The tea ceremony: discovering the Japanese culture

To attend a tea ceremony is to immerse yourself in the quintessence of Japanese culture. Elevated to the rank of a classical art alongside ikebana, the art of creating bouquets of flowers, and kodo, the art of using perfumes and essences, the tea ceremony is a must during a trip to the archipelago.

With its codes, its precise gestures and its almost meditative atmosphere, the tea ceremony offers travelers a moment as close as possible to the Japanese soul. With the tea master, the guardian of Japanese tradition, as conductor.

The smell of wood, the firm but soft sensation of the tatami on the soles of the feet, the play of light and shadow through the washi paper partitions… Entering a pavilion dedicated to the tea ceremony already immerses the visitor in the atmosphere of traditional Japan.

The origins of this rite go back to the stays of Japanese monks in China. They discovered the art of tea in the Chan temples (Zen, in Japanese) and in the 12th century, matcha (green tea in the form of a fine green powder, made by grinding whole green tea leaves) was introduced in Japan.

Three centuries later, the tea preparation ceremony was elevated to the status of an art. It is this famous matcha tea that will be prepared before your eyes.

A refined practice

This sentence allows us to grasp in a few words the essence of this traditional art: here, no superfluous or ostentation. From the room where the ceremony takes place, decorated only with a small parchment and a bouquet of seasonal flowers, to the utensils used by the tea master, everything is reduced to its simplest expression.

After leaving their shoes at the entrance of the tea pavilion, visitors purify their hands and mouths before taking their place on the tatami, facing the tea master. The ceremony can then begin.

First, a small Japanese pastry, usually filled with red bean paste, called wagashi, whose shape changes with each season, to display, especially in spring, the delicate shape of a cherry blossom.

A millimetre art

Then, the tea master, dressed in a kimono, begins by cleaning one by one the utensils that will be used for this ceremony. He lights the fire, listens to the water boiling little by little, while rekindling the embers. He then places the green tea powder in a bowl with a fine spoon, before pouring hot water into it and beating it with a delicate bamboo whisk, the chasen. This stops when a fine foam forms on the surface of the beverage. The bowl is then given to the first guest, the one considered the most important

The behaviour of the visitors is also very codified. Once the bowl is received from the tea master’s hands, the host must greet the second guest, lift the bowl up to the sky as a sign of respect, then turn it halfway clockwise. After that, you can enjoy this matcha tea but be careful, only two and a half sips, it is not possible to drink the whole bowl. The bowl must then be put back on the tatami, before presenting it to the second host, who will have to bend in turn to this choreography. A suspended moment to which the ultimate precision in the attention to detail confers a very spiritual dimension.

Participating in a tea ceremony

If you wish to participate in a tea ceremony during your stay in Japan, several tea houses are open to the public in Tokyo or Kyoto.

Two good addresses: the Camellia tea house in Kyoto and the Imperial Hotel in Tokyo.