Perhaps one of the most exciting and famous ceremonies associated with Japan is the cha no yu (chanoyu, 茶の湯), a tea ceremony that is also sometimes referred to as sado ("way of tea", sado, 茶道). There are not many ceremonies that have been so polished and verified. Complex and at the same time extremely simple, at the same time uncomplicated and full of deep meaning, the tea ceremony can serve as a metaphor not only for the samurai ideal, but for the whole of Japan.
Short story
Tea gained popularity in Japan during the Kamakura period through the efforts of the monk Eisai (1141-1215). About fifty years later, the Buddhist monk Dayo (1236-1308) returned from a trip to China and brought with him knowledge of the Chinese tea ceremony in the form in which it was practiced in Buddhist monasteries. The art of performing the ceremony was practiced and honed by the monks until the priest Shuko (1422-1502) demonstrated it to the shogun Ashikaga Yoshimasa. Yoshimasa, who honored various arts, approved the ceremony, and from that moment it began to spread outside the temples.
It is not surprising that in the beginning the tea ceremony was a pastime of the nobility, since tea at that time was mainly consumed by the upper strata of society. Changes began with the advent of the master Sen no Rikyu (1522-1591). Rikyu studied tea traditions from an early age and subsequently big influence on the further development of the aesthetics of the Japanese tea ceremony. The Ashikaga style of ceremony was adapted for the nobility, using skillful Chinese tableware, and the ceremony itself was conducted in such a way as not to offend any of the important guests. In his vision of the ceremony, Rikyu strove for minimalism: he replaced expensive utensils with more practical ones, and the artsy and often tasteless tea houses of the nobility with small and simple ones called Sôan. The only way inside such a house was the small door of the nijiriguchi. Anyone wishing to enter it had to bend down, regardless of their status, which contributed to the creation of a spirit of equality. Also, the door served as a symbolic boundary separating the space of calm and silence of the tea house from the bustle of the outside world. Rikyu saw the tea ceremony as an event outside of social and political events.
In 1579, Sen no Rikyu became the master of the tea ceremony under Oda Nobunaga, who studied tea traditions with great interest and collected expensive and rare items for tea ceremonies. After Nobunaga's death three years later, he began performing ceremonies at Toyotomi Hideyoshi's and attained the status of the most respected master in the field of tea ceremonies. Hideyoshi appreciated Rikyu's skill, but Rikyu did not approve of the purpose for which Hideyoshi used the ceremony - as a forum for discussing state affairs. Rikyu believed that this approach violated, if not completely destroys the harmony of the ceremony. One way or another, for reasons unknown for certain, Hideyoshi ordered Rikyu to perform sepukku, but the art of tea ceremonies continued to develop in accordance with the principles formulated by Rikyu.
Short description
Usually, the tea ceremony is held in a special tea room, chashitsu. The guests enter through the nijiriguchi. The tea room is planned in such a way that the first thing one sees when entering is a kakemono scroll in the tokonoma niche. As a rule, some statement is displayed calligraphically on the scroll. The scroll is carefully selected according to the mood or the season, and guests linger briefly in front of it before taking their place by the hearth in the center of the room.
After the guests, the host enters, exchanges bows with the guests and sits opposite them. While the water boils, guests are served kaiseki - light food, which should not only be tasty, but also look beautiful. This food is not intended to be satiated, its main role in the process is aesthetic. Some sake and wagashi sweets are served. After that, the guests go out for a while, and the host makes necessary preparations and changes the scroll to tyabana - a composition of flowers or branches. When everything is ready, the guests return and the ceremony moves on to the most important part.
First, the dishes are symbolically cleaned, and the host starts preparing thick green tea. The guests silently watch his actions. Talking during the ceremony is not welcome and is considered impolite. Tea is poured into a bowl with a small amount water and stir until homogeneous mass. Then more boiling water is added to the bowl to bring the tea to the desired consistency. The host passes the cup to the guests, and they take turns drinking from it, which symbolizes the unity of those present. Then the host again passes the bowl to the guests, but already empty, so that they can carefully examine it.
