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In this time, tea plants didn’t grow in Japan until the first seeds were brought from China. This was the time when China and Japans cultural exchanges reached a peak.
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At this time, tea plants were being grown in Japan and consumed mainly by priests and noblemen.
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Tea was rare and valuable.
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In 1187, Myoan Eisai (a Japanese Priest) traveled to China to study religion and philosophy. When he came back, he became the founder of Zen Buddhism. He was the first one to cultivate tea for religious purposes, unlike the others before him who grew tea for medicine. He was also the first to suggest and teach grinding of tea leaves before adding hot water. A Sung emperor named Hui Tsung, invented the bamboo whisk. These are 2 methods that Japanese still use today.
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Tea started to spread outside of the Uji area where it had been growing since the beginning of the adventure. By now popularity and demand was growing rapidly and there were soon tea plants all over Japan. The samurai class embraced it and caused even greater popularity of the ritual preparation of green tea.
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In 1211 Eisai wrote the first book on Japanese Tea ceremonies. In the book it included how tea had certain health benefits and cures for things including loss of appetite, paralysis, and sickness from tainted water. According to him it was a cure for most disorders, so it may have been the main reason on how the Tea Ceremony gained so much popularity.
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People had tea parties for their friends. There were games in these parties as well. The game was to see if anyone could taste the difference between genuine tea and other teas. Over time betting was combined with the game which made it more exciting and popular. Normally each guest was given 10 cups of tea but after a while the number got bigger until there were 100 cups each! They then started passing around the tea bowls which explains why one tea bowl is used during today’s Tea Ceremony.
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People started to make a setting for the tea celebrations and decorated the tea room with Tatami mats, cupboards and shelves. They also started using proper tea utensils.
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Murata is 11 years old and has entered into priesthood at Shoumyou Temple and stays there until he is 20 years old.
Click here for more information on Murata Juko. -
Ten years after Murata Juko finished priesthood training, he returned to priesthood at Daitoku-ji Temple and was taught zen meditation from his teacher, Ikkyuu Soujun.
Later he was rewarded for his profound understanding of Zen and received a diploma signed by the Chinese monk Yuanwu. After this, he spent the rest of his days in his own tea room in Nara to perfect the tea ceremony, and gave lessons to anyone interested in learning it. -
Murata made an important procedure on Japanese Tea ceremonies which is that he would make the tea himself and serve to the guests. He preferred the more personal atmosphere lined with 4 and a half mats. It was a small room which could fit around five to six people. He used this method to make the room calm with refined simplicity and the importance of understanding the aesthetic qualities of the pottery cups that they are drinking out of.
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At the end of the Muromachi period the tea culture reached its peak, and tea was then given different perspectives from people. Chanoyusha was the name given to a professional teacher of the tea ceremony like Shukou. A Wabi-suki was a teacher with 3 unique qualities: faith in the performance of tea, ability to act with decorum befitting a proper master, and excellent practical skills. He not only met all the qualities of a wabi-suki, but was a collector of fine Chinese tea utensils as well.
