Chashitsu
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In Japanese tradition, rooms where tea ceremonies are performed are known as chashitsu (茶室, literally "tea room"). There are two types of chashitsu: free-standing structures often containing several rooms (known as tea houses in English), and rooms located within dwellings or other buildings and set aside for tea ceremony (known in English as tea rooms).
Tea houses are usually small, simple wooden buildings. They are traditionally located in remote, quiet areas, but today are more likely to be found in the gardens or grounds of larger houses, or in public or private parks.
Tea rooms are also usually small, and are found inside tea houses as well as in private homes, temples or shrines, schools, and other institutions. In Japanese homes, any room with a tatami floor may be used as a tea room; the same room may be used for other purposes as well.
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[edit] Tea houses
Tea houses are purpose-built structures where Japanese tea ceremonies are performed. The smallest tea house has two rooms: a tea room and a mizuya, where the host prepares the sweets and equipment, and may have a total floor area of only two or three mats.
Very large tea houses, such as those that can be found in some parks in Japan or those maintained by large tea schools, such as Urasenke, may have several tea rooms in different sizes; a large, well-equipped mizuya resembling a modern kitchen; a large waiting room for guests; a welcoming area where guests are greeted and can remove and store their shoes; separate toilets for men and women; a changing room; a storage room; and possibly several anterooms. Such tea houses can accommodate dozens of guests and several simultaneous tea ceremonies, and may have a total floor area exceeding sixty mats.
Whatever the size of the tea house, however, it will be built from simple, rustic materials and be scrupulously maintained and kept spotlessly clean.
[edit] History of tea houses
The design of tea houses is heavily influenced by Zen philosophy. Tea houses were first introduced in the Sengoku period, a time in which the central government had nearly no practical power, the country was in chaos, and wars and uprisings were commonplace. Seeking to reclaim Japan, samurai were busy acquiring and defending territories, promoting trade and overseeing the output of farms, mills and mines as de-facto rulers, and many of the poor were eager to seek the salvation of the afterlife as taught by Buddhism.
Tea houses were built mostly by Zen monks or by daimyo, samurai, and merchants who practiced tea ceremony. They sought simplicity and tranquility, which was akin to the values of Zen, in which samurai found salvation and philosophy for their fate.
[edit] Layout and amenities
A typical tea house is surrounded by a small garden. In the garden there will also be a waiting area for guests, as well as a roji (路地), or "dewy path", leading to the tea house. The tea house itself is usually built of wood and bamboo, and the only entrance and exit is a small, square door which symbolically separates the small, simple, quiet inside from the crowded, overwhelming outside world, and encourages humility in the host and guests, as all must kneel to enter the room. Tea houses usually consist of two rooms, one used for the preparation of food, snacks and tea supplies, and the other for the holding of the tea ceremony itself. The main room is typically extremely small, often 4 1/2 tatami mats, and the ceilings are low. There is no furniture, except what is required for the preparation of tea. There will usually be a charcoal pit (炉, ro) in the center of the room for boiling water for tea.
Guests and hosts sit seiza style on the floor. There is usually little decoration. There will be a tokonoma (scroll alcove) holding a scroll of calligraphy or brush painting, and perhaps a simple, small flower arrangement called cha-bana (茶花). All materials used are purposely simple and rustic.
[edit] Tea rooms
All doors and windows are traditional Japanese shōji, made of thin strips of balsa wood covered in a translucent Japanese paper which allows light from outside to come into the room. The floor is built a few feet above the ground in order to keep the room dry. These features are still common not only in traditional style houses and inns but also in ordinary residences.
[edit] Layout
The acknowledgment of simplicity and plainness, which is a central motivation of the tea house, continued to remain as a distinct Japanese tradition in the later periods.
Typical tea houses and tea rooms have a hearth (ro), toko and three entrances. There are at least two entrances, one for guests and one for the host. The entrance for guests, called nijiri-guchi connects the tea room and the outside. It is so small that people should kneel to go through. It is thought to help the guests behave in their humility. The other entrance connects the tea room and mizuya and is used by the host and helpers, if available. Some tea rooms has the third entrance, called kinin-guchi (entrance for the noble), which is only used by the high ranked people like daimyo. Toko (literally "floor") is an alcove there the host displays flowers or calligraphy, following the course of tea ceremony. To help appreciation of those objects as well tea utensils, tea rooms has often windows. The traditional tea rooms seldom have a wide window, since the dimly inside room helps the attendees to concentrate to the ceremony. A hearth is settled on the floor, not on the wall or alcove and is covered in the summer and winter.
The floor size of tea houses and tea rooms are traditionally counted with number of tatami (counting unit is "jo", another pronunciation of tatami). The size of toko is not including. For tea rooms a special size tatami called daime (台目) is often used. Daime is rarely used two, but normally only one. A tea house is therefore counted how-many-tatami and daime, if a daime is used. For example, a tea house could be ni-jo (2 tatami), san-jo-daime (3 tatami and daime) or yo-jo-han (4 and a half tatami). Tea houses and rooms are classified into two by size. Tea houses in yo-jo-han or smaller is koma (lit. small room) and yo-jo-han or larger is hiroma (lit. big room). It means yo-jo-han (4 1/2 tatami wide room) could be used both as koma and hiroma, flexible.
[edit] Typical names for chashitsu
It is usual for chashitsu to be named by their owners or benefactors. Names usually include the character for "hut", "hall," or "arbour," and reflect the spirit of rustic simplicity of tea ceremony and the teachings of Zen Buddhism. Characteristic names include:
- Fushin-an (不審庵, Doubting Hut)
- Mugai-an (無外庵, Introvert Hut)
- Mokurai-an (黙雷庵, Silent Thunder Hut)
- Tokyū-dō (東求堂, East-Seeking Hall)
- Shō-an (松庵, Pine Hut)
- Ichimoku-an (一木庵, One Tree Hut)
- Rokusō-an (六窓庵, Six Window Hut)
- Bōji-tei (忘路停, Forgotten Path Arbour)
[edit] Famous chashitsu
- Jo-an (如庵). Now located in Inuyama in Aichi, this tea house was built in Kyoto by Urukusai, the younger brother of Oda Nobunaga in 1618 and was moved to its present location in 1972. It was designated a national treasure in 1951.
- Konnichi-an (今日庵, Today Hut) a large tea house belonging to the Urasenke school in Kyoto.
- Zangetsu-tei (残月亭, Morning Moon Arbour). A tea house belonging to the Omotesenke school in Kyoto.
[edit] References
- "Introduction to oriental civilizations: Sources of the Japanese Tradition." Columbia University Press: New York 1958
- Verley, Paul. "Japanese Culture." 4th ed. Updated and Expanded. University of Hawaii Press. 2000
- Murphey, Rhoads. "East Asian: a new History." 2nd ed. Addison-Wesley Educational Publishers 2001
[edit] See also