After that, the host prepares tea in cups for each guest. At this stage, the guests begin a conversation, the subject of which can be a scroll with a saying, tyabana, tea, dishes, or anything else necessarily associated with the ceremony. When the ceremony is over, the host is the first to leave so that the guests can once again appreciate the room and all the items in it. While the guests are leaving, the host stands outside and bows to the departing. After that, he returns to the tea room, recalling the past ceremony, and then removes all objects so that the room takes exactly the same appearance as before the ceremony began.
Two types of tea are commonly used in the tea ceremony: koicha, which is thicker and slightly bitter and is considered a more "formal" drink, and usucha, which is lighter and "informal". Koitya is served first, his guests sip little by little from the common bowl. Usucha is used in the next part of the ceremony, its guests drink from individual cups. Cups can have the most different kind and are often selected depending on the time of year. Winter cups are deeper to keep warm longer, while summer cups are shallower and wider so that the tea cools faster.
Throughout the ceremony, the host and guests should strive for a state of calm and serenity. As priest Takuan said when writing about the tea ceremony: “do everything with the thought that in this room we can enjoy streams of water and stones as we enjoy natural rivers and mountains, appreciate the different moods and feelings caused by snow, moon , trees and flowers as they pass through the metamorphoses of the seasons, appear and disappear, bloom and wither. When the guests have been greeted with due respect, we quietly listen to the boiling water in the kettle, which sounds like the wind in pine needles and forget about worldly sorrows and worries ... "
The Japanese first tasted tea in the 8th century. At this time, tea became widespread in China, and gradually penetrated into Japan, thereby laying the foundation for the art of the tea ceremony.
A tea ceremony is an action in which the organizer of the ceremony and invited participants participate. Before proceeding to the tea ceremony, all participants, which should be no more than five people, concentrate on their sensations, thoughts and feelings in order to find the necessary psychological attitude. Only in this way can one feel the whole spirituality of the tea ceremony and feel the “taste of Zen”, which means “the taste of tea”.
Every detail of the tea ceremony is given great importance, whether it is the room itself, tea utensils, the mood of the guests or the sequence of actions.
How is the tea ceremony?
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The tea ceremony begins with the preparation of the host for a future event. To do this, he chooses a room in which the tea action will take place, organizes the necessary comfort, prepares tea utensils and fresh scarves for receiving guests. The host is the main character in the tea ceremony, although in fact he is only a servant who meets guests, takes utensils to a special tea room, prepares tea, brings it to the guests, and at the end takes away the tea utensils and escorts the guests. However, despite this, no less requirements are presented to the owner.
In addition to preparing the tea ceremony itself, he is also responsible for choosing the guests. To begin with, the organizer of the ceremony chooses the "main guest" of the holiday, who must be well-informed about the tea ceremony, know all the details of its conduct, and besides this - a respected person. The requirements for the “chief guest” are made due to the fact that it is he who should start the tea ceremony, setting an example for all the other guests who came to visit the owner. The “chief guest” must be notified that he is invited to the ceremony no later than a week before the festive event. After that, the invited person can either confirm their participation or politely refuse. If, nevertheless, a person agrees to be the “chief guest” and come to the tea ceremony, he must, together with the owner of the ceremony, consider and approve all other guests. To do this, the organizer sends a list of candidates, from which five people must be selected.
Most often, the host of the holiday sends a letter, but in some cases, he can visit the guest and talk with him face to face.
After agreeing on the list of participants to be invited and the approval of the "chief guest", the host begins to prepare written invitations for all guests. In modern Japan, the telephone is increasingly used for these purposes, but until the age of 30, it was a strict rule either for the guest to pay a visit to the organizer of the holiday, or to send an urgent letter of thanks.
