Japanese history records that in A.D. 729, the emperor, Shomu, served tea to one hundred Buddhist monks at his palace. Since no tea was grown in Japan at that time, the processed leaves must have come from China. The first seeds for cultivation are thought to have been taken to Japan by Dengyo Daishi, a monk who spent two years from A.D. 803 to 805, studying in China. He returned home, planted the seeds in the grounds of his monastery and when he served tea made from his first planting to the Emperor Saga five years later, it is said that Saga enjoyed the new beverage so much that he ordered tea cultivation to be established in five provinces near the capital.
Between the end of the ninth and eleventh centuries, Chinese-Japanese relations deteriorated and so tea, being a Chinese commodity, fell from favor and was no longer drunk at Court. However, Japanese Buddhist monks continued to drink tea to help them stay awake and to concentrate during periods of meditation. In the early twelfth century, the situation between the two nations improved and a Japanese monk by the name of Eisai was the first to pay a visit to China. He returned with more tea seeds and with the new Chinese custom of drinking powdered green tea. He also brought back an understanding of the teachings of the Rinzai Zen Buddhist sect. The tea drinking and the Buddhist beliefs developed alongside each other and whereas the rituals associated with tea drinking in ancient China have died out, the Japanese developed them into a complicated and unique ceremony. Still today, the Japanese Tea Ceremony, cha-no-yu, involves a precise pattern of behavior designed to create a quiet interlude during which the host and guests strive for spiritual refreshment and harmony with the universe. In 1906, Okakura Kakuzo wrote, in his Book of Tea, “Teaism is a cult founded on the adoration of the beautiful among the sordid facts of everyday existence. It inculcates purity and harmony, the mystery of mutual charity, the romanticism of the social order.” The Tea Ceremony captures all the essential elements of Japanese philosophy and artistic beauty, and interweaves four principles – harmony (with people and nature), respect (for others), purity (of heart and mind), and tranquility. Ad Kakuzo wrote, “Tea is more than an idealization of the form of drinking, it is a religion of the art of life.” The ceremony, which can last for up to four hours, may be performed at home, in a special room set aside for the purpose, or in a tea house.

Share / Email