The History Of Chado Essay, Research Paper
Jason Ulseth
English 2110
9/21/2000
The History of Chado
The Nipponese Tea Ceremony has been a tradition in the Nipponese civilization for many old ages. The ceremonial incorporates much of the Buddhist faith with the ideals of Zen. The ceremonial has many stairss that end with imbibing tea that is said to cleanse the spirit. In order to obtain a complete apprehension of the cultural significance of the ceremonial, it is necessary to understand the history behind the ceremonial and how it evolved into what it is today.
Tea was foremost introduced to Japan by a group of Nipponese Buddhist monastics that returned from China on a diplomatic mission during the Heian period. These monastics were sent to China in order to derive farther cognition of the Chinese civilization. They acquired much cognition including the Chinese Buddhist monastics? usage of imbibing tea to remain awake during speculation ( Kato ) . The Nipponese monastic Saicho thought it was a great thought and returned to Japan with hopes of distributing this usage to other monastics. Over clip, tea became progressively popular among the Buddhist monastics in Japan ( Kato ) .
The Nipponese Buddhist monastics kept the tea imbibing usage to themselves for about four hundred old ages. It was non until the 12th century that tea reached other Nipponese civilizations. A Nipponese monastic named Eizai served tea to Minamoto Sanetomo, a celebrated Samurai general ( Kato ) . After the tea imbibing usage was adopted by the Nipponese Samurai category, tea became progressively popular among Nipponese citizens every bit good ( Kato ) .
At this point, there was non a set process in which the Japanese imbibe their tea. Zen priest Murata Shuko was the first to put a rite in which tea to imbibe tea. His ritual reflected his Zen beliefs in one major manner. This was
the Zen ideal that there is a definite nexus between the religious universe and the material universe. This was displayed in the ritual through the usage of assorted bowls and utensils, which represent the stuff universe, and the usage of tea to enrich the human spirit, which represents the religious universe ( Sen, 12 ) . Although his tea functioning ritual contained many stairss and processs, Shuko was non the existent laminitis of the Nipponese Tea Ceremony.
The adult male who started the existent Nipponese Tea Ceremony, or Chado, was SEN Rikyu. He was a Buddhist monastic in Japan during the 16th century ( Kato ) . He took some of Shuko? s thoughts, such as imbibing tea in a ceremony-like environment and the incorporation of Zen, and built on them. Rikyu developed a tea ceremonial that focused on four major Chinese characters, WA, KEI, SEI, and JAKU. WA stands for religious harmoniousness. KEI stands for regard of all things irrespective of societal stature. SEI stands for pureness and JAKU stands for tranquility ( Sen, 13 ) . Rikyu? s belief was that one must foremost obtain harmoniousness, regard, and pureness before religious tranquility could be achieved ( Kato ) . It was this basic construct that turned the act of imbibing tea into a religious ceremonial.
From that point on, the Nipponese Tea Ceremony was passed on from coevals to coevals in the Nipponese civilization. The ceremonial has had a great impact on the civilization as a whole because of its footing. It is chiefly based on faith and doctrine ; both are extremely respected in Japan even today. The ceremonial is a beautiful tradition that has provided a nexus between past Nipponese civilization and present Nipponese civilization that has surpassed the trial of clip.
Kato, Ken. ( 1999, June ) . Welcome to Cha No Yu. Available:
hypertext transfer protocol: //welcome.to/chanoyu
Sen, Soshitsu XV. ( 1979 ) . Tea life, Tea head. New York: Weatherhill, Inc.