Another important preliminary step is to agree with the guests on the type of event for which the tea ceremony is being organized. If this is a formal event, for example, in honor of some solemn occasion, then men should wear a silk kimono, a special black cape with a white sign, a hakama
(wide pants) and a white belt (tabi). Women who participate in the tea ceremony, even if it takes place on an informal occasion, are subject to a strict requirement - their clothes should not be bright and catchy.
Huge demands are also placed on the space where the tea ceremony will take place. Such a space should consist of two zones: open and closed. The open area is the garden, and the closed area is the room itself, where the tea action will be held. Guests who came to the tea ceremony first enter the garden, and then into the tea room. Such an arrangement of space, as it were, outlines, protects the tea room from the whole world, making it mysterious and inaccessible. With this arrangement of space, the energy of yin (indoor) and yang (garden area) is connected.
Can be shortened a bit
In the life of the people of China, tea has a special place, and drinking tea has completely turned into a separate art of the tea ceremony.
The Chinese prefer tea to other drinks, even in summer time: It not only quenches thirst, but also improves immunity.
Tea ceremony in China - a bit of history
The appearance of tea is attributed to one of the main figures of the divine progenitor of the entire Chinese people, Shen Nong, whose name in Chinese means "Divine Farmer". It was this hero who taught the people to plow the land, grow cereals, as well as medicinal and other useful plants.
Tradition says that Shen Nong had a bull's head and a human body, while his belly was made of transparent jade. Shen Nong helped people cure ailments, and for this he wandered around the country in search of medicinal plants, separating them from the commonly encountered poisonous ones. The healer tested the effect of the herbs found on himself. At the same time, he observed the influence of the eaten plant or its fruits on the body through his transparent stomach. It is said that once he tried a new, unfamiliar plant and as a result received severe poisoning. When he became very ill, he lay down under an unfamiliar bush. Suddenly, a dewdrop rolled from the leaves of the bush. Swallowing this drop, the doctor felt a surge of strength and pleasant cheerfulness throughout his body.
Since that time, Shen Nong carried the leaves of this plant with him everywhere, using them as an antidote. And so it happened that he taught the entire Chinese people to drink tea as a medicine.
In ancient times, tea was a drink for rich people. No one knows exactly when it transitioned into an everyday drink. At the same time, in the 1st century BC, tea was widely distributed, and it was already available on the market. And from 618 to 907, the Chinese tea ceremony began to develop, and tea rooms were first described.
Over time, along the Great Silk Road, tea also penetrated into Russia. It is reported in the literature that the Cossacks presented tea as a gift to the Russian Tsar in 1567. Russians were able to truly appreciate the fragrant drink already in the 19th century. It was then that the Russian tea ceremony was formed. They learned how to brew in the world-famous Russian samovars.
In China, the tea ceremony is a whole ritual where a certain order is observed when brewing a drink. The main purpose of this activity is to reveal palatability and the aroma of tea, and haste is inappropriate here. The Chinese tea ceremony implies calmness and tranquility. Fanciful tea utensils, elegant small-sized dishes, as well as pleasant soft music help to create a special atmosphere - thanks to all these factors, it becomes possible to enjoy an unforgettable fragrant aroma known all over the world. tea drink and long aftertaste.
Features of the tea ritual in Chinese
The tea ceremony in China is called gongfu-cha: gong is the highest art, and cha is, of course, tea. The Chinese themselves attach special importance to the ritual. They have a skill that not everyone can master.
The Chinese ritual of tea drinking is considered one of the most mysterious and mysterious in the whole world. Perhaps this is due to the fact that the Chinese consider tea not just a drink. For them, tea is a wise plant, which is given to transmit the energy of life. To receive this energy, there are certain conditions that are summarized in the rules for holding a tea ceremony.
Special requirements for water
The choice of water with which tea will be brewed is of decisive importance. It must be from a pure source. The most suitable is the one that has a sweetish aftertaste and a soft texture.
When making tea, boiling water is essential. It does not need to be brought to a strong boil, because because of this, its own energy leaves it. They say that water is considered to have boiled to the desired state of tea, as soon as bubbles appear in it, they are not allowed to boil rapidly.
