Japanese Tea

Ceremony

This ceremony is a ritual practiced all over Japan. It involves the　preparation of Green tea(Matcha) and serving it with sweets to a small group of guests.

The host is called the ていしゅ(Teishu),the guest of honor is called しょきゃく (Shokyaku),　 and the rest of the guests are called きゃく(Kyaku).　　　

きゃく

しょきゃく

ていしゅ

おかしい　

Preparing for the tea ceremony is a huge undertaking! The host has more to worry about than just preparing the tea and sweets.

They also have to get all the utensils together, collect flowers from the garden, and clean the tea house. Cleanliness is extremely important in

the Japanese culture, there for the tea house must be spotless!

Inside The Tea House

Tatami Mats: These are traditional grass mats used as flooring in Japanese homes.

たたみ　

ちゃしつ

Shoji Screens: These are screens made of paper that let light through and provide privacy.

しょじ

The formation of the mats and the tea room are important to the Zen of the ceremony and the rooms are always neatly set out and organized.

Utensils and Equipmentちゃ　どぐ

Chakin (茶巾 )： A white cloth used to ritually cleanse the tea bowl after the guest is finished.

Chasen (茶せん ): A special whisk made from bamboo.

Chawan (茶碗 ): Tea bowls that tea is served in. There are different Types of bowls, the deep bowl is used in the winter and the shallow bowls are used in the summer.

Chanoyugama (茶の湯釜 ): An iron pot or kettle used to boil The water for the tea.

Kensui (懸垂 ): A little pot where waste water is poured into after a chawan has been rinsed.

Natsume (夏目 ): A short tea caddy with a flat lid where theMatcha is stored.

Preparation

The preparation of the tea is a simple but long ritual that has many steps and takes years to learn and even more to perfect. The ceremony is all about the preparation, to be able to make the tea from your heart and with out thinking to much about it is a

great skill and is greatly respected in japan.

There are two seasons for the tea ceremony, one in the winter and another in the summer. The preparation of the tea and the setting is slightly modified for each season

but follows along the same lines.　

Tea house in winter Tea house in summer

Preparation before ceremony:

• Send out invitations to guests• Get out and clean tea equipment• Clean tea house or room

-Change tatami mats -Change old shoji paper

• Clean the garden• Start preparing the sweets

Preparation of the Matcha

• Preheat the Matcha bowl with hot water and place the whisk facing down into the water

• Use the bamboo scoop to measure about 2 scoops of Matcha powder and place it in the bowl

• Poor the hot water into the bowl with the Matcha powder

• Whisk the Matcha until it makes a thick frost with lots of tiny bubbles

• Then serve to guests!

History of the tea ceremony1187 Buddhist monk, Eisai brought back seeds and planted green

tea in Kyushu.

In the 1300’s gathering to drink tea became a regular for the Japanese people and then in the 1400’s the tea ceremony became

a tradition.

~The End~By: Sara Hamilton(サーラ　ハムラトン ) and Brooke Rinfet(ブルツク　リンフレツト )