Enchanting and enigmatic, chanoyu (Japanese tea ritual) has puzzled western observers since the sixteenth century. Here is a book written by a tea practitioner that explains why over twenty million modern Japanese — and a small but dedicated group of non-Japanese — follow "The Way of Tea." Meticulously researched, An Introduction to Japanese Tea Ritual is clearly written and illustrated, and includes an extensive glossary.

Enchanting and enigmatic, chanoyu (Japanese tea ritual) has puzzled western observers since the sixteenth century. Here is a book written by a tea practitioner that explains why over twenty million modern Japanese -- and a small but dedicated group of non-Japanese -- follow "The Way of Tea." Meticulously researched, An Introduction to Japanese Tea Ritual is clearly written and illustrated, and includes an extensive glossary.

This classic of Japanese cultural studies explains the famous Japanese tea ceremony or cha-no-yu with great scholarship and clarity. In 1933, when A. L. Sadler's imposing book on the Japanese tea ceremony first appeared, there was no other work on the subject in English that even remotely approached it in comprehensiveness or detail. Having attained something of the stature of a classic among studies of Japanese esthetics, it has remained one of the most sought-after of books in this field. It is therefore both a pleasure and a privilege to make it available once again in a complete and unabridged digital version The tea culture book is abundantly illustrated with drawings of tea ceremony furniture and utensils, tearoom architecture and garden design, floor and ground plans, and numerous other features of the cha-no-yu. A number of photographic plates picture famous tea bowls, teahouses, and gardens.

This book provides a comprehensive introduction to chado, the Japanese tea ceremony. Unlike other books on the subject, which focus on practice or historical background or specific issues, this book considers the subject from multiple perspectives. It discusses Japanese aesthetics and philosophy, outlines how the tea ceremony has developed, emphasizing its strong links to Zen Buddhism and the impact of other religion influences, and examines how chado reflects traditional gender and social status roles in Japan. It goes on to set out fully the practice of chado, exploring dress, utensils, location – the garden and the tea house – and the tea itself and accompanying sweets. Throughout, the book is illustrated both with images and with examples of practice. The book will be of interest to a wide range of people interested in chado – university professors and students, tourists and people interested in traditional Japanese arts.

This provoking new study of the Japanese tea ceremony (chanoyu) examines the ideological foundation of its place in history and the broader context of Japanese cultural values where it has emerged as a so called ‘quintessential’ component of the culture. It was in fact, Sen Soshitsu Xl, grandmaster of Urasenke, today the most globally prominent tea school, who argued in 1872 that tea should be viewed as the expression of the moral universe of the nation. A practising teamaster himself, the author argues, however, that tea was many other things: it was privilege, politics, power and the lever for passion and commitment in the theatre of war. Through a methodological framework rooted in current approaches, he demonstrates how the iconic images as supposedly timeless examples of Japanese tradition have been the subject of manipulation as ideological tools and speaks to presentations of cultural identity in Japanese society today.

This book masterfully captures the essence of the Japanese tea ceremony--its role in decluttering the mind and focusing on the present--while also introducing the objects and rituals that make it unique. Author Randall Channell Soei--the highest-ranked non-Japanese within the Urasenke tea ceremony tradition--has been teaching the ancient method of preparing, serving and drinking tea to Japanese and foreigners for over 20 years from his studio in Kyoto, Japan. In this book, he explains the key elements behind the practice and spirituality of the tea ceremony: The meditative and mindful aspects of chado, or the Way of Tea Using the tea ceremony as a window onto other Japanese-based meditative and mindful practices and concepts The tea ceremony as a point of entry for beginners to Zen meditation, using the ritualized concepts of the Chanoyu Its role as an art form, complemented by the study and appreciation of art, landscape architecture and cuisine The notion of omotenashi, or a selfless dedication to supreme hospitality, as a meditative concept With a foreword by Genshitsu Sen, the 15th-generation leader of the famed Urasenke School of Tea, this is the perfect introduction to Chanoyu--a mindful ritual and meditative practice long synonymous with the Japanese way of life.

The tea ceremony persists as one of the most evocative symbols of Japan. Originally a pastime of elite warriors in premodern society, it was later recast as an emblem of the modern Japanese state, only to be transformed again into its current incarnation, largely the hobby of middle-class housewives. How does the cultural practice of a few come to represent a nation as a whole? Although few non-Japanese scholars have peered behind the walls of a tea room, sociologist Kristin Surak came to know the inner workings of the tea world over the course of ten years of tea training. Here she offers the first comprehensive analysis of the practice that includes new material on its historical changes, a detailed excavation of its institutional organization, and a careful examination of what she terms "nation-work"—the labor that connects the national meanings of a cultural practice and the actual experience and enactment of it. She concludes by placing tea ceremony in comparative perspective, drawing on other expressions of nation-work, such as gymnastics and music, in Europe and Asia. Taking readers on a rare journey into the elusive world of tea ceremony, Surak offers an insightful account of the fundamental processes of modernity—the work of making nations.