Sounds of music
Traditionally, before the start of the ceremony, a person must cleanse himself, achieve a state of inner harmony and peace. That is why it takes place in a beautiful room and to the sounds of pleasant music, often mesmerizing and mystical. For the best effect, the tea ceremony master prefers to use the sounds of nature. This contributes to the immersion of a person in the depths of his soul and helps to better merge with nature.
What is customary to talk about at the tea ceremony?
During the tea ritual, it is traditional to talk about the tea itself. In addition, an important element of the ceremony is the demonstration of respect for the tea deity and talk about him. Often masters put his figurine or image next to the tea utensils.
The internal state of the audience
According to all the canons, the ritual takes place in an atmosphere of goodness and harmony. In the process of drinking tea, it is not customary to talk loudly, wave your hands or make noise. Full concentration helps to feel the true pleasure from the drink and real happiness.
By the way, the tea ceremony in China involves the participation of 2 to 6 people. It is in this case that one can achieve an amazing atmosphere, called in the traditions the contact of souls.
Tea ceremony interior
All those present are seated on straw mats laid on the floor. Soft pillows of a pleasant warm color are laid out near the guests. A table for tea, called a chaban, is set in the middle, about 10 cm high. It looks like a kind of wooden box. It has special openings where the rest of the tea is poured, because in China, excess water speaks of abundance.
When all the basic principles of tea drinking are observed, the solemn moment of the tea drinking itself comes.
So Chinese tea
A set for the tea ceremony is laid out in front of the guests. The utensils include: a teapot for brewing, a vessel - cha-hai, a tea box called cha-he, and a tea pair. All utensils for the tea ceremony should be made in the same style and not distract with their appearance from a wonderful drink.
First of all, the master puts the dry tea brew in a cha-he - a special porcelain box, which is designed to study the structure of tea and inhale its smell. All participants slowly pass it into each other's hands and inhale the aroma. This ritual has another meaning - during the transmission of cha-he, those present approach each other.
After that, the gongfu-cha master brews the tea. The first poured boiling water is drained - thus the dust is washed off the tea. But already from the next filling, each guest of the ceremony enjoys a miraculous drink.
In front of each participant is on a tray. These are two cups, one of which is high and narrow (wenxiabei), designed to smell, and wide and low (chabei) - to enjoy the color and taste of tea. The second water is poured into tall cups after it has been in the teapot for about 30 seconds. Wensyabei is filled only ¾ and immediately covered with a wide cup. After a while, the upper cup is removed and, bringing the lower one to the nose, inhale the wonderful aroma of the resulting tea. It is important to concentrate and merge with the energy of tea. Tea is drunk slowly, focusing on sensations.
Tea is poured until the drink retains its color and aroma. With each new filling, tea gets different shades of smell and taste.
As a result, the tea ceremony gives peace, peace of mind and helps to forget about the hustle and bustle of our lives.
Tea ceremony in England
The UK is one of the world leaders in tea consumption per person. Tea drinking for the British is not just a habit, it is a ritual with its own established traditions. It originated from the typical English Five-o-clock Tea.
The traditional set for the English tea ceremony is a white or blue tablecloth without patterns, a vase with fresh white flowers. Tea pairs, with tea, a milk jug, a jug of milk, a strainer and a stand for it. In addition, you will need a sugar bowl (preferably with white and brown sugar), teaspoons, a fork and knife, and napkins to match the tablecloth.
Snacks are a must-have for tea. various options English pastries. Traditionally, guests can choose among 5-10 varieties of tea, where Lapsang Souchong is a must, Earl Gray, Darjeeling, Assam, as well as various tea blends.
By the way, another important serving element is a quilted or woolen teapot case (tea-cosy).
