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Stories from a Tearoom Window: Lore and Legends of the Japanese Tea Ceremony
The Japanese tea ceremony blends art with nature and has for centuries brought harmony to the daily life of its practitioners.
Stories From a Tearoom Window is a timeless collection of tales of the ancient tea sages, compiled in the eighteenth century. Both longtime adherents and newcomers to the tea ceremony will be fascinated by these legends, anecdotes, bits of lore and history that so aptly express the essence of tea.
Many of these stories center around the lives of the great tea masters. First among them is Sen no Rikyu, who perfected the tea ceremony and embodies its poise, modesty and refinement. Among the famous tales recounted here are those of Rikyu's morning glory tea ceremony and of his tragic death. Darker presences of the great warlords Nobunaga and Hideyoshi, who sponsored and also abused Rikyu, are manifest as well.
Holding to the tea ceremony's core ideal of natural simplicity, author Shigenori Chikamatsu brings to the page stories which touch on the related arts of ceramics, poetry, Zen, calligraphy, and the origins of everyday items of Japanese life such as the cotton tabi split-toed socks and the bento lunchbox.
Chapters
Stories From a Tearoom Window is a timeless collection of tales of the ancient tea sages, compiled in the eighteenth century. Both longtime adherents and newcomers to the tea ceremony will be fascinated by these legends, anecdotes, bits of lore and history that so aptly express the essence of tea.
Many of these stories center around the lives of the great tea masters. First among them is Sen no Rikyu, who perfected the tea ceremony and embodies its poise, modesty and refinement. Among the famous tales recounted here are those of Rikyu's morning glory tea ceremony and of his tragic death. Darker presences of the great warlords Nobunaga and Hideyoshi, who sponsored and also abused Rikyu, are manifest as well.
Holding to the tea ceremony's core ideal of natural simplicity, author Shigenori Chikamatsu brings to the page stories which touch on the related arts of ceramics, poetry, Zen, calligraphy, and the origins of everyday items of Japanese life such as the cotton tabi split-toed socks and the bento lunchbox.
Chapters
192 pages, Hardcover
First published January 1, 2009
11 people are currently reading
152 people want to read
About the author
Chikamatsu Monzaemon
95 books25 followersBorn in Japan in 1653 with the name of "Sugimore Nobumori", Chikamatsu Monzaemon was to become perhaps the greatest dramatist in the history of the Japanese theatre.
Chikamatsu is said to have written over one hundred plays, most of which were written for the bunraku or puppet theatre. His works combine comedy and tragedy, poetry and prose, and present scenes of combat, torture, and suicide on stage. Most of Chikamatsu's domestic tragedies are based an actual events. His Sonezaki shinju (The Love Suicides at Sonezaki), for example, was based on reports of an actual double suicide of the apprentice clerk and his lover.
But he wrote some famous historical plays, too.
In 1705, Chikamatsu moved to Osaka where he became a writer for Takemoto Gidayu's puppet theatre and remained here until his death in 1725.
Chikamatsu is said to have written over one hundred plays, most of which were written for the bunraku or puppet theatre. His works combine comedy and tragedy, poetry and prose, and present scenes of combat, torture, and suicide on stage. Most of Chikamatsu's domestic tragedies are based an actual events. His Sonezaki shinju (The Love Suicides at Sonezaki), for example, was based on reports of an actual double suicide of the apprentice clerk and his lover.
But he wrote some famous historical plays, too.
In 1705, Chikamatsu moved to Osaka where he became a writer for Takemoto Gidayu's puppet theatre and remained here until his death in 1725.
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Displaying 1 - 10 of 10 reviews
April 11, 2017
I don't know why it took me so long to finish it!
For the Chado practitioners who are interested and wants to visualize what Sen no Rikyu and his disciples experience when performing, learning and creating the way of tea. You can actually get a feel and an understanding of the relationship between Rikyu and his Disciples, wife, successors, and with the Lords of Japan.
I wish I had finished this book before my visit to the Chado art museum in Kyoto; as many of Chadogu (tea utensils) mentioned in the book were actually present at that museum! (Note about the Chado museum: they change the displayed Chadogu sometimes, and they have a hall where a suite able seasonal tea ceremony is performed for the guests)
"Stories from a tearoom window" is for the tea aficionados, Chado students, and Japanophiles. One downside about this book is it was a literal translation as the translator could have been more creative in titling some of the stories to capture the readers attention; if I haven't had the background knowledge about Chado I wouldn't touch such a book and I wouldn't be able to understand or grasp overall feel of what the stories are telling.
For the Chado practitioners who are interested and wants to visualize what Sen no Rikyu and his disciples experience when performing, learning and creating the way of tea. You can actually get a feel and an understanding of the relationship between Rikyu and his Disciples, wife, successors, and with the Lords of Japan.
I wish I had finished this book before my visit to the Chado art museum in Kyoto; as many of Chadogu (tea utensils) mentioned in the book were actually present at that museum! (Note about the Chado museum: they change the displayed Chadogu sometimes, and they have a hall where a suite able seasonal tea ceremony is performed for the guests)
"Stories from a tearoom window" is for the tea aficionados, Chado students, and Japanophiles. One downside about this book is it was a literal translation as the translator could have been more creative in titling some of the stories to capture the readers attention; if I haven't had the background knowledge about Chado I wouldn't touch such a book and I wouldn't be able to understand or grasp overall feel of what the stories are telling.
