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 The
French and wine, the Germans and beer, the Japanese and tea. This is not to say
that the Japanese and tea are the most important of the three however for
morning, noon, and night we Japanese cannot be seperated from tea, we cannot
live without tea.
It is unbelievable how people do not know the origin, history and how to drink
tea in the correct manner.
In addition, tea has been considered medicinal and held with the highest respect
from ancient times. It is very nutritious however some people unfortunately
(carelessly) prepare the tea in such a way where all the nutrition are lost.
Tea is divided into 2 classifications, matcha and sencha. Sencha is divided into
gyokuro, sencha, and bancha. The variety of the tea depends on the planting,
talking care, and the manufacturing method.
However when we think of tea, we usually think of matcha, the powdered tea,
“hiki-cha” which is prepared by stirring the tea with a “cha-sen” until frothy.
Since the time of Sennorikyu, this custom has been a physical and mental factor
of life and now everyone thinks of tea ceremony or matcha in this way. However
we must now also place greater importance on sencha and its qualities.
The custom of drinking tea and the method of growing tea originated from China.
In the oldest books dating from 729 AD Nara period, it is said that tea was
first introduced in China in the Toh period, however it is also said that tea
was in existence before this time in both Japan and China.
In the beginning tea was used for medical purposes and very valuable, it was
bitter and the color and fragrance was very inferior and very different from the
tea we are familiar with today. At the beginning of the culture it was used as a
medicine but because of its inferior qualities it was ignored for a time.
The word for teabowl,“chawan” was developed or came into being in the Toh
period.
At the end of the 12th century, Eisaizenshi introduced what is commonly know as
tea today to Japan.
During the latter part of the 17th century, Ingen-zenshi became a Japanese and
sen-cha became popular.
It is said that towards the end of the 16th century, according to Sennorikyu
that the tea ceremony was completed and finalized however at the end of the 18th
century, Kouyuge nicknamed Baisao critized the fomal tea (matcha) world, zen
religion and the samurai class, who practiced the ceremony.
However he promoted the future direction of sen-cha, but he did not teach this
style.
In 1755 when he was 81 years old, he destroyed all of his materials and
implements by burning them, all the tea ceremony utensils and materials which he
has used for so many years.
After that, authors and calligraphers such as Akinari Ueda, Raisanyo, Mokubei
Aoki spread the use of sen-cha. Among them, Raisanyo said that those who do not
know sen-cha and its qualities are uncivilized.
The spirit of freedom was respected by the highest people in the literary world
who disliked confinement and formality.
he
world of sen-cha was greatly respected by the literary world, from which came
the group known as so-sho-ha or the philosophers, and like the literary artists
of that time, the philosophers also started sen-cha.
These 2 groups became popular at the end of the Edo and beginning of the Meiji
period and their history has been followed' to now (present day).
In other words, it is the upmost desire of the sen-cha world that everyone will
acqire a taste for and learn to enjoy sen-cha in the correct manner.
Copy from
Ogasawararyuu
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