women become the mainstream

the chanoyu IEMOTO, having found their way through the crises of the early MEIJI period, thought about the future and gradually realized that it was important to popularize chanoyu among the young generation, who would be shouldering the next age. They therefore poured energy into teaching chanoyu as schools. This resulted in chanoyu lessons being incorporated into school curriculum's, especially at girls' schools. There also were public schools that adopted chanoyu as a class in moral education. Because many of the schools that incorporated chanoyu into the curriculum were girls' schools, however, the percentage of women trained in chanoyu suddenly increased. Whereas the great majority of the chanoyu population had consisted of men until then, this resulted in an overturn of the ratio between men and women.

there even was a period when chanoyu training was considered a must for women's domestic training, to prepare them properly for marriage. Not only did the ratio of women chanoyu students greatly increase, but the chanoyu population altogether continued to expand. The middle of the 20th century may be said to have been when chanoyu, within its history of five hundred years, had the most students ever.

Another big characteristic of the chanoyu of the middle of 20th century may be said to its introduction and spread overseas. As previously explained, chanoyu is a typical form of Japanese culture. However, this does not mean that it therefore is not possible for non-Japanese to understand it or set foot into it. We can see how true this is by that fact that many non-Japanese come to Japan and learn chanoyu, and have been teaching it after returning to their home countries. Because other countries have their own culture and many also already have their tea culture, there is some resistance to accepting chanoyu exactly as it is practiced in Japan. It seems, therefore, that there is a strong tendency for people abroad to interpret chanoyu in their own way and practice it in a different form that fits in with their national customs and lifestyles.