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Chado - The Way of Tea
What is the Tea Ceremony? The History of the Way of Tea

The History of the Way of Tea - Focusing on Famous Tea Masters

murata shuko and takeno jo-jo

Nevertheless, contained in these gatherings were elements which were refined into the tea gathering of today. For example, the banquet became the light meal that often precedes the drinking of tea, overindulgence in sake evolved into an exchange of a few small cups of it, gorgeous arrays of flowers and displays of painted screens were reduced to a simple arrangement of flowers and a single scroll hanging in the tokonoma. Today, appreciation of the host's specially selected utensils is still of great importance.

The process of refinement of the procedures to make tea involved a complex interaction of various elements: the ceremonial tea of the temples; the extravagant social teas of the aristocracy; the rise, in the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries, of a newly prosperous and influential merchant class; and the powerful personalities of three men, Murata Shuko, Takeno Jo-o, and Sen Rikyu.

Murato Shuko (1422-1503) lived during the brilliant culture of the Muromachi period (1392-1573). Shuko was from Nara and had probably participated in tea gatherings that included popular amusement such as bathing. Later he came in contact with Noami, an artistic advisor of Shogun Ashikaga Yoshimasa who was versed in the procedures of tea as it was served in Kyoto. After this meeting he moved to Kyoto, entered the Buddhist priesthood, and studied Zen under the direction of the famous Ikkyu (1394-1481), abbot of Daitokuji, from 1474 until the death of the latter. There is evidence that Ikkyu was acquainted to some extent with Chinese as well as Korean tea procedures, and it seems likely that he imparted what he knew to his pupil. Within the Tea of Murata Shuko was the awakening of the concept that tea went beyond entertainment, medicinal value, or temple ceremony; that the preparation and drinking of tea could be an expression of the Zen belief that every act of daily life is a potential act that can lead to enlightenment. This belief manifested itself in the development of a new aesthetic for Tea, an aesthetic which sought beauty in the imperfect and in the simple object of everyday life. Shuko once said that, more than a full moon shining brightly on a clear night, he would prefer to see a moon that was partially hidden by clouds. Likewise, Shuko found beauty in Japanese utensils, which had been considered inferior to those from China. In a letter to one of his disciples, he wrote, "It is most important to seek as many admirable traits in Japanese objects as in Chinese."

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