The practical reality, however, is that when we people in Japan say 'tea' these days, as in the expression "have some tea," this generally registers as coffee or black tea. About the only common time matcha is drunk nowadays is in the form of "green tea latte" at a coffee shop. Ikebana, too, has nearly been taken over by Western style floral arrangement. This is to say that, as far as Japanese traditional culture is concerned, modern Japanese people may easily be strangers to it, much like non-Japanese.
This book was originally conceived as an aid for the Japanese person who thinks it would be good to know a bit about chanoyu and be able to offer an answer if asked by someone who does not speak Japanese, "What is chanoyu all about?" The content provides a solid, basic explanation of this question, and so through the Japanese alone, or the English alone, the reader can learn a lot about the answer. As it is in bi-lingual format, the content is also geared as a language-learning tool focused on the often esoteric realm of chanoyu, and this is its extra and extraordinary value.
The text was written with the "strange to the realm of chanoyu" in mind, but those who already learn and even teach chanoyu are sure to find it enlightening, whether reading just the Japanese or English, or using it both ways.
We invite you to open the pages of this web, and to open the door to chanoyu by doing so.
-the styles and uses of tea-
people around the world generally drink something-water,soda,juice,coffee,tea,or some other beverage-at meals, during breaks from work, or when they sit down together to engage in conversation. In Asia, and especially in China and Japan, from ancient times tea has been the most common beverage. To this day, the Chinese and Japanese drink tea as a part of daily life.
It was believed that the tea plant originated in the southern part of China, and according to Chinese scholars, the leaves were first used to make the beverage tea there more than 3000 years ago. As time went by, tea drinking spread throughout China, to neighboring countries such as Korea, Japan and Vietnam, and also to places outside of Asia, including the countries of the Middle East and Europe.
The English took a special liking to black tea, and even today they are known for their great fondness for it. In America, too, black tea was a popular beverage among the early settlers, and the famous Boston Tea Party that is often regarded as triggering the American War of Independence from England was the result of the people's rebellion against the high tax imposed on tea. In many countries of Europe, as well as in America,however,coffee gradually replaced tea as the predominant beverage.
In the countries of Asia, tea continues to be a popular drink. Also, in recent times tea plantations have appeared in parts of Latin America and Africa, and people in those regions are increasing drinking this beverage. Tea in various forms has thus become a popular drink with many people around the world.
Though tea is generally made by placing tea leaves in hot water, there are the three main methods for doing this, using tea leaves that have been processed differently and as a result have different colors and forms.
1. Decocted or brewed tea is made by placing the processed tea leaves in a kettle of boiling water and simmering them to extract the flavor and aroma into the water, which is then drunk. Japanese bancha(coarse tea) is brewed this way.
2. In infused or steeped tea, the processed tea leaves are placed in a pot or other vessel, hot water is added, and the leaves are steeped until the water is infused with their flavor. This is the method used for English black tea, Chinese longjing tea, and Japanese sencha(steeped tea).
3. In reconstituted or powdered tea, the processed tea leaves are ground into a fine powder. The powder is then placed in a bowl, a small amount of hot water is added, and the powder and water are mixed together(an act referred to as tateru in Japanese). Since reconstituted tea incorporates all of the effective ingredients of the tea leaf, the flavor and aroma of the tea leaf itself can be enjoyed. Japanese matcha(powered tea) is reconstituted tea.
People in different regions, countries, or cultural traditions process and drink tea in differing ways, and the customs and practices surrounding the use of tea by each of these groups can be regarded as their "tea culture". In other words, we can observe differences in the place and manner in which different people drink tea, the implements they use, who they drink tea with, when they drink it, and what they do or talk about as they do so. Though tea drinkers around the world are all drinking tea in one form or another, the situations in which it is drunk tea in one form or circumstances vary. The group of individuals who share in the tea by such factors as place, participants, ant implements - all these elements may be called that particular people's "tea culture".
The unique cultural and historical backgrounds of each region and people have shaped their tea cultures, with the result that there are many forms of tea culture around the world. For example, while both Chinese longjing tea and Japanese sencha are infused tea, the culture surrounding them is quite different, owing to the different cultural and historical conditions under which they developed.