February 2, 2018
This book was written just after the Sengoku Period in Japan but wasn't published until centuries later, and really, I'm not even sure it's appropriate to call it a "book" except in form. It's a number of small stories, some no more than a paragraph in length, relating to Sen no Rikyu and the practice of tea ceremony in 17th century Japan.
The anecdotes have translations beneath them of certain terms, but I think this is a book that require some pre-existing knowledge of Japanese culture and of tea ceremony in particular to understand. Many of the stories are about particular practices in tea ceremony or a certain usage of the tools that Rikyu admired or disdained that would be meaningless to someone not steeped in the culture of tea. I'm a rank amateur in tea--I can make matcha and know some ceremony etiquette, but that's it--and there were plenty of stories that I didn't understand the meaning of.
But there were plenty that I did. My favorite is probably when Sen no Rikyu attended Toyotomi Hideyoshi and was presented with a flowering branch and a bowl full of water and told to arrange the flowers in the bowl. Rather than trying to come up with some ikebana arrangement that would work, Rikyu stripped off all the flower petals from the branch and set them to floating in the bowl of water, thus cutting the Gordian knot. Or the way that when a rainstorm ruined a garden sitting, Lord Enshu didn't put any flowers in the tokonoma, only a little water on the walls. Enshu told the guests that no flowers would have compared next to a garden in the rain, and they acknowledged his wisdom, and in response some other tea ceremonies started just throwing water onto the tokonoma without knowing what the real reason was.
Or this very short story that sums up cha no yu pretty well:
For every story about how five Zen temples in Kyoto held a poetry slam and then got drunk, there's more like the ones above.
The anecdotes have translations beneath them of certain terms, but I think this is a book that require some pre-existing knowledge of Japanese culture and of tea ceremony in particular to understand. Many of the stories are about particular practices in tea ceremony or a certain usage of the tools that Rikyu admired or disdained that would be meaningless to someone not steeped in the culture of tea. I'm a rank amateur in tea--I can make matcha and know some ceremony etiquette, but that's it--and there were plenty of stories that I didn't understand the meaning of.
But there were plenty that I did. My favorite is probably when Sen no Rikyu attended Toyotomi Hideyoshi and was presented with a flowering branch and a bowl full of water and told to arrange the flowers in the bowl. Rather than trying to come up with some ikebana arrangement that would work, Rikyu stripped off all the flower petals from the branch and set them to floating in the bowl of water, thus cutting the Gordian knot. Or the way that when a rainstorm ruined a garden sitting, Lord Enshu didn't put any flowers in the tokonoma, only a little water on the walls. Enshu told the guests that no flowers would have compared next to a garden in the rain, and they acknowledged his wisdom, and in response some other tea ceremonies started just throwing water onto the tokonoma without knowing what the real reason was.
Or this very short story that sums up cha no yu pretty well:
Ichio Iori taught that excess should be avoided in everything. For example, it is not good, at the end of autumn, to hang a paper scroll with the inscription, "Leaves fall down like raindrops."How vulgar and unrestrained.
For every story about how five Zen temples in Kyoto held a poetry slam and then got drunk, there's more like the ones above.
April 8, 2016
Been using this book as a meditation tool. It is the lore and legends of the Japanese Tea Ceremony dating from the late 1600's. It was first published in 1804. The book explains how the simple act of preparing and serving tea can become an artistic and spiritual experience. A commonplace everyday existence can become the essence of aestheticism when we learn to adore the beauty, harmony and clarity in our everyday life.
June 10, 2016
I really loved the style of this book. The stories, often about tools or etiquette, come in tiny snippets and I think these little notes really give you time to mull over exactly what is being said. It's an enormous wealth of information that has been packaged into bite-sized morsels, well worth savouring.
March 8, 2020
A translation of Shigenori Chikamatsu’s Chaso Kanwa. The ‘stories’ pertain to the lore and legends of the Japanese tea ceremony or cha-no-yu: vignettes from the lives of famous tea masters like Sen no Rikyu and his disciple Lord Sansai, details on the shape, provenance, and history of numerous meibutsu, masterpiece utensils; and anecdotes of celebrated tea gatherings. Generously illustrated with over fifty black-and-white images and nicely bound with a jacket over the hardback, its design displays the same level of discretion required by the tea ceremony itself. A perfect companion to Tuttle’s translation of Kakuzō Okakura’s The Book of Tea.
March 7, 2019
After reading most of the tea ceremony canonical texts, this little book is rather anecdotal, which was the point of it. Not much new in it, but the illustrations are really nice. Some stories were fun, others well known and recorded elsewhere.
Fun and quick book but not much new in it.
Fun and quick book but not much new in it.
November 9, 2020
129 anecdotes on life of tea masters, stories about utensils, calligraphy scrolls, flowers arrangement etc. Personally I found amusing/useful about 30 stories at most. The others would mostly be of interest to people highly proficient in japanese history/traditional culture.
January 22, 2019
reading this book strangely soothing my mind and i still know nothing about japanese tea ceremony.
July 22, 2015
Wonderful short stories and anecdotes from a real Japanese tea master in the 17th century. Beautiful insights into the true meaning of tea, wabisabi and zen culture in Japan.
October 29, 2011
A nice read to soothe a weary heart.
Displaying 1 - 10 of 10 reviews