East Asian tea ceremony

East Asian tea ceremony
A Japanese female hostess performs a tea ceremony.
Chinese name
Chinese茶道
Transcriptions
Standard Mandarin
Hanyu PinyinChádào
Alternative Chinese name
Traditional Chinese茶藝
Simplified Chinese茶艺
Transcriptions
Standard Mandarin
Hanyu PinyinCháyì
Second alternative Chinese name
Traditional Chinese茶禮
Simplified Chinese茶礼
Transcriptions
Standard Mandarin
Hanyu PinyinChálǐ
Vietnamese name
Vietnamese alphabettrà đạo
Chữ Hán茶道
Korean name
Hangul다도
Hanja茶道
Transcriptions
Revised RomanizationDado
Alternative Korean name
Hangul다례
Hanja茶禮
Transcriptions
Revised RomanizationDarye
Japanese name
Kanji茶道
Transcriptions
RomanizationSadō/Chadō

Tea ceremony is a ritualized practice of making and serving tea (茶 cha) in East Asia practiced in the Sinosphere.[1] The original term from China (Chinese: 茶道 or 茶禮 or 茶艺), literally translated as either "way of tea",[2] "etiquette for tea or tea rite",[3] or "art of tea"[4] among the languages in the Sinosphere, is a cultural activity involving the ceremonial preparation and presentation of tea. Korean, Vietnamese and Japanese tea culture were inspired by the Chinese tea culture during ancient and medieval times, particularly after the successful transplant of the tea plant from Tang China to Korea, Vietnam and Japan by traveling Buddhist monks and scholars in 8th century and onwards.[5]

One can also refer to the whole set of rituals, tools, gestures, etc. used in such ceremonies as tea culture. All of these tea ceremonies and rituals contain "an adoration of the beautiful among the sordid facts of everyday life", as well as refinement, an inner spiritual content, humility, restraint and simplicity "as all arts that partake the extraordinary, an artistic artificiality, abstractness, symbolism and formalism" to one degree or another.[6]

At the very rudimentary level, East Asian tea ceremonies are a formalized way of making tea, in a process that has been refined to yield the best taste. Historical classics on the subject include the 8th-century Chinese monograph The Classic of Tea (茶经 Chájīng) and the 12th-century Chinese book Treatise on Tea (大观茶论 Dàguān Chálùn).

  1. ^ "History of the Japanese Tea Ceremony". The Japanese Tea Ceremony. July 25, 2010. Archived from the original on November 10, 2022.
  2. ^ "history of tea ceremony". www.teaceremonykyoto.com. Archived from the original on 2015-02-26.
  3. ^ Heiss, Mary Lou and Heiss, Robert J. "The Story of Tea: A Cultural History and Drinking Guide". Berkeley: Ten Speed Press, 2007 p.197-8
  4. ^ 柯, 秋先 (1 September 2003). 茶书:茶艺、茶道、茶经、茶圣讲读 (in Chinese). 中国建材工业出版社. ISBN 9787801594105.
  5. ^ "차(茶)".
  6. ^ Varley, Paul; Kumakura, Isao (1989). Tea in Japan: Essays on the History of Chanoyu. University of Hawaii Press. p. 4. ISBN 0-8248-1218-2. artificiality.