Usagi Hole

How could a performing art, let alone one so beautiful, be dangerous? If you have never researched an element of Japanese culture you might ask yourself that question. But it seems that no art in Japan is isolated from other arts. This makes the study of any Japanese art form a huge “Usagi” hole. That being said dangerous!

In learning Chanoyu you must begin to understand the culture. There is etiquette for the guest based upon the role they are performing at tea; i.e. number one guest, etc. There is etiquette for the host which varies depending on gender. Please note that while the movements of the host vary by gender, sources indicate that women were not allowed to host tea until the mid-1800s. Remember, tea was a samurai art with political connotations.

Prior to sending out the invitation a determination of the occasion and time must be made. Along with this the formality of the tea and whether a full meal will be served as well as tea, or, are you simply serving tea. A full meal can take up to four hours to serve, while a tea will only take approximately an hour. All these decision affect everything moving forward.

The danger and complexity grow with the art display that is setup in the art display in the tokonoma. The host establishes the mood of the tea with this display. It can be either traditional flower arrangement, suiseki, or bonsai. Each is its own individual artform with specialized terminology and specifics on the proper way to display. Each of the aforementioned artforms will have a “kakemono” (scroll) accompanying it in the tokonoma. It would be remiss at this point not to mention that each artform has its own school that changes everything you thought you knew. It should also be pointed out that each element should correspond in style, taste, formality, etc. with the other items on display. Remember that the first thing each guest will do once in the tearoom is to access this display and ponder its significance to the occasion.

Then there is the etiquette for the host before the ceremony even begins. Are the invitations sent out? Was it done in a timely manner according to etiquette? Are the paths in your garden cleaned? Was water dripped over the stepping stones to alert your guests that they are cleaned and you have prepared properly. Is the gate to the garden left ajar to announce to the arriving guests that you are ready to serve them?

There is also the preparatory work going on in the tea house. Is everything laid out in the “mizuya” (water room)? Has the matcha tea been sifted and transferred to the natsume? Every implement from the chawan (tea bowl) to the kensui (waste water container) changes with formality and season. It should be noted that there are three (3) schools of tea that come to us from pre-1600 each claiming to be accurate and each only slightly different from the next.

As host have you performed the sumitamae, the laying of coals and lighting them, including the addition of incense? While reading, if you moved too quickly, you may have missed that there are certain coal shapes that are laid in a particular order on a bed of white ash. Your guests have arrived in are touring your garden. When your guests enter the tearoom, they will sit in seiza for either service. And as the host you will be in and out of seiza several times, often switching the leg you rise on in order to “upstage” the item you are carrying at any given point. In preparing for tea I usually will dry run the service to get the pattern of steps back into my front memory and to build the necessary muscle to serve. Are you ready?

Chado - The Way of Tea

The “Way of Tea,” or Chanoyu (the ceremonial preparation of matcha) or Chado in Japanese is about the ritual of making and serving tea. Camellia sinensis, from which tea is derived is not native to Japan but was introduced from China during the early Heian period (794 – 1185). During the Nara Period (710 – 784), tea began to be cultivated around temples in Japan. Seeds of camellia sinensis were most likely brought to Japan by scholar-priests such as Saicho (767-822) or Kukai (774 – 835) who were dispatched as envoys to the T’ang dynasty. At this time tea was considered as a medicinal. The serving of tea began in the 9^th century when Eichu served Sencha to Emperor Sage in Karasaki in 815. Ruijyu Kokushi compiled by Sugawara Michizane (845 – 903) and Nihon Koki, a segment of Rikkokushi (Six National Histories), record the first account of tea drinking in the sixth year of Konin (815). Prepared in the same manner as dancha, the T’ang tradition, tea was first beaten then formed into firm balls, which were then shaved into powder and infused in water. This form was most likely restricted to the nobility and the priesthood.

