Japanese tea ceremony is the abbreviation of tea ceremony etiquette respected by Japanese tea lovers. Japanese tea ceremony culture contains rich cultural connotations and Japan’s unique aesthetic characteristics. Below is the connotation and meaning of Japanese tea ceremony culture that I have carefully compiled for you. Let’s take a look.
The connotation of Japanese tea ceremony culture
The Japanese tea ceremony, with the four characters of "harmony, respect, purity and tranquility", has become a cultural and artistic activity that integrates religion, philosophy, ethics and aesthetics. .
The Buddhist monk Sen no Rikyu once said: "Hejing Qingji" these four words are the foundation of tea ceremony. Harmony represents peaceful harmony, that is, harmony between people. When we enter the teahouse and taste a bowl of tea, whether we are the guest or the host, "please go first", "please use it slowly" and all kinds of words are all It represents the meaning of "harmony" contained in the tea ceremony.
When it comes to respect, it means respect for elders, and it also represents respect and love for friends and colleagues. With harmony and respect, the true meaning of tea ceremony began.
Qing means pure and clean. It is also a very emphasized part of the various etiquette and practices of the tea ceremony.
From clarity to tranquility, which is the so-called "quietness", it is like the feeling of being deeply settled in the heart in a silent space without external interference. Silence is the highest concept of beauty in the tea ceremony. While seeking "quietness", you can observe your contented heart and let your heart settle in deep thinking. This is the thought born in Zen, and it is also The best answer to life.
Japanese tea ceremony culture has its unique aesthetic attributes. It has seven major beauties: imperfection, simplicity, haggardness, nature, mystery, refinement, and silence.
The ideological background of Japanese tea ceremony art is Buddhism, and the core of its thought is Zen. It is a new type of religious form that takes the religious content of Zen as its main body and aims to enable people to achieve great enlightenment. In Japan, great tea masters of all generations have gone to Zen temples to practice for several years, received Dharma names from Zen temples, and been guided by Zen masters throughout their lives. However, after they received Dharma names, they did not stay in Zen temples, but returned to the teahouse to live their lives. Tea life. The life of a tea person is similar to the life of ordinary people and the life of an artist. Therefore, although tea drinkers have learned Zen through Zen Buddhism and have a heir relationship with Zen Buddhism, tea ceremony has its own independence and is a kind of "house Zen" that exists independently outside of Zen temples.
The process of the tea ceremony is mainly divided into processes such as changing clothes, viewing the tea garden, first tea, tea food, neutral tea, strong tea, post-charcoal, thin tea, exit, connection, etc. Among them, strong tea is the most important part, and The specific methods vary according to different tea ceremony schools.
As for the props of Japanese tea ceremony, they can be divided into broad and narrow senses. Tea props in a broad sense include reception utensils, tea banquet utensils, courtyard utensils, and tea washing utensils; tea utensils in a narrow sense only refer to cool stoves, tea bowls, tea cups, tea pots, tea cauldrons, tea spoons, and tea bottles. Some people even use tea utensils. The tea bowl itself is called a tea utensil.
In Japan, the purest tea ceremony is called "Soan Tea". The tea ceremony of Caoan Tea is a thorough criticism of nobility, wealth, and power, as well as a new value discovery and value creation of lowliness and poverty. The meaning of Japanese tea ceremony culture
The tea ceremony is the crystallization of Japanese culture and the representative of Japanese culture. It is also the norm of Japanese life and the sustenance of Japanese souls. Today, the five-hundred-year-old tea ceremony has ushered in an unprecedented period of prosperity. Teahouses and tea pavilions are found all over Japan; teahouses and tea parties have become a major item in various cultural activities; and various tea props have become a symbol of Japanese beauty. There are many movies, TV shows, art exhibitions, and writings about tea ceremony culture; as many as 500 people are engaged in tea ceremony activities.
Japan’s economic miracle has aroused people’s exploration of its cultural background around the world. At the same time, Japan strives to enhance friendship with people from all over the world. They also actively promote their own culture. The first thing the Japanese promote to the outside world is the tea ceremony. Tea ceremony is a shortcut for us to understand Japanese culture and understand Japanese people.
However, the tea ceremony is really a difficult cultural phenomenon for foreigners to understand. It is natural for people who have not been exposed to tea ceremony not to understand tea ceremony. Even those who have visited the tea ceremony performance are at a loss and cannot find the appropriate words to explain it.
Try to summarize this into three reasons: inclusiveness, intangibility, and limitations. The tea ceremony is rich in content, and it includes almost all the content of Eastern culture in a small tea room. In terms of thought, it contains immortal thought, Taoism, Yin and Yang Tao, Confucianism, Shinto, etc.; in terms of form, it includes architecture, courtyards, calligraphy and painting, sculpture, etiquette, flower arrangement, lacquerware, pottery, bambooware, cooking, sewing, etc. The tea ceremony is called an applied philosophy and an artistic life. Displayed in the middle of the tea room is a vivid "Little Toyo". Therefore, it is difficult for us to define it. Moreover, tea ceremony is a living art, and it is difficult for us to grasp its form. The art of tea ceremony is established through the tea ceremony, but once the tea ceremony is over, the artistic creation disappears.
When studying tea ceremony, we cannot watch and think quietly like appreciating a painting. We must capture the momentary phenomenon as the tea ceremony progresses. But there are not only many gaps left between moments, but also, we are often fascinated by the small phenomena, and it is difficult to outline the whole picture of the tea event. Furthermore, the tea ceremony is different from common art forms such as music, dance, and painting. The performer and the appreciator are integrated and indistinguishable. If you want to truly appreciate the beauty of the tea ceremony, you must participate in the tea ceremony in person. But being a good host requires years of practice, and even being a guest is not easy. Tea ceremony practice attaches great importance to practice and opposes relying on books. This requires that every tea ceremony researcher must be a practitioner of tea ceremony art. This creates many difficulties for foreigners to understand the tea ceremony.
Due to the self-admiration of tea ceremony and other arts, tea ceremony itself has always lacked the self-confidence to call itself an art. Over the years, people who devote themselves to the practice of tea ceremony have emerged in endlessly, but as bystanders, people who calmly think and study the art of tea ceremony are very rare. Defining tea ceremony and comprehensively discussing tea ceremony are new things that have only appeared in recent years.