Tea is nothing but the following: first boil the water. Then add the tea. And drink it. That is everything you have to know.’ These seemingly simple instructions by tea master Sen no Rikyu (1522–1591) refer to both the formalised and intimate tea ceremony that has been practised in Japan for centuries. With this meditative act, hosts and guests alike strive to embody the four principles of ‘harmony, respect, purity, and peace.
Japanese tea practice, chanoyu (hot water for tea), centres on the appreciation of tea utensils used to prepare and consume powdered green tea called matcha. Chanoyu elevates these utensils, which include ceramic tea caddies, tea bowls, and hanging scrolls of calligraphy, into objects of aesthetic admiration. The objects in this exhibition in Washington DC accumulated significance over generations through their continued use and display at tea gatherings. Tea practitioners have also cherished the accompanying boxes, documents, and textiles that demonstrate an object’s accrued layers of historical and cultural meaning.
To explore this topic of ownership and cultural importance, the exhibition, Reasons to Gather: Japanese Tea Practice Unwrapped, presents 11 historic tea utensils and accessories, including ceramics, hanging scrolls, boxes, and wrapping cloths (furokishi). Tea was introduced to Japan during the Asuka (538-710) and Nara periods (538-794) by Japanese Buddhist monks who travelled to China during the Tang dynasty (618-907). The monks returned to Japan with Chinese products and inventions of paper-making, printing, written script, as well as tea and its utensils. These objects, which found their way from China, Korea, and South Asia into Japanese tea practice, tell a story of trade and exchange across Asia, with the tea ceremony bringing together these different cultural elements through networks of tea practitioners.
The tea ceremony has its origins in the late 15th and 16th centuries, when celebrated tea masters became established in elite Japanese society. The way of tea (chado) was literally shaped by the architecture of the 15th-century Silver Pavilion (now Ginkakuji Temple), built by the shogun Ashikaga Yoshimasa as a retirement villa in the eastern hills of Kyoto. Although the ritual of the tea ceremony originally featured Chinese ceramics and utensils, the influential tea master, Murata Juko (d 1502), who transformed the tea ceremony in the late 15th century, initiated a taste for the imperfection of Japanese utensils that evoked a simple, unpretentious beauty (wabi).
Murata believed that upon entering his small and austerely appointed tearoom, the trappings of daily life, particularly one’s status, must be discarded, as each participant was considered equal. He also imbued his tea ritual with performative elements from noh theatre and the philosophy of Zen Buddhism, which placed an emphasis on the communal nature of life. The most striking element of the ceremony was that participants were often required to use the same tea bowl. These were authentic rustic wares from Japanese or Korean kilns rather than luxurious porcelains from China. As a result, tea bowls became the most prominent utensils of Murata’s wabi-cha, with the most spectacular examples coveted by the wealthy merchants of Sakai and powerful daimyo seeking to express their own prestige and power. For the samurai, the way of tea would become essential to their lifestyle and essential for cultivating their own aesthetic sensibilities.
The most famous tea master, Sen no Rikyu, established rules for the ceremony to make it a distinctly Japanese experience with its roots in Zen Buddhism. Although the tea ceremony did evolve to accommodate many styles and can be conducted in a variety of ways, ranging from the austere and subdued to more extravagant displays that have been incorporated into the ritual.
A full-length tea gathering can last several hours and starts with a simple kaiseki (multi-course) meal before the tea service, which involves the drinking of both thick and thin teas. At its heart is the ceremony based on the wabi practice, promulgated by the samurai class and later by the merchant class. In the 16th century, the use of simpler materials for the ceremony was led by Rikyu’s choice of bamboo for tea utensils such as tea scoops, or bamboo vases selected for displaying chabana (tea flowers) in the tokonoma (alcove) of the tearoom, which reinforced the ceremony’s deep appreciation of nature, seasons, and a sense of humility.
The 16th century saw the art of tea evolve into a major aesthetic evolving into a cultural pastime in Japan. Circles of influential tea connoisseurs gave high status to meibutsu, or celebrated objects, through such practices as naming, adorning, and closely observing the objects. Tea diaries kept by these enthusiasts detailed descriptions of tea caddies and tea bowls, physical attributes, along with the accessories used during the tea ceremony, allowing contemporary scholars to explore objects relating to the ceremony through the eyes of generations of connoisseurs and scholars.
The varieties of utensils used for the preparation of tea are an important part of the process. The tea-leaf storage jar alone bridged two essential roles relating both to the taste of tea and to the aesthetic enjoyment of tea-related utensils themselves. The container used for storing tea leaves, preserving and enhancing their flavour, was kept behind the scenes except for when it was taken to a tea plantation to be filled with new tea for use during the coming year.
