chanoyu
  • wa harmony
  • kei respect
  • sei purity
  • jaku tranquillity

Chanoyu, literally hot water for tea, is the preparation and serving of powdered green tea to guests. Its present form derives from Sen no Rikyu, 1522 to 1591. Three schools descend from his grandson Sotan: Omotesenke, Urasenke and Mushakojisenke. This site follows Urasenke.

A gathering has a fixed order. The guests cross a garden, wait, are called, and enter the room through a door too low to pass upright. The host lays out the utensils, purifies them, makes the tea, serves it, washes and withdraws. Every utensil has one function and a name. The sequence is the temae.

the ceremony

rendered in the browser, in real time

The roji seen from above: a path of stepping stones
                   through bamboo, a middle gate, a waiting shelter, and the
                   tea house at the far end with its lamp lit.

One scene, three ways in. Point at a name to see where it stands in the garden.

rojiThe garden between the outer gate and the tea house: stepping stones, a middle gate, a waiting shelter, and the tsukubai, where the hands and mouth are rinsed. Crossed on foot.

chashitsuThe four and a half mat room, entered directly rather than by the garden. The path remains open on foot.

temaeThe procedure for thin tea, from laying out the utensils to carrying them out, seen from the guest's place. A plays it unattended.

documentation

names, dimensions, arrangements