Japanese Tea Culture

Why is the tea-room entrance, or nijiriguchi, so narrow? How did the practice of “passing the bowl,” or mawashinomi, come about? And what hidden meaning lies behind the ritual purification of hands and mouth, or chōzu?

Chanoyu, the art of preparing tea, developed against a backdrop of social turmoil in late medieval Japan. Through the singular figure of Sen no Rikyū, it found expression as wabi-cha, or wabi tea, the foundation of Japanese tea culture today. Here, scholar and curator Kumakura Isao investigates the unique cultural value of tea. He examines its rituals and behaviors, elaborates its structure, space, and style, and delves into the history of everything from the tea whisk to the tea room itself. Drawing on folklore studies and performing-arts history, Kumakura develops a new perspective on Japan’s culture of tea.

KUMAKURA Isao
Kumakura Isao is the current director of the Tea Museum, Shizuoka Prefecture, as well as the Miho Museum in Shiga Prefecture. He received his BA, MA, and a DLitt in Japanese cultural history from the Tokyo University of Education. He has been a lecturer at the Institute for Research in Humanities, Kyoto University; professor in the History and Anthropology Department, University of Tsukuba, and at the National Museum of Ethnology; director of the Hayashibara Museum of Art; and president of Shizuoka University of Art and Culture. His wide-ranging research interests and activities include the history of the tea ceremony, Kan’ei era (mid-seventeenth century) Japanese culture, the history of Japanese food culture, and the mingei or folk art movement. Among his published works are Cultural Atlas of Japan (1988), coedited with Martin Collcutt and Marius Jansen; Tea in Japan: Essays on the History of Chanoyu (1989), coedited with Paul Varley; Chanoyu no rekishi: Sen no Rikyū made (The History of Chanoyu: Until Sen no Rikyū; 1990); and Nihon ryōri no rekishi (The History of Japanese Cuisine; 2007). A seven-volume collection of his works was published as Kumakura Isao chosakushū (The Collected Writings of Kumakura Isao) in 2016–2017.

*information as of time of publication

Culture

Publisher:
Japan Publishing Industry Foundation for Culture

Hardcover
ISBN 9784866582467
188 mm x 128 mm / 240 pp. / March 2023

Softcover
ISBN 9784866582535
188 mm x 128 mm / 240 pp. / May 2024

eBook
OPEN ACCESS / NOT FOR SALE
ISBN 9784866581118 (PDF)
March 2023

Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives Licence
(CC BY-NC-ND 4.0)

CONTENTS
Translator's Note
Preface to the English Edition
Chapter 1: The Creation of Wabi-cha
Chapter 2: Breaking Away from the Medieval
Chapter 3: Tea Devotee (Chajin) Practices
Chapter 4: Tea Gathering Style
Chapter 5: Wabi-cha Environs
Conclusion
Appendix 1: Historical Sources
Appendix 2: Glossary of Key Terms
References & Further Reading
About the Author and the Translator

にじり口はなぜ狭いのか？ 廻しのみはいつ始まったのか？ 手水（ちょうず）に隠された意味とは？ わび茶の儀礼や立ち居振る舞いなどの芸態から独自の文化的価値を分析、茶会の構造・空間・趣向の全体像を提示、茶筅や茶屋の歴史にも言及する。下剋上を背景に発展した茶の湯を民俗学と芸能史の視点でとらえ、新しい茶の湯の在り方を展望する。

熊倉 功夫
1943年、東京生まれ。東京教育大学文学部日本史学科卒業。日本文化史専攻。文学博士。京都大学人文科学研究所講師、筑波大学歴史人類学系教授を経て、1992年、国立民族学博物館教授（～2004年）。

2004年、林原美術館館長(～2012年)、2010年、静岡文化芸術大学学長 (～2016年)、2016年、MIHO MUSEUM館長。 2017年、茶の都ミュージアム館長。

茶道史・寛永文化のほかに日本料理の文化史、民芸運動など幅広く研究。

著書に『茶の湯の歴史―千利休まで』（1990年、朝日新聞社）、『山上宗二記　付茶話指月集』（2006年、岩波書店）、『日本料理の歴史』（2007年、吉川弘文館）、『小堀遠州茶友録』『後水尾天皇』（2011年、中央公論新社）、『現代語訳　南方録』（2009年、中央公論新社）、『熊倉功夫著作集』(全七巻)（2016年～2017年、思文閣出版）、『現代語訳 茶道四祖伝書』（2021年、中央公論新社）。 

＊著者略歴は書籍刊行時のものを表示しています。