When tea was to be served to guests, a small portion of tea was removed from the jar and ground in a hand-turned stone mill to a fine, chartreuse-green powder, named matcha. It was then transferred to a small ceramic, wooden, or lacquered container so the powdered tea could be prepared in the tearoom in the bowl that was used to serve it, whisking it with hot water. This form of tea preparation from China had been introduced to Japan by the 13th century.
Great emphasis is also placed on the tea bowl (chawan), with the earliest tea bowls coming from China, as Japan at that time did not have any ceramic-making tradition to speak of until the mid-16th century, so the Japanese imported both utilitarian and luxury goods from China. Later, as contact grew, they increasingly came from Korea, and sometimes even from Vietnam. Beyond being simple items of use, chawan were made into sculptural works of art, whose designs best expressed the cultivated relationship people had with the object. No one bowl matches another; each one is special and is treated like a personal treasure. Each chawan usually bears its own name – and the name of the artist who created it remains known over the course of time.
While trade with Ming China continued to flourish, Japan also began to trade goods with Joseon Korea (1392-1897). In the first half of the 15th century, an active trade was established between the two countries for Koraimono (things Korean), and by the end of the 16th century, Korean ceramics competed with their Chinese counterparts as more Korean ceramics became available. Of great importance in the 16th century were tea bowls from Korea, which were originally used for food, particularly rice.
Such bowls’ structured glazes and simple forms – in keeping with the principle of wabi – led to their eventual use in the tea ceremony. The Korean-style bowl that epitomises this particular taste is characterised in Ido tea bowls that reflect the desire for bowls to be more rustic, simple, with irregular forms and aesthetics – the direct opposite of earlier Chinese tea bowls with their fine and lustrous glazes.
Other Korean ceramics were also popular for the tea ceremony, such as the Buncheong tea bowls. Buncheong is a traditional stoneware that is characterised by a greyish body, white slip decoration, and a greenish translucent glaze. It evolved from Goryeo (918-1392) celadon, using such methods as stamping, carving, and sgrafitto along with iron-painted techniques to create new designs and forms. Sophisticated, whimsical, yet rustic, Buncheong ceramics became a uniquely Korean art form that first emerged at the end of the 14th century. These new ceramics embraced more informal and experimental techniques, embracing a sense of playfulness, rusticity, and signs of the object being hand made.
Buncheong wares are intricately linked to the establishment of the Joseon dynasty (1392–1897), an era characterised by a shift in state beliefs and a desire for new artistic expressions. Unlike the preceding Goryeo dynasty (918–1392), which had embraced Buddhism as its state religion, the Joseon dynasty adopted Confucianism as its guiding belief system. This significant ideological transformation influenced the aesthetics of the time, leading to a preference for minimalism, elegance, and a reduction of elaborate adornments in artworks. As a result, the once highly revered Goryeo-dynasty celadon ceramics and Buddhist paintings, known for their delicate techniques, opulent materials, and intricate surface decorations, gradually fell out of favour in this new cultural climate.
A sense of freedom in Buncheong design began to appear alongside the adoption of common motifs such as dragons or fish. It came into its own during the early Joseon dynasty, bringing new techniques and changes to traditional forms. While Buncheong ceased production in Korea during the 16th century, Japanese collectors have remained captivated by the imperfections inherent in these ceramics. The white-slip dipped Buncheong, known as kohiki, was particularly popular in Japan because of its simple, unpretentious quality that especially appealed to use in the tea ceremony.
Of all the varieties of utensils used for the preparation of tea, the tea-leaf storage jar alone bridged two essential roles, relating both to the taste of tea and to the aesthetic enjoyment of tea-related utensils. In the 16th century, the Japanese tea caddy (chaire or natsume) held the crucial role of storing and presenting matcha, serving as both a functional tool and an artistic element that displayed the host’s aesthetic sensibilities and contributed to the ceremony’s overall atmosphere of wabi-sabi.
The choice of tea caddy was an integral part of the toriawase (the art of selecting utensils for a specific occasion). A host selected a caddy to create a desired atmosphere or balance, reflecting their personal taste and understanding of the ceremony’s philosophy. Utensils were carefully selected for each gathering, with the ceramic chaire typically reserved for high-grade thick tea (koicha) and the lacquered wooden natsume for thin tea (usucha).
The tea utensils featured in this exhibition come from the Kinsey Chanoyu Collection at the Freer Gallery of Art. Gregory Kinsey gifted the museum nearly 200 objects, a collection that grew from his lifelong devotion to the practice of chanoyu. To share and uplift the art of tea practice, Kinsey dedicated most of the works to the Freer Study Collection for use in public programmes that demonstrate the traditional preparation of matcha. Because of their historical and artistic significance, another 16 pieces with accompanying provenance documentation entered the Freer Gallery of Art Collection for exhibition and research.
Until 26 April 2025, National Museum of Asian Art, Washington DC, asia.si.edu