Kamakura Period (1185 – 1392) the priest Eisai (1141 – 1215) reintroduced the seed into Japan along with the teachings of Rinzai Zen Buddhism to Japan. In 1191 upon returning from China, Eisai introduced the style of tea preparation called "tencha" (点茶^?), in which powdered matcha was placed into a bowl, hot water added, and the tea and hot water whipped together. It was during this period that Kissa yojoki (A Record of Tea Drinking and the Maintenance of Health) was written and promoted by Sanetomo. The drinking of tea with fine implements had long been adopted in China, Eisai introduced this Sung method of preparation where plucked leaves were made into a powder which was whisked with hot water in a bowl. This form of powdered green tea was first used in religious rituals in Buddhist monasteries.

By the 13th century, when the Kamakura Shogunate ruled the nation and tea and the luxuries associated with it became a kind of status symbol among the warrior class, there arose tea-tasting (ja:闘茶, tōcha^?) parties wherein contestants could win extravagant prizes for guessing the best quality tea—that grown in Kyoto, deriving from the seeds that Eisai brought from China. Tocha consisted of classifying varieties of tea by region. These changes to tea saw it become an amusement for the moneyed classes. Nambokucho (1336 – 1392) and Muromachi (1336 to 1573) periods the nature of tea drinking changed radically in the hands of the privileged classes. 1336 tea gatherings were forbidden by the Ashikaga shogunate. In 1343 Tocha regained popularity.  During the early Muromachi period tea drinking spread to the warrior society then to the general population. Warrior dressed in fine brocades and diverted themselves with tea contests. These tea tournaments were added to gatherings, becoming a form of polite accomplishment in the Nambokucho period, known as tocha.

During the mid-Muromachi period, Shuko saw tea gatherings decline until the reign of the eighth showgun, Ashikaga Yoshimasa (1436 – 1490) who saw the shaping of the Higashiyama culture and the building of the Ginkakuji (Silver Pavilion). Yoshimasa constructed the Dojinsai, perhaps the original model for the four-and-a-half mat tearoom, this dimension and form of tearoom remains till today. Tea became so popular that street merchants were selling it, but, their manner of making tea was simpler than Yoshimasa. Yoshimasa’s dobashu, men of art and culture were Noami (1397 – 1471), his son Geiami (1431 – 1485), and grandson Soami (d. 1525) who were consider the most cultured men of their times. Within the dojinsai, Yoshimasa studied a form of tea under the guidance of Noami, and later through Noami introduced Murata Shuko to tea. Shuko is credited with developing the style of tea similar to the one known today, including the placing of the tea in an ideological setting.

At the close of the Onin War, during the Sengoku jidai, Shuko’s soan cha was still practiced in the Osaka prefecture. Under the wealthy tanning merchant, Takeno Jo-o (1502 – 1555) the elements of wabi cha were refined and distilled. Wabi is a reference to honesty, prudence, and self-restraint, both emotional and material. His tea room, Daikokuan, was constructed in the same manner as Ashikaga Yoshimasa’s Dojinsai, but, had the simple, austere atmosphere of a farmer’s dwelling.

Chanoyu was studied avidly by merchants of Sakai, among them was Sen no Rikyu (1521 – 1591). Born Tanaka Yoshiro in Daiei in the Imaichi district, Rikyu was first taught the Noami’s style of tea by Kitamuki Dochin (1504 – 1562). At the age of nineteen, he became the student of Jo-o. As a result he united the Noami and wabi-soan style of Shuko and Jo-o, bringing to completion of the foundation of the way of tea. Rikyū had a preference for simple, rustic items made in Japan, rather than the expensive Chinese-made items that were fashionable at the time. Though not the inventor of the philosophy of wabi-sabi, Wabi refers to the spiritual/inner experience of human life (quiet or sober refinement), and asymmetry. Sabi represents the material world (worn, weathered, and decayed) for the nobles this emptiness was most effective route to spiritual awakening, embracing imperfection and a healthy reminder to embrace our unpolished selves. Rikyū is among those most responsible for popularizing it, developing it, and incorporating it into tea ceremony. He created a new form of tea ceremony using very simple instruments and surroundings. This and his other beliefs and teachings came to be known as sōan-cha (the grass-thatched hermitage style of chanoyu), or more generally, wabi-cha. Rikyu entered into the service of Toyotomi Hideyoshi (1536 – 1598), who valued his skill that none other could bring a request to Hideyoshi’s ear. Rikyu introduced the concept of ichi-go-ichi-e each meeting should be treasured; for it can never be reproduced. Other principles introduced by Rikyu are harmony, respect, purity, and tranquility. Due to Rikyu and other Sakai tea masters, any member of the warrior elite not versed in chanoyu was considered to lack the badge of a man.

