The Japanese Tea House- Chaititsu
When conducting a Japanese tea ceremony, it is customary to have a separate tea house and a small garden with a simple rocky path with the purpose of clearing the mind prior to the ceremony. The tea house is a place where tea can be prepared and enjoyed in a meditative and philosophical way. Originally built by Sen no Rikyū- He wanted to create a room that reflected the contemplative quality of tea rituals performed by Zen monks whom he admired. He perfected the idea of a Soan or a “grass hut”, typically Soans are small and constructed with roughly cut or unmilled wooden timbers, clay and straw over bamboo lattice walls make for rough earthen walls and they are modest structures with limited decoration. Small paper covered windows to let a soft dim light through. Chashitsu are meant to be a place far away from worldly concerns where tea can be enjoyed in a meditative and contemplative way. To enter the hut/ soan, all people despite social standing must crawl through a low entrance to represent humility and social equality called a nijiriguchi. The tea house incorporates elements of the japanese farmhouse and of the scholar's study. It is built around human proportions, the walls are no more the 6 feet high and the floor space is only around 10 feet square. The Tea house is immodest and subject to age and decay, built of only fragile and natural materials to recall the Buddhist dictum that all things are impermanent. The shogun, Toyotomi Hideyoshi is known for his lavish tea huts with imported red satin mats and all of the structural borders lined in gold leaf. Elaborate tea houses were generally frowned upon. Rikyū believed that the humble soan setting is believed to be the most appropriate to the ideals of restraint and spiritual tranquility that animate chanoyu.
The surrounding garden is often little more than a dewy path (roji) punctuated by stepping stones, lit by a stone lantern, and refreshed by a stone basin into which water flows from a bamboo attachment.Even plants in the garden are regulated, flowering plants are frowned upon because they’re considered too distracting, however aromatic shrubs are acceptable. |