The author follows tea drinking practices from their arrival in Japan to the time of Rikyu, considering at each stage the relevant historical changes and their significance for the Way of Tea. Shortly after its arrival during the Heian era (794-1185), tea was celebrated by Japanese poets, who attributed the same spiritual qualities to the beverage as had their Chinese contemporaries. During the medieval era, however, tea began to take on a distinctively Japanese character. Eisai (1141-1215), the founder of the Rinzai sect of Japanese Zen Buddhism, accentuated the medicinal aspect of tea and saw it as a means of salvation in a spiritually degenerate age (mappo).
目次
Introduction xxiii PART 1: The Classic of Tea 1 The Advent of Lu Yu and The Classic of Tea 3 2 Tea in China after The Classic of Tea 31 PART 2: The Arrival of Tea in Japan 3 Tea in the Heian Era 47 4 The Ethos of the Kissa Yōjōki 57 5 Tea in the Temples of the Medieval Era 75 6 The Vogue of Tea Contests 89 PART 3: The Creation of a Way of Tea 7 Murata Jukō and the Birth of the Way of Tea 119 8 Takeno Jōō and the Maturation of the Way of Tea 146 9 Rikyū and the Fruition of the Way of Tea 158 Conclusion 177 Notes 189 Bibliography 213 Index 219
