Chashitsu

Jo-an is a chashitsu (tea house) and inscribed as a National Treasure.
Chashitsu in its garden setting, Itsuku-shima, c. 1900

Chashitsu (茶室, "tea room") in Japanese tradition is an architectural space designed to be used for tea ceremony (chanoyu) gatherings.[1]

The architectural style that developed for chashitsu is referred to as the sukiya style (sukiya-zukuri), and the term sukiya (数奇屋) may be used as a synonym for chashitsu.[2] Related Japanese terms are chaseki (茶席), broadly meaning "place for tea", and implying any sort of space where people are seated to participate in tea ceremony,[3] 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 (7.4 m2; 80 sq ft).[4]

  1. ^ A Chanoyu Vocabulary: Practical Terms for the Way of Tea, entry for "chashitsu". Tankosha Publishing Co., 2007.
  2. ^ A Chanoyu Vocabulary, entry for "sukiya".
  3. ^ Kōjien Japanese dictionary, entry for "chaseki".
  4. ^ Kōjien Japanese dictionary, entry for 'chashitsu'.