The tea ceremony in England has its own secret. When brewing tea, it is taken into account that it will no longer be diluted with boiling water in cups. This means that when brewing, tea leaves are put in the teapot based on the fact that 1 teaspoon of tea is for 1 person. In the case when they use teapot large size, it is recommended to add 1 more spoon at all.
Then the tea is infused for 3-5 minutes, and it is poured to the guests. Immediately after this, you need to pour boiling water from a jug into the teapot (a feature of the tea ceremony is re-filling the tea leaves) and cover it with tea-cosy to maintain the temperature. By the time you finish drinking the first cup, the second filling has time to infuse. The kettle can be filled again, but each time the quality of the drink will deteriorate.
Traditionally, tea is drunk with milk, and tea is added to hot milk, and not vice versa.
Russian tea traditions
The tea ceremony in Moscow is a completely different tradition, very different from the rituals that have developed in the homeland of this drink. They say that the Japanese enjoy tea utensils, the details of the ceremony, their inner world when drinking tea. The tea ceremony in China - the enjoyment of taste and aroma - is valuable by the very fact of observing traditions, entourage, pastries. And for Russians, the most important thing is the gathered company near the Russian samovar. Communication between all those gathered is valuable.
In Moscow, they originally drank black tea. Boiling water is heated in a samovar, and a teapot is placed on top. The brew is made stronger than the tea that is eventually drunk. Tea leaves are poured into the cups, and then boiling water from the samovar.
Pastries are always offered on the table for tea,
lemon, sugar, jam and honey. The latter are most often eaten with tea or spread on bread. Often a "tea pair" - a saucer - is served to the cup. poured into it hot tea from a cup and drink.
Whatever the tea traditions of different nations, everywhere this drink is valued for pleasant taste, delicate aroma and unusual properties.
Joint tea drinking, held in the form of a certain ritual, was born in Japan in the distant Middle Ages as one of the practical meditations of Buddhist monks, and later spread to other areas of Japanese life. The main goal of the Japanese tea ceremony is a meeting of the tea master with his guests for a conversation, joint relaxation with leisurely tea drinking and enjoyment of peace and beauty.
Several types of traditional Japanese tea drinking
1. Special - such a ceremony is held if there is a certain reason: a meeting of friends, a holiday, and earlier - preparation for battle, etc.
2. Tea drinking at sunrise - it is held from 3-4 o'clock until 6 o'clock in the morning.
3. Morning tea ceremony - held at 6 o'clock. Especially popular in the heat, as at this time of day it is still cool.
4. Afternoon tea - starts at 13:00. Cakes can be served with tea.
5. Evening ceremony - at 18 pm.
6. Night - starts around midnight and can last until 4 am. It is most often performed when the sky is illuminated by the moon.
Venue for Japanese tea ceremony
A special place is set up for the classic Japanese ceremonial tea drinking. Usually this is a small tea garden (tyaniva), in which a tea house (chashitsu) and auxiliary buildings are built: an entrance hall, a pavilion for gathering guests. The tyaniva garden simulates a mountain slope with evergreens, moss and ancient dim lanterns. A path leads to the house, lined with the most ordinary stones imitating a mountain path. The whole territory is usually fenced and you can enter the ceremony through heavy wooden gates.
The chashitsu house is a simple, modestly furnished room, consisting of one room with a narrow and low entrance and several high windows. A small entrance is made so that everyone who enters can bow, and also leave behind the walls of the house not only weapons, but all worldly concerns. The most important part of the chashitsu is a niche in the wall - the tokonoma, equipped just opposite the entrance. Flowers, a censer with incense are placed in the tokonoma, and a scroll with a saying prepared for the ceremony is hung out. Tea is prepared in a bronze hearth located in the center of the room.