Despite the differences in the various tea cultures of the world, however, they all share in the fact that they are based on the activity of tea drinking."Tea culture,"then, in one subdivision of
human culture in its entirely, and that universal tea culture can in turn be further subdivided into numerous distinct tea cultures that are specific to different nations, regions, and cultures.
tea has been drunk in Japan for more than a thousand years, and so the country has developed a tea culture of its own. This tea culture in Japan is diverse. When tea was first introduced to Japan from China around the year 800 A.D., it was in the form of dancha(brick tea), which was made into a drink by decoction or brewing. Dancha, however, was only available to the aristocracy and high-ranking Buddhist priests of the day, and it eventually disappeared.
The next form of tea introduced to Japan, again from China, was matcha, a reconstituted tea made by mixing powdered tea leaves with hot water, Matcha was initially drunk mainly by ZEN priests and high-ranking warriors, only gradually filtering down to the populace. It was been enjoyed by a broad spectrum of the Japanese people for centuries, and it remains popular today. Matcha also became the basis for the development of a tea culture unique to Japan, called chanoyu(literally, "hot water for tea"), in which people assemble not to drink tea, but also to engage in art appreciation and enjoy cuisine as part of the occasion.
Decocted or brewed tea also became popular among the masses in Japan. The custom of drinking decocted tea, known as bancha in Japan, seems to have arisen no later that the 15th century, and it continues to be very widely enjoyed today.
Infused or steeped tea was introduced from China by the 16th century,spreading mainly among the upper echelons of society in Japan. Called sencha(steeped tea) and ryokucha(green tea), this form of processed tea leaf and the tea beverage made in Japan today. In the last 18th century, sencha became the basis for an artistic pursuit distinct from chanoyu called senchado( the way of infused tea), which is also a form of tea culture unique to Japan.
Tea culture in Japan has a long and varied history that includes such distinctive traditions as choanoyu and senchado, unique among the tea cultures of the world. Chanoyu in particular, is a tradition of remarkable breadth and depth. 
The phrase -tea culture- has been used a number of times already here. In truth, however, the question of what "culture" exactly means is an extremely difficult one, and people have widely differing notions about it. "Civilization " and "culture" are similar concepts, and just how they differ is another matter of debate and is not something that can be explained in a few simple words. Let us, nevertheless, roughly think of "culture" as something that arises when some matter is impregnated with the workings of the spirit. Without the workings of the human spirit combined within it, the matter is little more than something merely done instinctively or through habit.
This means that Japanese culture is the result of the Japanese people's spirit being combined within it. What, then, are the characteristics of Japanese culture? Let us look at a few examples and give this question some fresh thought.
1. It is a lunar culture : What is meant by this is, like the moon which shines by reflecting the light from the sun, Japanese people have not been the radical source of original ideas that have radiated around the world. Rather, they have almost solely made use of ideas borrowed from the outside. The reflection that we see in Japan of the Japanese have accepted the idea, they have added their own inventive touch. In a wide range of fields, including for example the Japanese written language,government, religion,education, and scientific technology, this has been the tendency.
2. The influence of Buddhism is strong:Buddhism was introduced into Japan around the middle of the 6th century, and over time it became the national religion. Through its long history, the Buddhist way of thought permeated into such faces of the people's lives as their view of life and death, their response to their natural environment, and the way they reacted to other religions. Besides the basic influence it has exerted, Buddhism has also had a powerful influence on the arts of Japan.
3. The people coexist with nature: From ancient times, the Japanese have not thought of humans and nature as opposing each other, but have lived according to the understanding that humans are an element of nature. Therefore, rather than attempting to suppress nature, they have tried to blend in with nature as it is, and have thought in terms of appreciating the blessings of nature. Not only is this reflected in the unity of nature and the people's lifestyle, but also, the close tie between humans and nature is commonly expressed in Japanese literature, paintings, and other art of forms.
