Theory of Art Creation 9 "How to Drink Matcha Green tea bowl"

Tea bowls (matcha bowls) have a part called the "front" where the artist concentrates his or her design, considering it to be the most beautiful. At a tea ceremony, by being conscious of this front, one respects the beauty of the bowl and shows respect for the host who prepared the tea and the potter who made the bowl. In addition, the series of actions taken when receiving tea as a guest are a physical expression of courtesy and gratitude towards one another, and are also an implementation of the spirit of the tea ceremony, "Wakeiseijaku," which is harmony, respect, purity, and tranquility.

1. Receiving the tea bowl <br>When receiving tea, the first thing to do is to show gratitude to the host and those who have received tea before you. Generally, this is done in the following order:

With gratitude : The guest holds the tea bowl lightly with his right hand, and then places the bowl in the palm of his left hand, enveloping it with both hands. The gesture of gently lifting the tea bowl shows respect and gratitude to the host who has performed the tea ceremony.

Polite language : Before or immediately after receiving the tea bowl, you can make a more polite impression by bowing slightly and saying, "Thank you for the tea." This word expresses your humble feelings of gratitude for the matcha that the host has prepared for you.

2. Turn the tea bowl <br>After receiving the tea bowl, you should turn it to avoid having to drink from it with the front facing you.

Manners for avoiding the front : Generally, you turn the tea bowl clockwise twice, about 90 degrees each time (a total of 180 degrees), before bringing it to your mouth. This keeps the front away from your lips and shows respect for the bowl. Avoiding the front does not diminish the beauty of the tea bowl, and is also a posture that shows respect for the tea bowl as an object to be admired.

How to drink : Matcha is usually sipped quietly in 3 to 4 sips. By savoring the taste slowly, rather than drinking it all in one gulp, you can better appreciate the flavor and aroma of the matcha, and feel grateful for the tea being served.

3. The final sip and the final "suck"
When you have finished drinking the matcha, a gesture called "sukikiri" may be performed.

"Sukiri" means to make a very quiet "zuss" sound when taking the last sip of tea. This is a polite gesture that conveys the meaning of "I enjoyed the tea until the very end," and is considered to be an expression of gratitude and satisfaction to the host who performed the tea ceremony. However, depending on the school and the atmosphere of the tea ceremony, it is not necessarily required to do this.

4. Wiping the tea bowl (how to use kaishi)
After finishing drinking the tea, a ritual is performed to cleanse the rim of the cup.

Careful wiping with a kaishi (paper towel) : After drinking from the tea bowl, lightly wipe the rim with the index finger and thumb of your right hand. When doing this, you often use the kaishi to cleanse your fingertips, and do not place the kaishi directly on the tea bowl. Kaishi is a multi-purpose paper used to receive sweets during the tea ceremony, to wipe your mouth, and to keep the bowl clean when handling it, and is one of the most important tools in the tea ceremony.

5. Return the tea bowl to its original position <br>After drinking from it and wiping it, the tea bowl should be returned with the front facing towards the guest.

Restoring the front: Stabilize the bowl with your left hand and rotate it counterclockwise about two times to return the front to its original position. This returns the bowl to its original beautiful orientation, allowing the host to rediscover its beauty when returning it.

Flexible response according to the situation : In a formal tea ceremony, you are required to return the teacup to its original position, but in casual settings outside of the tea room or at a Japanese cafe, you may not need to be so strict. Still, knowing the basic manners will allow you to behave in a more polite manner and convey respect for the other person and the teacup.

The above are general etiquette, but you should not be too formal.

Perhaps they are merely showing off the pretense of good manners. Although it may seem a bit paradoxical, I would like to discuss another possible reason.

What is the true meaning of drinking style? It is to pass the sake around .

Etiquette and taste are secondary. If you are with someone, I think the most important element of drinking matcha is hidden in passing around a single bowl. Some people may think that there is no special matcha bowl for this method of passing around. Matcha can be served in a coffee cup, a flat plate, or whatever bowl you have, as long as it does not leak. First, I would like to challenge myself to just try passing around with someone , ignoring the element of form.

Sharing matcha tea is a strange way of drinking. For Japanese people, who are not normally used to sharing the same drink with others, there is a sense of resistance to sharing the same bowl with a stranger. Before thinking about why we drink from a bowl, let's consider why we feel this resistance. Japanese people are particularly fastidious about the bowls we put our mouths on. When we hold a bowl in our hands, we try to avoid putting our fingers on the edge as much as possible. Putting our fingers on the inside of a bowl or rice bowl is considered extremely bad manners.

Anything that we put our lips on directly, such as a teacup, belongs to an individual. In the past, every household would have a designated teacup for the father and a designated teacup for the mother. Even at the workplace, it seems that each person has their own designated teacup. The area of ​​the lips is an area where strong individualism is maintained, with no shared use even between parents, children, or siblings. If that is the case, what will happen if someone forcibly invades the area of ​​the lips that others should not invade? The first reaction is, of course, refusal. However, once it is accepted, it becomes a state in which the two are no longer strangers to each other. Conversely, sharing the area of ​​the lips is a ritual that makes it no longer strangers. A typical example would be a wedding. The bride and groom share 339 cups of sake to seal their marriage. There is meaning in openly exchanging the same cup while their relatives and acquaintances watch. This custom of passing sake around and drinking it is not only seen in Japan, but is widespread all over the world.