How is the tea ceremony in Japan
Guests invited to tea pass through the open gate to the tea garden, change their shoes in the hallway and gather in one pavilion, in which they are served small bowls of hot water. Then the guests walk along the stone path to the tea house, admiring the garden along the way and freeing their minds from everyday affairs. At the house, guests are met by the owner - a tea master, here a ceremony of greeting and washing takes place at a stone well located nearby. Each person who comes with the help of a ladle washes his face, hands, rinses his mouth and rinses the handle of the ladle, leaving it to the next guest. Now guests can take off their shoes at the doorstep and go inside the house. First, everyone should study the tokonoma saying scroll and understand the theme of the tea party. A little later, after the guests, the host enters. While the water in the cauldron heats up, those who come are served a light treat - kaiseki, after which the guests go out to warm up, and the owner changes the scroll in tokonoma for a symbolic composition made up of tree branches or flowers.
Then the ceremony participants return to the house, and the tea master begins to prepare thick green tea from the powder. At first ready drink everyone is invited to drink from one cup, and then each guest is served a separate cup of tea. The brewing and the first drinking of tea takes place in complete silence, and when everyone receives their cup of tea, the conversation begins. Sweets are served with tea. When the conversation ends, the owner, having apologized, leaves the house - this means that the ceremony is over. The guests once again inspect the tokonoma and the hearth and leave the house. The tea master bows to everyone who leaves, and then returns to the chasitsa, sits inside for a short time, immersing himself in the sensations of the ceremony, and then tidies up the house, takes the dishes and flowers...
Interestingly, the dishes intended for Japanese tea drinking are thoroughly washed, but do not scrape off the stubborn tea coating and keep traces of all previous ceremonies - traces of time.
Do not be upset if you cannot arrange a Japanese tea ceremony in accordance with all the rules - in the absence of opportunities, a separate room or even just a table is allowed.
The Japanese drink mostly green tea, rarely yellow. yellow teas brewed in Chinese style, in gaiwan, insisting no more than 2 minutes. Green teas are drunk in the usual, sheet form and in powder form. In the second case, tea leaves are ground in a porcelain mortar before brewing. The normal amount of tea leaves for 200 g of water is 1 teaspoon of powder (or 1.5-2 tablespoons leaf tea). Tea is brewed in porcelain globular teapots, often, according to Chinese custom, with tea strainers. The temperature of the water for brewing tea does not exceed 60°C, the brewing time does not exceed 4 minutes. Under such conditions, tea cannot be fully extracted, but the drink retains a maximum of aroma, which the Japanese value most of all in it. The tea has a faint, pale green color. Japanese cups usually do not have handles and are very small - their volume does not exceed 50 ml. Tea from them is drunk very slowly, in small sips, without sugar or other additives.
Tea in Japan accompanies every meal. It is drunk before meals and after meals, usually washed down with rice. In addition to everyday tea drinking, tea is drunk during the Japanese tea ceremony. In such cases, a special, ceremonial tea is prepared. The leaves are ground into a fine powder, which is brewed at the rate of approximately 100 g of tea per 500 ml of water. The resulting drink has the consistency of liquid sour cream, it is very tart and extremely aromatic.
Unlike the Chinese, who believe that tea can only be drunk hot, the Japanese also willingly drink cold green tea.
Japanese tea ceremony
The tea ceremony (jap. - cha-no yu) is a specific ritualized form of joint tea drinking, created in the Middle Ages in Japan and is still cultivated in this country. Appearing initially as one of the forms of meditation practice of Buddhist monks, it has become an integral element of Japanese culture, closely related to many other cultural phenomena.
Story
According to various sources, the beginning of the use of tea in Japan dates back to the 7th-8th centuries AD. Tea was brought to Japan from the mainland. It is believed that it was brought by Buddhist monks, for whom tea was a special drink - they drank it during meditation and offered it to the Buddha. As Zen Buddhism spread in Japan and the priests began to have an increasing influence on the cultural and political life of the country, tea consumption also spread. In the 12th century, the monk Eisai promoted the introduction of tea drinking in the court by presenting the Kissa Yozeki, a book on maintaining health through tea, to the shogun Minamoto no Sanetomo. By the 13th century, drinking tea had become common among the samurai class. Over time, the practice of “tea tournaments” penetrated from the monasteries into the aristocratic environment - meetings at which tasting a large number of varieties of tea and the participants were required to taste the tea to determine its variety and origin. Among the common people, among peasants and townspeople, tea drinking also became a tradition, but it took place much more modestly than among the nobility, and was just a meeting for sharing a drink over a leisurely conversation.
