To See A World In A Grain of Tea
Lessons from the Tea Room #2
Since coming to Japan, I haven't had a chance to practice tea ceremony. It still feels like my practice has deepened though because this is the holy land—no need to import everything from tea utensils to clothing to the tea itself, like we do in Europe. Everything is within easy reach.
I am lucky to have guides pointing me towards the best resources. They have taken me to flea markets, to the largest tea utensil store in the Tokyo area, and to hunt for tea books at second-hand stores. At a friend's recommendation, I started reading 『日本人の心、伝えます』 (Nihonjin no kokoro, tsutaemasu) by Sen Genshitsu, the previous head of Urasenke tea school.
Compared to The Wisdom of Tea by Morishita Noriko, it is less personal, more instructional but Daisōshō-sama (as we respectfully call him) does add the occasional personal anecdote to illustrate his instructions1. With his gentle and humble voice, reading the book feels like enjoying a fresh cup of usucha (thin tea). My tea practice has changed a lot since I wrote You Must Offer Serenity, my first essay about practicing tea ceremony, so I wanted to collect these additional insights gleaned from a book that is only available in Japanese.
How to enter the tea room
If you are invited to a traditional tea gathering, you enter the tea house through the nijiriguchi, an entrance about 65 cm tall and 60 cm wide. Every guest has to crawl in on all fours. This entrance was developed by founder of Japanese tea ceremony Sen no Rikyū.
We go through daily life with deeply ingrained ideas about hierarchies and status that help us navigate society and function as a civilization. The nijiriguchi, however, invites us to leave those notions behind when we enter a tea room. Instead, we should be like babies, born into the world with no prior knowledge or concern for their place in society.
If everyone is the same, we can enjoy a peaceful cup of tea together.
この枠組みは私たちの意識の奥深くにまで根を張っているため、取り去るのは容易ではありません。 (35)
Even Daisōshō acknowledges in the above quote that it is no easy feat to cast off these notions. This, too, is part of practicing the way of tea.
The World
Most tea rooms are small, only four and a half tatami mats or 7.4 square meters. Konnichian, the most famous tea room of Urasenke tea school in Kyoto, is just big enough for the host and one guest.
Far from feeling cramped, however, tea rooms invite nature in through windows and sliding doors: sunlight, moonlight, the breeze. Thus, the room grows in size to encompass the whole world. Sitting in such a tea room, you feel connected to the universe not only through the tea you drink—that grew on fields somewhere far away, was harvested, ground into powder, shipped to sellers, and eventually purchased to be enjoyed in a tea room—but also through the space around you.
茶室は極小なのに、無限の広がりが感じ取れる場所です。 (37)
茶室のあの小さくほの暗い空間は、自然、そして広大な宇宙とつながっています。(39)
Respect and humility
When the guest receives their tea, they turn the bowl so the side that was presented to them faces the host before drinking. Why do we turn the bowl?
The usual answer is: If the bowl is decorated with a picture or pattern, we want to avoid drinking from that side. According to Daisōshō, this is not wrong but also not correct.
If the tea bowl does not have any patterns or pictures, for example, the front (or shōmen) is the side the host presents to you when they offer you the bowl to drink. In fact, you turn the bowl out of respect for the host. The feeling should be the same as when you say to the other guests: "Excuse me for drinking first." Host or guests—each and every person in the tea room should treat the others with respect and consideration.
Only when you abandon all pretentiousness and worldly desires can you learn and practice humility, which is what the way of tea is all about.
茶道とは、見栄や欲をできる限り捨てて、己の心をみつけるための道筋です。(43)
Gratitude to the host for making tea for us, as well as to the guest for enjoying the tea we made with care, brings a feeling of humility with it too.
感謝の気持ちが生まれると、謙虚な思いが湧いてきます。(41)
Again, words are fleeting and it is hard to express the appeal of tea ceremony. What I will say is that through sharing tea and practicing together, I have experienced rare feelings of connection with others. I owe some of my dearest friends to tea ceremony and am looking forward to continue practicing and meeting more fellow practitioners.
If there is one thing you take away from this article, I hope it is this: Tea is not just a hobby, it is a way of life.
To be honest, I would pounce on an autobiography by this man, who went from being a kamikaze pilot in World War II to sharing tea and celebrating peace with the entire world.
That is such insightful and fascinating information and experience, especially how everyone enters the same way, leaves their social status behind in a way. Humility keeps us grounded to our humanity.