Chashitsu

thumb|[[Jo-an is a chashitsu (tea house) and inscribed as a National Treasure.]]

thumb| in its garden setting, [[Itsuku-shima, ]]

Chashitsu (, 'tea room') in Japanese tradition is an architectural space designed to be used for tea ceremony (chanoyu) gatherings.

The architectural style that developed for chashitsu is referred to as the sukiya style (sukiya-zukuri), and the term sukiya () may be used as a synonym for chashitsu. Related Japanese terms are chaseki (), broadly meaning "place for tea", and implying any sort of space where people are seated to participate in tea ceremony, and chabana, "tea flowers", the style of flower arrangement associated with the tea ceremony.

Typical features of chashitsu are shōji windows and sliding doors made of wooden lattice covered in a translucent Japanese paper; tatami mat floors; a tokonoma alcove; and simple, subdued colours and style. The most typical floor size of a chashitsu is 4.5 tatami mats ().

Definition

thumbnail|Interior view of a tea room

thumb|Tai-an (), the only extant chashitsu designed by [[Sen no Rikyū, representing his concept of wabi-cha. Located in Myōki-an in Ōyamazaki, Kyoto (National Treasure)]]

In Japanese, free-standing structures specifically designed for exclusive tea ceremony use, as well as individual rooms intended for tea ceremony, are both referred to as chashitsu. The term may be used to indicate the tea room itself where the guests are received, or that room and its attached facilities, even extending to the roji garden path leading to it. In English, a distinction is often made between free-standing structures for tea, referred to as tea houses, and rooms used for tea ceremony incorporated within other structures.

Tea houses are usually small, simple wooden buildings. They are located in the gardens or grounds of private homes. Other common sites are the grounds of temples, museums, and parks. The smallest tea house will have two rooms: the main room where the host and guests gather and tea is served, and a mizuya, where the host prepares the sweets and equipment. The entire structure may have a total floor area of only three tatami mats.

Very large tea houses may have several tea rooms of different sizes; a large, well-equipped mizuya resembling a modern kitchen; a large waiting room for guests; a welcoming area where guests are greeted and can remove and store their shoes; separate toilets for men and women; a changing room; a storage room; and possibly several anterooms as well as a garden with a roji path, an outdoor waiting area for guests and one or more privies.

Tea rooms are purpose-built spaces for holding tea gatherings. They may be located within larger tea houses, or within private homes or other structures not intended for tea ceremony. A tea room may have a floor area as small as 1.75 tatami mats (one full tatami mat for the guests plus a tatami mat called a daime (), about 3/4 the length of a full tatami mat, for the portable brazier (furo) or sunken hearth (ro) to be situated and the host to sit and prepare the tea); or as large as 10 tatami mats or more; 4.5 mats is generally considered the ideal in modern tea rooms. A tea room will usually contain a tokonoma and a sunken hearth for preparing tea in the winter.

History

The term chashitsu came into use after the start of the Edo period (). In earlier times, various terms were used for spaces used for tea ceremony, such as chanoyu zashiki (, "sitting room for chanoyu"), sukiya (place for poetically inclined aesthetic pursuits [fūryū, ]) such as chanoyu), and kakoi (, "partitioned-off space"). It was described as a small room of four-and-a-half tatami and was separated from the main residence. Before this, tea ceremony was generally enjoyed in rooms built in the shoin-zukuri architectural style, a style still frequently employed today.

Tea houses first appeared in the Sengoku period (mid-15th century to early 17th century), a time in which the central government had almost no practical power, the country was in chaos, and wars and uprisings were commonplace. Seeking to reclaim Japan, samurai were busy acquiring and defending territories, promoting trade and overseeing the output of farms, mills and mines as de facto rulers, and many of the poor were eager to seek the salvation of the afterlife as taught by Buddhism. Tea houses were built mostly by Zen monks or by daimyōs, samurai, and merchants who practiced tea ceremony. They sought simplicity and tranquility – central tenets of Zen philosophy. The acknowledgment of simplicity and plainness, which is a central motivation of the tea house, continued to remain as a distinct Japanese tradition in the later periods.

thumb|left|The [[Golden Tea Room (MOA Museum of Art)]]

The was a portable gilded chashitsu constructed during the 16th century Azuchi–Momoyama period for the Japanese regent Lord Toyotomi Hideyoshi's tea ceremonies. The original room is lost, but a number of reconstructions have been made. The Golden Tea Room was constructed to impress guests with the might and power of the regent. This was in contrast to the rustic aesthetics codified under his tea master Sen no Rikyū, although it is speculated that Rikyū might have helped in the design. The room's opulence was highly unusual and may have also been against wabi-sabi norms. At the same time, the simplicity of the overall design with its clean lines could be seen as within the canon. The extent of teamaster Rikyū's involvement in the design of the room is not known, however he was in attendance on a number of occasions when tea was being served to guests in the room.