Following the Chinese Sung tea ceremony, Japanese monks formed their own ritual of sharing tea. The original form of the ritual was developed and introduced by the monk Dae (1236-1308). Daie taught the first tea masters - also monks. A century later, the priest Ikkyu Sojun (1394-1481), abbot of the Daitokuji temple complex in Kyoto, taught the tea ceremony to his student Murata Juko (Shuko). The latter developed and transformed the tea ceremony, and taught it to the shogun Ashikaga Yoshimitsu, thus giving the tradition a "start in life" - like in most countries, in Japan, everything that was customary with the ruler immediately became fashionable with subjects.
Murata followed the idea of \u200b\u200b"wabi" underlying the ceremony - the desire for simplicity and naturalness, in part, as opposed to the splendor and luxury of the samurai "tea tournaments". He combined the four basic principles of the tea ceremony: harmony ("wa"), reverence ("kei"), purity ("sei") and silence, peace ("seki"). The further development of the tea ceremony was provided by Dzeo Takeno (1502-1555). He began to use a special building for the ceremony - a tea house (chashitsu), which, in accordance with the principle of "wabi", was given the appearance of a peasant house with a thatched roof. He also put into use in ceremony ceramic dishes rough work.
A student of Dzeo Takeno, an outstanding master of the tea ceremony Sen no Rikyu (1522-1591), finalized the tea house and put into practice the creation of a garden (tyaniva) and a stone path (roji) leading through the garden to the house. Sen no Rikyu formalized the etiquette of the ceremony, the sequence of actions of the participants, and even determined what conversations should be held at what point in the ceremony in order to create a mood of calm, moving away from worries and striving for truth and beauty. The innovations made by Rikyu have given a new meaning to "sabi", a principle of sophistication and beauty also embodied in the tea ceremony. The atmosphere of the ceremony was aimed at showing not the obvious, bright, conspicuous, but the hidden beauty lurking in simple things, soft colors and quiet sounds. Thus, by the 16th century, the tea ceremony had turned from a simple collective tea drinking into a mini-performance, which was generally regarded as one of the forms of spiritual practice and in which every detail, every object, every action had a symbolic meaning. The Japanese say that "the tea ceremony is the art of embodying the grace of Emptiness and the goodness of Peace."
The fate of Sen no Rikyu was tragic: his aesthetic principles were in conflict with the tastes of Toyotomi Hideyoshi, who preferred lush, rich receptions and precious tea utensils (for him, in 1585, an ogon chashitsu was built - a tea room covered with gold foil, all tea accessories in which they were made of pure gold), and in 1591 the tea master was forced by order of the sovereign to commit ritual suicide. Nevertheless, the tea ceremony developed in line with the principles developed by Sen no Rikyu, and the Senke school founded by him became the leading school of the tea ceremony. Rikyu's grandson, Sen Sotan (1578-1658), who became the third iemoto of the school, played an important role in strengthening the position of the school. The sons of Sen Sotan led three branches of the Senke school: Omote Senke, Ura Senke and Mushanokoji Senke.
The tea ceremony has spread to all levels of Japanese society. By the beginning of the 18th century, a whole system of tea schools had formed in Japan, however, all of them were branches of the Senke school. At the head of each school was an iemoto - the head and senior of the tea masters, who managed the school and attested the masters trained in it. The main task of the iemoto was to maintain the immutability of the canonized tradition of the tea ceremony. Schools have developed the necessary set of exercises designed to develop the skills of a tea master. Naturally, they were trained in everything related to the organization and decoration of the ceremony, with the preparation of tea, with maintaining a proper conversation and creating the right mood.