The ritual of passing around and drinking from the same vessel was an essential ritual in both the East and the West for forging firm covenants and forming relationships of one mind and body. This ritual is called communal eating and drinking. There is no need to repeat how strongly the act of eating and drinking together from the same vessel bonds people together. This custom can be found all over the world , and in Japan, where lip taboos are particularly strong, the tea ceremony, which adopted the passing around of matcha tea , could be said to be a culture that refined the ritual of communal eating and drinking to the highest degree .

According to tea books from the Edo period, the mawashi-nomi method was invented by Sen no Rikyu . The method of brewing thick tea was complicated, and brewing each cup one by one would have taken too much time. So he tried to simplify it by brewing mawashi-nomi. The method of brewing each cup one by one was called kakubuku-tette in the language of the time, and mawashi-nomi was called kyucha.

The first time the term "sukicha" appears in the Chakaiki is in 1586 (Tensho 14). At this time, Sen no Rikyu was already in his later years. This term appears frequently in the Chakaiki. In fact, Rikyu's tea ceremonies tended to favor the "mawashi-nomi" style. Two years later, on September 4, 1586, the tea ceremony was conducted by the Zen monk Kokei Sochin, who had been asked to investigate by Toyotomi Hideyoshi. Kokei was the Zen monk Rikyu trusted the most. Hideyoshi had banished Kokei from Kyoto. Rikyu boldly invited Kokei to the Rikyu residence in Jurakudai, Hideyoshi's hometown, and held a farewell tea ceremony. Moreover, the hanging scroll in the tokonoma alcove is the calligraphy of the famous Ikushima Kyodo, commonly known as Kyodo Chigu. This Ikushima Kyodo is not Rikyu's calligraphy, but a famous possession of his lord Hideyoshi. Rikyu was simply entrusted with the care of the scroll because Hideyoshi had ordered him to repair the mounting. "Ue ni wa ninmitsu no gi" (a secret ritual), in other words, it was kept secret from Hideyoshi and used for the farewell tea ceremony for Kokei. If this had been revealed, there was no telling what kind of crime he would have been charged with, but Rikyu had this kind of boldness. (It's interesting that Hideyoshi didn't find out, and we found out about 500 years later.)

The guest of honor at the tea ceremony was Shun'oku Soen, a senior of Kokei. The second guest was Kokei, and the last guest was Honkakubo of Miidera. When Rikyu prepared the tea for the first guest, Shun'oku, he used three scoops of tea with the tea scoop and less hot water. This is how to prepare thick tea. The Record of the Tea Ceremony records that he then poured five scoops of tea into the tea scoop to make it a "sukicha" (thick tea). Five scoops for two may seem a little low to modern standards, but as it is "sukicha" (thick tea), it is definitely a "mawashi-numi" (round-table drinking). To show respect to the first guest, Shun'oku Soen, each person was given a different cup of tea, while the second and subsequent guests drank in a round-table style. As can be seen from this anecdote, it is true that Rikyu himself established the "mawashi-numi" (round-table drinking) style as a tea ceremony, but it is a mistake to interpret it as having been done to save time.

(Drinking matcha from a homemade Raku tea bowl is also a good idea.)

First of all, the main focus of this paper is not to save time by passing around matcha tea, but to make a pact and deepen intimacy by sharing a bowl of tea . It is certain that this practice of passing around became common during Rikyu's time and was established as a tea ceremony etiquette by Rikyu. Already in the "Matsuya-kaiki," a tea ceremony held by Matsunaga Hisahide in 1563, all the participants are passing around the tea ceremony. From this example, it seems that passing around the tea ceremony originated from the samurai and folk ways of drinking sake. When the common people of the Middle Ages decided rules among themselves, they would make a vow to God, burn the oath paper, dissolve the ashes in water, and everyone would pass it around and drink it. They were all one and the same. There are many similar things in sake ceremonies. In other words, the practice of passing around the tea ceremony, which was rooted in the lives of people in the Middle Ages, was adopted by the tea ceremony created by the same people in the Middle Ages, and was established as a tea ceremony etiquette. At that time, for Sengoku samurai who felt uneasy about drinking tea that was not poisonous, it would have been more convenient for both host and guest to share a single bowl of tea.

The tea ceremony etiquette established by Rikyu was too much like the Warring States period. However, in modern times, we want to make drinking matcha from a passing hand the correct practice, while eliminating resistance from the lips.

Sharing and drinking matcha tea seems to me to be an extension of relationships with others rather than a shortening of time.

(This is a cup I bought on impulse at ARTS&SCIENCE Aoyama. It's fun to pass around a small cup and drink from it.)