The tea ceremony is rightly considered one of the greatest achievements of Japanese traditional culture. The cult of tea was borrowed by the Japanese from China, and initially the custom of tea drinking was spread mainly among Zen Buddhist monks, later the custom of ritual tea drinking penetrated into the aristocratic milieu, and then into the urban milieu.
A small garden adjacent to the tea ceremony pavilion has a willow stone path, stone lanterns and mossy stones in the garden. Of particular importance are stone vessels with clean water (zucubai). A small bamboo bucket with a long handle lies on the well. Every visitor is obliged to wash his hands, face, rinse his mouth. Then, with a special movement, lifting the ladle with water, wash the handle of the ladle after yourself. Nowadays zucubai is an indispensable detail of any temple, in front of the entrance to the temple and on its territory it is necessary to perform this cute rite of washing. Pines, cypresses, bamboos and evergreen shrubs are usually planted in the garden. Military elements of the tea ceremony garden should create a special mood of concentration and detachment.
Special attention was paid to the design of the tea house - the dragonfly. It is a small room of only two, or even one and a half tatami, to which a small low entrance leads - about 60 cm in length and width. The idea of such a reduced entrance to the tea house had a profound philosophical meaning: everyone who wanted to join this high art, regardless of rank and rank, should bend over, because here everyone is equal. The low entrance did not allow the aristocrats from the military class to enter the inside armed - long swords had to be left outside the door. And it also had a special symbolism: let all the misfortunes of life and worldly bustle leave you, let nothing worry your consciousness here, where it is necessary to concentrate on the elegant. In the interior of the tea house, the most important place is considered to be the niche of the tokonoma. It usually contains a scroll with a calligraphic inscription and a bouquet of flowers. The calligraphic scroll for the tokenoken was carefully selected and was an indispensable subject of discussion during the ceremony. The lighting of the dragonfly is important. As a rule, the house has 6-8 windows of different sizes and shapes, giving optimal - not too bright and not too dim - lighting. In some cases, it is possible to extend the frames, so that guests can admire a part of the garden, a mountain in the evening sky or the moon on the night of the full moon. But most of the windows in the tea house are closed.
When the guests have already examined and appreciated the objects in the tokenoken, the owner of the tea house appears. He bows low to the guests and sits in front of them near the hearth - irori, over which a pot of water is already hanging. In front of the owner are all the necessary items of tea utensils: a box of green tea, a cup and a wooden spoon.
The master slowly pours green tea powder into the cup, pouring it with boiling water. Then, with clear, concentrated movements, he beats this mass with a bamboo broom until the powder is completely dissolved and a light green matte foam appears. Guests silently observe the sacrament, listening to the rhythmic tapping of the crown on the edge of the cup. Then the master bows and passes the cup to the main guest of honor. He sips slowly, sipping tea and slowly wiping the edges, sends it to the master. Passing in a circle, the cup comes back to the master, but then it is passed from hand to hand again, so that everyone can now carefully examine it, feeling its rough surface, the warmth of the clay. The guests enter into a conversation. It is impossible to speak about everyday affairs and problems here, here speak only about beauty of a scroll in a tokonoma, about grace of a pine branch in a bouquet, about natural majesty of a tea cup.
Tea ceremony teaches to see beauty in the ordinary and simple. The notions of norm and order were introduced by her into the rank of aesthetic. "Excess is ugly" is the law of the tea ceremony.
Nowadays, the art of the tea ceremony is mainly women's work. Nowadays, tea ceremonies are often held not only in tea houses, but also in one of the living rooms and even in rooms furnished in European style: often the tea ceremony is preceded by a treat. However, despite these new features, the spirit of the tea ceremony remains unchanged: the desire to create an atmosphere of peace of mind, disconnection from the bustling, everyday worries. The tea ceremony is still a time for exquisite conversations about beauty, art, literature and painting.