I learned that tea is a symbol to both China and Japan, and Chinese traditions and art inspired the way that the Japanese would symbolize tea. Like China, tea became a very significant cultural aspect to Japanese society. One comparison between tea in China and Japan is art. The Chinese used Tang poetry to communicate with each other about tea. This became their way of socializing with each other and having common interests. Similarly, art is extremely important to the Japanese, and tea teaches them a lot about the values that art has to offer. One example is the chanoyu. The chanoyu, or the tea ceremony, is one where guests are able to attend a tea room and are greeted by the host (Kyōkai, N.H. 2018). This tradition is one of the most important for Japanese culture as it teaches them not only about values but also about social customs. The way in which the chanoyu represents art is the idea that it is unique and the tea rooms are designed with Japanese characters and special shapes on the tea bowls that they use. The idea that they sit on the floor with a table at the same level as them is another example of how chanoyu is a form of Japanese art. In addition to the artistic aspect, there is also a religious aspect of chanoyu. During the time of the Tang Dynasty in China, they used Buddhist ideals and traditions to inspire themselves. Their poetry entails aspects of Buddhism and how that shapes the way they drank tea. Buddhist monks in China sent tea packages to Japan (Farris, W. 2019), and as a result they were able to spread their culture by introducing tea to Japan. The Japanese were then influenced by Chinese traditions and that would lead Japan into creating traditions similar to those of the Chinese, highlighting the importance that tea and art have on Japanese society. One example of how Buddhism influenced the way that Japanese used tea was the Chado. The Chado struggled to teach students about their traditional art (Anderson, J.L. 1987), and instead they used religion to get students accustomed to new values and to understand the relevance that art has on Japanese society. This also led to the formation of tea schools, which were linked to the chanoyu traditions. This is significant because it reinforces the idea that art was the most significant aspect of Japanese education, and the tea bowls and use of tea became both a religious and artistic aspect of Japanese traditions that would shape them to be the culture that they are today.
Works Cited
Anderson, Jennifer L. “Japanese Tea Ritual: Religion in Practice.” Man 22, no. 3 (1987): 475–98. https://doi.org/10.2307/2802501.
Farris, William Wayne. A Bowl for a Coin A Commodity History of Japanese Tea. 1 online resource vols. s.l.: University of Hawai’i Press, 2019. https://openresearchlibrary.org/content/8911b20b-3f72-4b43-82f4-fdcdc89f71f0.
The Japanese Tea Ceremony. Nihon Hōsō Kyōkai (Films for the Humanities and Sciences), 2018. DVD, 31min.
Tomomi, S. 2016. Tea Ceremony: History, Basics, And Where To Enjoy It In Japan. Matcha. Retrieved from https://matcha-jp.com/en/2674
