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Chabara mo Ittoki
(A Japanese saying: "Even a cup of tea will stay hunger for
awhile.")
Introduction
 Green
tea is the only kind of tea grown in Japan. It is drunk either
hot or cold, and is always served straight without milk or
sugar. It is primarily produced in Shizuoka Prefecture which
about 150 km southwest of Tokyo. Harvesting of tea leaves
begins in May; young tea leaves are valued. Japanese teas
are primarily steamed and non-fermented, rather than roasted
and semi-fermented (as in many Chinese teas).
Japanese green tea is usually brewed in
a small tea pot, called a kyusu, which holds one or
more cups of tea. The loose leaves are placed directly in
the pot or in a mesh holder inside the teapot. The tea is
steeped many times before it is discarded (Japanese cups of
tea are usually smaller than Western cups). Japanese green
tea should not be brewed with boiling, but hot, water.
Green tea is drunk at several occasions:
it is offered to a guest with savoury or sweet rice crackers
or Japanese sweets that are often made with rice cakes (mochi)
and and a paste made from azuki beans (anko). It is
also drunk before and after meals. Green tea in larger cups
is served at sushi restaurants and is called agari
by sushi chefs and customers.
Tea drinking came to Japan during the Nara
Period (710-794 AD), introduced by Japanese Buddhist monks
who travelled to China to study religion and art. Eisai, a
semi-lengendary monk who lived at that time, is attributed
with bringing back the seeds which were used to plant the
first tea bushes in Japan. However, specialized techniques
for growing green tea were not developed until the 19th century.
It was not until the early 20th century that tea was drunk
by the masses and not just the few elites.
Tea houses can be considered the nightclubs
of the Edo Period (1600-1867). Tea and other beverages including
sake were offered to guests who frequented these establishments
in the pleasure quarters of urban areas such as Kyoto, Osaka
and Tokyo (then, Edo). Usually male customers were entertained
by geishas in tea houses and a geisha house would often have
close business relationships with tea houses, cooperating
in recruitment and public relations.
In the modern period, kissaten, or
cafes, were established when the fashion of drinking tea was
made available for the general public. The term kissaten
is made up of the characters for "smoking" and "tea", suggesting
that the cafe was a place that people could gather to chat,
have a cigarette and drink tea. Today, kissaten usually
serve only black tea and coffee with Western style snacks.
Green tea and Japanese sweets are served at establishments
called amamidokoro ("sweet-taste places"). These are
more popular with women, while men tend to prefer kissaten.
In the 1950s jazzu kissaten (cafes where people could
listen to jazz records) were popular with male college students;
however, most of these cafes served coffee.
Sado, or the way of tea (commonly
called "tea ceremony" by foreigners), was developed in the
16th century and canonized by Sen no Rikyu, the founder of
the both the famous Urasenke and Omotesenke and the smaller
Mushankojisenke schools of tea ceremony. These were established
by Sen no Rikyu's descendents and are located in Kyoto. Sen
no Rikyu was known for establishing a simple rustic aesthetic
in the art, architecture and craftsmanship in tea ceremony
and other artistic accomplisments called wabisabi.
Unfortunately, his military sponsor desired a more gaudy and
splendid ritual to celebrate the Japanese spirit and Sen no
Rikyu, rather than betray his art and philosophy, ended up
committing ritual suicide. His great-grandsons feared the
same political pressures he suffered, so in the interest of
protecting the family tradition, the house split into three
different schools. The idea is if one or two of the brothers
were persecuted and destroyed, at least one remnant of Sen
no Rikyu's work would survive. Today, tea ceremony is practiced
in the general public primarily by women, but the Urasenke,
Omotesenke and Mushakojisenke schools consist only of male
members. Tea ceremony in its highest levels is still a man's
world.
Further reading: Types
of Japanese tea
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