The Spirituality of The Tea – Tea Ceremony and The Use of Dress

The Spirituality of The Tea – Tea Ceremony and The Use of Dress

The Use of Dress

Most components and movements of the tea ceremony are an evolution of kimono wearing. An example would be where certain movements made during the ceremony, having been tailored with the kimono long sleeves in mind. The sleeves were to be prevented from getting dirty in the process of making tea, as well as when serving and drinking it. Some motions also require for the kimono and hakama to be straightened. Additionally, silk cloths, known as Fukusa, are folded into the sash known as the obi. If a person is not wearing an obi, it must be substituted with a regular belt, failure to which the motions will not be executed in a precise way. The kobukusa and Kaishi are both tucked into the kimono while the fan is tucked into the obi as well. If the person performing the tea ceremony has worn western clothes, it will be required that such a person finds an alternative place to keep these items. The kimono sleeves also act as pockets in which used Kaishi are placed after folding the latter[1].

Men attending a tea ceremony often wear a combination of hakama and kimono. A hakama is a long skirt that may or may not be divided at the center and which is worn over the kimono. It is not essential that men wear a hakama though it makes the entire outfit to be more formal. Women have an array of kimono styles to choose from and which go with the event and season. Women will often avoid wearing a hakama during the tea ceremony. During the winter and summer, both men and women wear lined or unlined kimonos for the respective seasons. In formal occasions, men wear montsuki kimonos, which are single-colored plain kimonos. These kimonos have 3-5 family crests on the back and sleeves and which are worn with striped hakama. Additionally, in formal occasions, both men and women wear white-colored divided toe socks called tabi. Most Kimonos for men are largely un-patterned and plain, while those for women tend to have one-sided patterns. The female wearer must decide the side that will face the guests during a tea ceremony and therefore dresses accordingly[2].

Etiquette as Related to Dressing

Western clothing is accepted as long as common sense is used in selecting the clothing one wears. A person should not wear flashy clothing; neither should it be too casual. Women are not allowed to wear anything that is revealing, or skirts that are shorter than the knee length, especially because this can be a problem when sitting for long hours. Men, on the other hand, if not in Kimonos, should wear a suit and a necktie.

No jewelry is allowed during the tea ceremony. These include necklaces, bracelets, rings, watches, and hats. Jewelry is not allowed because the tea sets used are very valuable, and wearing jewelry may scrape and devalue the tea sets. Participants are also not allowed to wear makeup nor strong perfume or cologne. This is because the strong smells can interfere with the original scent of the tea and become a distraction to other guests. Lastly unless a person has short hair, participants are expected to tie their hair in a high bun. The hair should have no accessories. Black hair ties and pins should be used to hold the hair in place. This way, the hair will not fall into the tea or the confectionary. Holding the hair up is also a form of showing the host respect.

The Roles That Women Played in Tea Ceremonies

The ancient and formal tea ceremony, in which both men and women prepare tea and serve it to guests, is among the few surviving traditions that have weathered the changing times. Even so, the ritual is much more about philosophy and attention. In its early days, beginning from the 11^th century and going forward, men were the only gender allowed to perform the tea ceremony. At that time, the ritual was highly significant as a way for communities to create social ties. The Samurai learned tea preparation techniques as a Zen mindfulness practice. As the 20^th century approached, women of the noble class began to study the techniques and passed their knowledge to their children. With time, learning the rituals became an empowering tool that was linked to upper-class women and the wives of military leaders and powerful politicians. In several ways, women participating in the tea ceremony were an accurate measure of Japanese society’s advancement[3].

Sen no Rikyu is the founder of tea art, as is practiced in current-day Japan. Every tea master in Japan gets certification as a professional from Rikyu’s descendants[4]. However, today’s art of making tea may fail to transmit the exact spirit that was the earlier master’s animation, and it may also lack enough Zen as it did during Rikyu’s time[5]. Even so, this changing trend may be inevitable. After WWII, schoolgirls were taught the tea ceremony rituals though men still dominated the elite tea schools and even held most of the important cultural world titles of the formal ritual of tea making. Tea was taught as a way of preparing women for marriage. However, today, women in Japan get married after they reach their late twenties. This has resulted in a higher percentage of single Japanese women in their late twenties and a world where single women are studying the art of tea-making not for purposes of marriage but for self-knowledge.  The ritual is no longer a wife-preparation stage but is much more similar to other knowledge-acquisition activities.