Encaustics the Processes

Creating with encaustic paints in the winter months is a joy, after all beeswax is being heated on a hot plate/palette and speed in performance is dictated by the medium. During warm months this is not the case. Whether creating in a cool environment or a warm environment be alert to ventilation and keeping family and pets safe from fumes and heated surfaces. Encaustic paints become fluid between 250˚ and 270˚.

Special temperature controlled encaustic palettes are needed to control the temperature of the wax. While it is a good general practice to have medium dedicated brushes, it is required in the case of encaustics as the brushes remain coated in wax. Otherwise, the brushes are simply course bristled paint brushes. Special encaustic mediums are available as is a soy-based brush and palette cleaner.

Encaustics work best on a rigid panel due to the lack of flexibility of the medium. Preparing the panel is as with other artforms. However, the gesso is specific to the medium, so, make sure that you have the correct gesso for the medium you are working with. Apply gesso evenly across the panel and let it dry. NOTE: you can buy panels that are already prepped for encaustics.

Once the panel is prepared, an cartoon is either transferred or drawn onto the panel. I prefer doing a study on paper first as corrections on the gesso panel are messy at best. I usually recreate the cartoon/study onto the gesso panel with silver point. This keeps a clean surface and precise starting point.

Using purchased pigment blocks I melt a spot of pigment onto the heated palette. A course bristled brush is used to transfer the now molten wax from the palette to the panel. Painting proceeds as with other medium outside the required speed. Paints may be diluted with an appropriate encaustic medium to build a glaze like transition between areas of light and dark.

If unconcerned with traditional methods used by the creators of the Fayum portraits modern tools are available. A tool resembling a wood burning tool is available for encaustics that has a thermostat connected with a variety of special tips that can be interchanged (be sure they are cooled first). For fine detail there are small calligraphy tips that will fit heated handle. If you purchase such a tool make sure to use a thermostat to control the temperature or the medium will burn.

Fusing layers with encaustics will prevent upper layers from breaking away and altering the finished product. Experts believe that the ancients fused the layers by placing the painted panel itself on to a hot metal plate until the layers of painting melted together. Having tried this, I was not pleased with the runny mess that followed. I have an encaustic air gun that blows hot air onto the surface melting small sections of the work and fusing them together allowing me the control that is typical of the style I create in.

When working in non-period styles paper can be coated with beeswax medium and then fused onto the surface as can fragments of fabrics. The surface can be carved to contribute to the three-dimensional effects. Warm wax can be shaped and formed then applied to the surface. Oil painting can be performed on the surface as the damar varnish added to the beeswax allows the layers to bond, however, make sure that your layers are fused prior to using this oil painting combination. The addition of a carbon-based image, such as a charcoal drawing, can also be added by placing the drawing facedown on the surface and rubbing the back of it to transfer the image onto the wax. Keep in mind it has to be a carbon-based product to perform this technique. And while it is recommended that the layers be fused prior to creating these effects, the surface can be heated again and cause the charcoal image to break apart and run for an interesting effect. Sculpture can be done using encaustics as in a previous post, by sewing rice paper (mulberry) with a sewing machine into the desired form, then painting the final product with encaustic materials.


In Service to the Dream
Addison