Japanese Traditional Arts Issue 5 Home Page

Photo: Thomas Peters Yuki Kobayashi demonstrates the tea ceremony. Photo: Thomas Peters Nobuko Kuroki demonstrates the tea ceremony. Chado, the Way of Tea Yoshiko Tagawa from Japan writes about the significance of the Japanese tea ceremony. The tea ceremony began in the latter half of the 15th century and was perfected a century later by Sen no Rikyu. It is no more than the making of "matcha" (powdered green tea) for a guest. The spirit underlying the tea ceremony is that of discovering beauty in the commonplace things of everyday life. It takes the plain and simple as a principle. It has been regarded as the traditional culture of Japan as well as flower arranging. In almost all high schools in Japan, there are tea ceremony clubs as club activities. Japanese girls, and sometimes boys, learn the manners of the tea ceremony to cultivate themselves. But today not so many people know the manners of the tea ceremony. Some people think it is too formal.   More traditional Japanese arts: Ikebana, Japanese Flower Arranging | Hyaku-Nin-Isshu, a Card Game Kyudo, The Way of the Bow | The Challenge of Kendo | Koto, a Traditional Musical Instrument | How the Koto Became Popular Return to: Traditional Japanese Arts | Issue 5 | Home Page  TOPICS Online Magazine - ©1997-2007- Sandy and Thomas Peters - topics.mag@gmail.com