Tea ceremony in modern-day Japan is viewed as a feminine activity[6]. Women dominate the practice for both the student and teachers at the local realm, while the higher realms are dominated by men. The ceremony is often linked with bridal training for younger women and is also a hobby for older women and middle-aged women. This was not common in the Early Modern Period, where it was uncommon for women to practice the tea ceremony, nor did they study it. In the Early Modern Period, males, both townsmen and the samurai, participated in and studied the tea ceremony[7]

According to the Tea history accounts, women became involved in the Tea practice following the Meiji Restoration. This period was a time when social and political upheaval was rife and welcomed a period of Westernization and modernization in Japan, starting in 1868. During the Meiji Period, the main Tea schools allowed women to study tea by incorporating the practice into the girls’ curriculum in school. This acceptance of women into the schools had a significant impact on increasing the number of female tea practitioners. Although it is not possible to access data on the number of female tea practitioners, it is accepted that the Meiji period witnessed the sharpest increase in female numbers. However, some scholars note that the upsurge in female tea practitioners was not solely because of the school opening doors to more females. Other factors played a role as well. One such factor was codifying chanoyu as a tradition as well as its acceptance among scholars[8].

However, research on the preceding period, the Edo Period, shows that women had already begun practicing Tea ceremonies. This contradicts numerous research studies that assert that the practice of tea among women started after the Meiji period. This raises the question about the popular perception of Japanese women in the Early Modern era as being cloistered in their homes. It has been suggested that the darkest time for the Japanese woman was during the Edo Period. This perception is based on the view that women during this period faced very severe restrictions on their ability to take part in public and social activities because of Confucian influence. However, the role of women and their contribution to and participation in the culture of the Edo period need to be examined closely to determine their level of involvement during the Edo Period. Additionally, research shows that women had other roles to play besides practicing tea ceremonies during this period.

Despite women dominating the tea practice throughout history, it is surprising that women have hardly ever been mentioned as participants in tea schools, more so before the modern period. There are just but a few women who have been mentioned. These women are cited more as the exception rather than the norm. Additionally, only women of high status were mentioned, such as the Empress Tōfukumonin[9]. In other words, the practice of Tea by women in the Early Modern period either goes unnoticed, and when it is given any attention, it is in line with what is referred to by feminists as a contributory or compensatory model. This model is where women who are deemed to be exceptional are seen as the perfect examples to make up for the lack of women’s participation in the historical accounts of the Tea ceremony. It has been acknowledged that examination of women by such scholarship on the contribution that women made as well as their achievements are reported based on the public world and male standards. According to the history of women, this kind of definition left the existing paradigm unchallenged.

The role of women in the tea ceremony has a history of women being devalued and undermined, even as is the case today. A major contributor to this is the role of women being erased in the tea ceremony history and the general discrimination of women in the workforce and in society. It is not uncommon for women who practice tea to be delegated to teach requirements for etiquette as well as focus on motivation to have marriages that are more secure through acquiring tea ceremony knowledge. In other words, female practitioners focus on teaching women how to have stronger marriages as they acquire tea knowledge. These associations can be seen in mostly male scholar’s lack of interest in the practice. The notion that the ceremony is for middle-aged housewives is a deterrent for young females and males to participate in the tradition. The female practitioners are dismissed because of their apparent over-emphasis on body movements, which are in contradiction to the discourse of the tea ceremony, which depicts a past dominated by males and which is more spiritually focused. The assumption implies that women who practice the tea ceremony are more focused on the physical aspect of the tradition as opposed to the metaphysical and, hence, discredit female practitioners as being superficial[10].

The contemporary and historical discrimination notwithstanding, including the pressures on women to carry out their domestic duties, women of every age are able to harness a form of enrichment from the tea practice. Young women tend to focus more on the study of temae as a way of disciplining the mind and body and also the acquisition of a deeper sense of femininity. Older women, on the other hand, tend to focus more on the academic knowledge they derive from art. Through these different pursuits, women can claim authority or capital that empowers them on an individual, personal level.

