tea ceremony

Chanoyu, also known as sadō/chadō (茶道, “The Way of Tea”), is the name of the extremely formal Japanese tea ceremony. An important Japanese cultural performance, it involves the preparation and staging of powdered green tea called matcha. Chanoyu ceremonies were usually presented in small specially-built tea venues called tea-houses in the west designed for the ceremony presentations with tatami mats, traditional Japanese floor coverings so the implements used in the ceremony to prepare, make and serve tea can be set out and the process seen by the guests invited to witness the ceremony. Rarely ceremonial in its every-day context, tea servings in Japan usually now consists of an informal service of sencha or other Japanese green leaf teas to friends, family or associates. There is also a distinction between two “tea-gatherings.” An informal tea get-together is called chakai (茶会, tea gathering) and a formal one is called a chaji (茶事, tea event). An informal gathering includes simple confections, tea and sometimes a light meal, but a tea event requires a full-course meal, a mix of teas and may last for as much as four hours. Although tea had been known in China for a thousand years, by the time tea was introduced in Japan by the Buddhist monk Eichū (永忠) on his return from China in the 9th century, the popular Chinese teas of China were compressed “cake teas” or “brick tea.” Originally introduced for medicinal reasons, by then it was also consumed for pleasurable reasons.