Zen of tea “Japanese Tea Ceremony”

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Japanese tea ceremony (茶道) is a traditional and ceremonial tea preparation influenced by Zen Buddhism. There are few different types of tea ceremony such as 茶の湯 (hot water for tea) refers to a single ceremony or ritual, 茶事 (tea meeting) refers to a full tea ceremony with a meal, 薄茶 (thin tea) and 濃茶 (thick tea).

To become a tea practitioner, the person must go through few years of training and practice with the details of setting tea sets and serving tea in the most perfect and graceful manner. The whole process is not about tea preparation only, but in one’s mind and heart.

On the other hand, guests are not only picking up the bowl and drinking, but they are to enjoy the painting on the bowl and the colour of tea. Besides, there are few steps of manner on how to pick up the bowl, drink, and put down the bowl. The ultimate objective of tea ceremony is to build up a tranquil and peaceful relation with the host and guest.

Tatami rooms are used in tea ceremony. A guest doesn’t just walk straight into the room. Before walking into it, they have to kneel and bow to ask for permission to enter. After the permission is granted, one has to shuffle on the hands and knees, and then walk quietly across the room.

That’s why tatami rooms are used in the ceremony, to maintain the graceful posture of walking quietly. Also, you must remember to avoid stepping on the joint parts between each tatami mat, for it is considered to be disrespectful.

There are no seats and tea tables in a tea ceremony, everyone has to sit in seiza style. The whole ceremony takes at least an hour to complete. It is a great experience if you are coming to Japan, but sitting in that style for an hour is quite a hard task.