Women become empowered through participating in the tea ceremony rituals in diverse ways, including knowledge and skills acquisition, association with places and people of importance, and the capability of acting with more independence. Female practitioners can enrich their lives by obtaining cultural authority and capital as well. There are several ways of obtaining authority from practicing tea, and these include association with places and persons who are powerful via pilgrimage, motifs, and myths[11]. Relation to the myths is a way through which a practice is legitimized by associating with persons of great significance, which means a practitioner can call on the authority of previous persons that had practiced the art, had utilized the same utensils, or had been on the same place as the current practitioner. In other words, a current practitioner can call a past practitioner, which means the former has authority bestowed on them because of practicing tea. A practitioner thus assumes the position of Rikyu as well as other teachers of high standing through these relations, and this, in turn, reinforces the authority of the figures and continues in creating a cycle. The economic power bestowed on the practitioner also limits the extent to which a practitioner can be involved. A wealthy practitioner can display her economic power with reference to tea ceremony by buying lessons, utensils, costumes, trips, and memberships to museums. When such a practitioner invests financially in these activities related to tea, such a person is exposing that they have disposable income; if this was not the case, such a person would not be in a position to purchase the Tea necessities or include themselves in such a thorough manner, in a tea community[12].

In conclusion, the history of Japanese women’s role in the tea ceremony is one that reflects strongly on the discrimination meted on them by society over time and, to some extent, continues to date. The respect accorded to women practitioners has more to do with respect for the tradition rather than the respect of the gender. Women, however, have derived new meanings as they interact with traditional art and thus are empowered even as they use the art as a way of self-development and exploration. The bias held against women notwithstanding, the art is one that is nationally respected and which goes beyond restrictions based on gender, thus allowing women to find empowerment in themselves and in society.

Bibliography

Acar, A. (n.d). Japanese Tea Ceremony History: How did the Tea Ceremony Start? Timeline. https://mai-ko.com/travel/culture-in-japan/tea-ceremony/what-is-the-history-of-tea-ceremony-how-did-the-tea-ceremony-start-the-history-of-tea-ceremony/

Corbett, Rebecca. Cultivating Femininity: Women and Tea Culture in Edo and Meiji Japan. University of Hawai’i Press, 2018.

Mori, Barbara Lynne Rowland. “The tea ceremony: a transformed Japanese ritual.” Gender & Society 5, no. 1 (1991): 86-97.

Suzuki, Daisetz T. Zen, and Japanese culture. Vol. 334. Princeton University Press, 2019.

Toki (N.D). Preparation Before Participating In Tea Ceremony. https://www.toki.tokyo/

[1] Toki (2017)

[2] ibid

[3] Adam, A. ( n.d)After the death of Oda Nobunaga Sen, no Rikyu became the Hideyoshi Toyotomi head tea master. In the same year, Sen no Rikyu built the Tai An tea house. This was located in Myoki and Kyoto. This is deemed the most famous tea house of the era.

[4] Ibid

[5] Daisetz, S.T. (2019). Zen and Japanese culture. Vol. 334. Princeton University Press, 2019.

[6] Rebecca, C. (2018) Cultivating Femininity: Women and Tea Culture in Edo and Meiji Japan. University of Hawai’i Press, pp.55

[7] Rebecca pp.25

[8] Ibid

[9] Rebecca pp. 56

[10] Barbara Lynne Rowland, Mori, (1991): “The tea ceremony: a transformed Japanese ritual.” Gender & society 5, no. 1 86-97.

[11] Ibid

[12] Ibid

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Research paper on The spirituality of the tea/tea ceremony and their use of dress (Komodo)
-the mean behind the dress
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-required reading for the course:
1)Sōshitsu, Sen and Genshitsu Sen. 2011. Urasenke Chado ̅ Textbook: Tankosha.
2)Sōshitsu, Sen. “The Advent of Lu Yu and The Classic of Tea.” Story. In The Japanese Way of Tea: From Its Origins in China to Sen Rikyū. Honolulu, HI: Univ. of Hawai’i Press, 2000.
3)Suzuki, Daisetz T. Zen and Japanese Culture. Princeton University Press.