the history of chanoyu 11

**chasuki becomes imbued with the wabi philosophy

Entering the 16th century, the popularity of chasuiki increased , whereas utasuki gradually faded. The term suki(aesthetic bent) had until then automatically inferred utasuki,which is to say the world of the renga get-together, but by the middle of the 16th century, it came to automatically imply chasuki, the world of the chanoyu get- togther.

The people involved in chasuki were not of the warrior or aristocratic classes, but were of the urban society, particularly merchants based in Kyoto, Nara,Sasaki,Hakata, and other important urban centers, who were gaining power around this period. With the decline of the MUROMACHI military government which had lasted from the 14th century and was centered in Kyoto, imported Chinese objects(KARAMONO 唐物) that had been collected by the shogun, feudal lords, influential temples, and such sectors were being sold. The merchants, with their financial resources, bought these objects up and eagerly used them in chanoyu. Looking at the tea gathering records of the time, we can see that many of the implements that were employed were involved in foreign trade, and from the newly imported goods, they selected articles that they thought were suitable for use as chadogu, and made use of them in their tea chasuki and gradually fell into disuse, and through such experiences, a certain standard arose for selecting suitable chadogu.

In earlier times, the practice was to make the matcha beverage in a separate room and carry it to the room where the guests sat, but probably by around the end of the 15th century at latest, there arose the pracice of making it in front of the guests.Gradually, certain rules were formulated as to the movements and steps for making the matcha before the guest' eyes, and the act called temae thus took shape, although it was not until around the end of the 16th century that the temae became clearly established.

It is not possible to say exactly when the chasitsu, the room specifically fro chasuki, came into being but probably it originated as a room where activities such as utasuki, incense appreciation, flower arrangement exhibits(rikka,(立花) which later developed into kado, the 'way of flowers'), as well as chasuki were held. This room or building was called kaisho(会所), or 'gathering place'. A kaisho was relatively large, and documentary evidence shows that for chasuki a portion of the room was partitioned off using folding screens or other such devices.

As time passed, a room specifically for chasuki came to be constructed. Smaller than the kaisho, it was but about 10 meters square8six tatami9 in floor space. However, the newly built chashitsu of the latter half of the 16th century were reduced in size, and ultimately a room merely 3 meters square( less than two tatami) came into being for the purpose of chasuki. Together with this, various innovative ideas were incorporated for the windows, ceiling,doorway, and other elements, and the chashitsu form of architecture, unique even amid Japanese architecture, became established.

In this way, the chadogu,temae,and chashitsu each became worked into suitable form, and at last chanoyu may be said to have become established. However, it had not yet been perfected. The figure who was active in the developments of this period was TAKENO JO'O(武野紹鴎), a merchant of Sakai(堺).

Records of tea gatherings of the time provide evidence that SEN NO RIKYU(千利休), the figure in the fore after JO'O, was responsible in his later years for the dynamic changes in the chashitsu,chadogu, and temae that occurred in the 1580s. The extremely small chasitsu mentioned above became the mainstream. Rather than the predominance of articles deriving from China(karamono),many native Japanese items(wamono　和物) and articles made in Korea(koraimono　高麗物) as well as ariticles from southeast Asia(nanbanmono 南蛮物) came to be used for chadogu. And as for the temae, there arose the method of bringing the implements into the room from the back preparation room(mizuya) and setting them directly on the tatami, rather than having them on display on the shelves and in the alcove(tokonoma) in the chashitsu from the start.

Through these changes, wabisuiki(侘数寄, chanoyu rooted in the aestheticism of wabi) was established. A disciple of Rikyu named YAMANOUE NO SOJI(山上宗二) wrote in his record called the YAMANOUE SOJI KI(山上宗二記) aesthetic sensibility. Rikyu is attributed as the one who mainly led the way to crystallization of wabisuki. Providing the backdrop for this, no doubt, was that the most powerful man of the times, TOYOTOMI HIDEYOSI(豊臣秀吉), took a liking to RIKYU, and RIKYUU consequently not only held sway over chanoyu matters, but also in the arena of politics.