4. Mutual accord is highly value: Japanese people, as individuals, have valued the idea of maintaining accord between themselves and the rest of those in their group, rather than the idea of the self-assertion. This may be due to the lingering influence of the social system in Japanese history, especially that during the EDO Period. When we consider the relationship between the individual and the group within Japan's political,economic,and social scenes, and also within the company, school, and family arenas, this tendency is obvious. Even in chanoyu, the harmony achieved in the combination of implements that one puts together is important.
5. Form is considered important: It is often said that the Japanese are weak at thinking rationally, and this weakness is considered to be due to their custom of learning techniques and skills by firstly focusing attention on the model form. This approach is widely seen in the fields of the fine and applied arts, performing arts, and martial arts, as well as education and social conduct. Conjointly with the characteristic tendency to value mutual accord as explained in 4 above, this characterizes the Japanese the their culture.
--Culture is an extremely broad realm, and there are very obvious as well as not so obvious fields within it. Let us refer to the former as "surface culture" and the latter as "base culture".
Surface-stratum culture includes many genres such as politics, economics, art , and sports. Looking at the art genre among these, it furthermore comprises a number of categories. The following is a list of some representative ones.
1. Fine and applied art, such as painting, sculpture, architecture, and handicrafts.
2.Physical performing arts, such as the theatrical arts and dance.
3. Artistic accomplishments(productions) which, in the traditional fields in Japan, would include chanoyu, flower arrangement, incense appreciation, noh( a form of classical dramatic dance), bunraku(classical Japanese form of puppet theater), kabuki, and so forth, and in popular fields would include such things as enka(balled singing) and contemporary stage show.
4. Music, including such traditional forms as shomyo(Buddhist chanting), gagaku(court music), koto(Japanese harp), and shakuhachi(Japanese bamboo flute).
5. Literature, including narrative tales, verse, waka(Japanese 31- syllable poetry), renga(collaborative verse-ling), haiku, and so forth.
In America and Europe, the tendency when thinking of art is to focus on such fields as painting, sculpture, and architecture, as given in category 1 above, and because modern Japanese education has taken European thought and methods as its model, this has become the focus of art education. However, there are many fields besides painting, sculpture, and architecture which deserve recognition as forms of art, and sometimes these especially reveal the characteristics of the country and its people. Particularly, in Japan the development of artistic accomplishments and handicrafts has been strong, and these fields not only characterize the art culture of this country but have greatly influenced the lives of the Japanese.
In this construct, we see that chanoyu belongs to the category of artistic accomplishment(production) of the traditional sort; it represents a genre of art culture; and it is among the forms of surface culture of Japan.
Not only is chanoyu a form of surface culture of Japan, but it encompasses many of the aspects of Japanese culture that we have looked at. Therefore, to explain what chanoyu is involves explaining what Japanese culture is. We might say that chanoyu is Japanese culture in condensed form, meaning that it is a concentration of many genres within the realm of Japanese culture. To understand about chanonyu thus, in a sense, is tantamount to understanding Japanese culture.
And so, just what is this chanoyu that contains so many aspects of Japanese culture? It is possible to define it in certain terms as follows:
Chanoyu is an artistic accomplishment that takes the form of a unique "milieu" occasioned by tea drinking. This milieu is realized within a place and space designed especially for it, utilizing implements especially for it, by way of a host preforming the service of food and drink to guests in a certain manner and according to a certain order which is called temae.
In other words, chanoyu is a form of artistic accomplishment(production)wherein, in the special space of a chashitsu(tea room) special implements referred to as chadogu(tea implements) are used and, making use of the performance style called temae, the "performer"who is the host and the "audience" who are the guests cooperate to produce a unique "milieu"(ba; a setting in time and space where pariticipants share in a certain experience). Even though it has qualities of a performance, eating and drinking are major facets of it, and another fundamental quality that sets it apart from other sorts of artistic performances is that, instead of the usual clear division between performer and audience, in chanoyu these two sides together make up the team of role players.
Also, we can say that there are the following three indispensable elements of chanoyu:
1. the chashitsu, or specially designed place and space where it happens
2. the temae, or series of procedure followed to prepare for making the tea, then to do the tea making, and then to put the things away
3. the chadogu, or implements for the actual tea making or for artistic appreciation
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