. Now there are several Chashakus I have here. This area here is called the Ant's Waste and the important thing about a Chashaku is this which is the actual scoop where the tea goes in. You have finished and unfinished styles of Chashaku. Chashaku is the connection between the host and the tea and so it's very very important and very well respected. To mix the tea we use a Chasen. Now the best Chasens come from Nara, a place called Takayama. And there are two types of Chasens. This Chasen has many many hooks if you like and this Chasen doesn't have as many of these hooks. Why is that? Well, this Chasen is used for Usucha. Usucha is the most common form of Japanese tea, Matcha tea and it's a smoother style. It's a little less bitter and it's very popular and easy to drink. And so you need a lot of these prongs to make Usucha. Usually between 30 and 60, well 38 and 60 of these prongs. Now Koicha, which is a much thicker, darker, richer tea, usually used in tea ceremony but not always. I actually like Koicha. It's best made using this kind of Chasen. This has fewer prongs, fewer hooks if you like. Usually between 15 and 20 odd prongs or hooks and that makes a much more thicker style of Matcha. So here we are. We have two forms of Chasen. Now, we obviously need the tea itself. Depending on the quality and what you're using it for will depend on the price. However, any tea from Uji in Kyoto is well worth having. So even if it's cheap, if it's from Uji in Kyoto, you're guaranteed of a nice experience. The other tea areas here are in Kagoshima, which is in the south of Japan, as well as Suzuka, which is just to the west of Tokyo. And Suzuka actually produces a lot of green tea, usually Sencha, but it also produces a good variety of Matcha. But I probably recommend Ujicha or Uji tea, Matcha tea, but anywhere in Japan is also very, very good. Now, we don't actually directly take the tea from here, which is a green powder. We don't take it from here to make the tea. We actually put it in what's called a tea container. And there are two types of tea containers. The first type is for Usucha and this is called Natsume. Now, this container is quite elaborate. So the tea containers are actually very elaborate, or can be. This is made from Laka, and Laka is famous in places in Tohoku, especially Aomori and Sendai, Miyagi Prefecture. Laka is black wood, and as you can see here, this is a new one. And this is decorated with the emperor's symbol, which is the chrysanthemum, the Kiku. Which is here, as well as nice flowers. Now, for Poicha, the container looks like this. And this is called a Chaire. And as you can see, it's like a balloon shape. And the Matcha goes in here. Now, Natsume is from the Natsu, a Japanese word for eggplant or aubergine. And it's shaped like an aubergine. And the Chaires also have different shapes. For example, this is a plum-shaped one, and you have other shapes of Chaire, and they are called by the fruit's name. But as I said, Chaire is usually used for Koicha, and Natsume is usually used for Usucha, which is the more common form of Matcha tea. The other thing we need for making nice tea is, of course, a teapot. And this one here is a traditional Japanese teapot called a Nambu-Teki. Teki meaning iron, and Nambu is the region in Tohoku in Iwate, in Morioka. Now, Morioka is very famous for producing Nambu-Tekis, and they are very classic and often used in tea ceremonies. They are a little bit expensive and a little bit heavy, but they are absolutely beautiful. Usually the pattern is very simple. For example, here we have Hana, we have Hate, the autumn leaves. And the colouring is usually a black or a grey or a dark brown or kind of a rusty tone to it, sometimes green. We are in autumn, so I have chosen this Nambu-Teki because Akinohi, this is the autumn time. Nambu-Teki, there are two types. One is a Chagoma, which means you can actually heat the water using a fire. This one is not a Chagoma. As you can see here inside, you can't heat at all the water. Hot water has to be placed in here. We have a filter. Usually this is not used for Matcha. This is when you are making Sencha or tea using leaves. You put the leaves in here and you add the hot water. And then you just pour like this. It's an absolutely beautiful, fine piece of workmanship, craftsmanship. And Nambu Iwate really makes some beautiful, beautiful products. Finally, I want to show you this. This is what we call the Fukusa. Fukusa is used usually in tea ceremonies. It's used for a couple of things. To hold the Nambu-Teki as well as to purify the Natsume and the Chashaku. To fold a Fukusa is quite different to how you normally think about it. Fukusas have four sides. Three sides have double stitching. And one side has a single stitch. This is called the Wasa. So you put the single stitch to your right. And you fold inwards once. And you fold inwards twice. And then you fold inwards three times. And then it goes in here. Now the Fukusa comes in several colours. Purple is a traditional colour for men. But women can have green, yellow, orange, usually more subdued colours. But most colours are fine for women. But men usually have a Murasaki or a purple colour. My favourite Fukusa though is this one, which is red. But it is an Urasenke Fukusa and it's very special to me. So, when you have the Fukusa and you take it out. Ready to be used for purification or in the tea ceremony. You take it out like this. You fold it like this and it becomes into a triangle. Take the triangle, two ends. Put it together. Like this. And you put this into your Obi. Now, for a man, the Fukusa, if this is the Obi, goes in like this. And for a woman, if this is the Obi, it goes in like this. So it goes in up to down and men down to up. You take the Fukusa out from its preparation area. And again, you make the triangle. And then, you put your thumb and three fingers here. So thumb, second finger here, three fingers here. To the left hand, rather. And the right hand, you hold it like this. And you hold it up like this. Then you turn, you use the thumb to turn this in. And you have a little bit of a triangle. You let that go. You move up. You put this triangle on this side. And you turn this over. You make a, I guess a L, if you like, or a 1. And then you fold it one more time. And then you take it out. I'll show you with this one. Again, you have your triangle here. Thumb, out. Middle, in. Three, out. Like this. Form the triangle. Go up. Make a third. Put it down. Draw a line. And there you have it. And when you are actually doing your purification, either here or with this, you fold it in. So the Fukusai is a very, very important piece of equipment as well.