There is a stone water-basin near the tea house, where the guests rinse their hands and mouths before entering the tea room through a low, square door called nijiriguchi,

Not all tea rooms can be made to conform to the ideal seen in the image.

Typical names

It is usual for chashitsu to be given a name after their owners or benefactors. Names usually include the character for "hut", "hall", or "arbour", and reflect the spirit of rustic simplicity of the tea ceremony and the teachings of Zen Buddhism. Characteristic names include:

Mugai-an (, Introvert Hut)
Mokurai-an (, Silent Thunder Hut)
Tōkyū-dō (, East-Seeking Hall) (note: the at Ginkaku-ji is pronounced Tōgu-dō, and is a private Buddhist hall, not a chashitsu)
Shō-an (, Pine Hut)
Ichimoku-an (, One Tree Hut)
Rokusō-an (, Six Window Hut)
Bōji-tei (, Forgotten Path Arbour)

Notable chashitsu

Tai-an () built in 1582, is the only extant chashitsu designed by Sen no Rikyū, representing his concept of wabi-cha. Located at Myōki-an temple in Yamazaki, Kyoto. Designated a National Treasure.
Jo-an () was built in Kyoto in 1618 by Urakusai, the younger brother of Oda Nobunaga, and was moved to Inuyama in Aichi in 1972. It was designated a National Treasure in 1951.
Konnichi-an (, Today Hut) built by Sen Sōtan at what later became known as the Urasenke Konnichian estate. The floor space is composed of but one full tatami, a 3/4-size daime tatami, and a wooden board at the head of the daime tatami. There is no recessed tokonoma.
Fushin-an (, Doubting Hut) by Sen no Rikyū. It was moved by his son Sen Shōan to the Omotesenke estate.
Zangetsu-tei (, Morning Moon Arbour) belongs to the Omotesenke school in Kyoto
San-meiseki (, Three Famous Tearooms):
Sarumen Chaseki (, Monkey face tea place) at Nagoya Castle, former National Treasure until its destruction in 1945, rebuilt in 1949
Yatsu-mado no seki (, Eight Windows) or Hasō-an () at Isshin-ji in Osaka, designed by Lord Kobori Enshū (1579–1647)
Rokusō-an (, Six Window Hut) from Kōfuku-ji in Nara, now in the gardens of the Tokyo National Museum
Shōkin-tei () at Katsura Imperial Villa in Kyoto
Golden Tea Room constructed under the regent Toyotomi Hideyoshi (1537–1598)
Glass Tea House - KOU-AN (, Light Hut) designed by Tokujin Yoshioka (b. 1967)
Ki-an bamboo tea house

File:Tokyo National Museum Rokusoan P3303189.jpg|Rokusō-an, formerly from Kōfuku-ji in Nara

File:Shokin-tei.jpg|Interior of Shōkin-tei at Katsura Imperial Villa

File:2002 kenrokuen hanami 0123.jpg|Yugao-tei in Kanazawa, Ishikawa

KoudaijiIhoan.jpg|Iho-an at Kōdai-ji, Kyoto

File:Rokuonji Sekkatei.jpg|Sekka-tei at Rokuon-ji

File:Kourinin Tea House (Jikouin).jpg|Kōrin-an at Jikō-in, Nara

File:Shōkō-ken.jpg|Shōkō-ken

Isome-shi Garden13s5s4410.jpg|Isome-shi

File:Kaisuian Interior window crop.jpg|Kaisuian: stacked shikishi windows

File:170923 Kodaiji Kyoto Japan38n.jpg|Shigure-tei is a unique two storied chashitsu, at Kōdai-ji in Kyoto.

File:Glass Tea House − KOU-AN.jpg|Glass Tea House - KOU-AN

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Definition

History

Typical names

Notable chashitsu

See also

References