Tea Garden

Tea Garden

A key concept in the tea garden is the idea of wabi‐sabi, or the beauty that is found in simple common material used in a refined way. Sabi is the patina that materials acquire with age, while wabi is the aesthetic appreciation of those items that show sabi.

Tea masters, through the selection of tea utensils, art work, and particularly garden and tea house construction, show suki or connoisseurship, and sakui, creative flair.

Tea House

As the visitors arrive, they will enter the Tea House Outer gate, and the last guest to enter must close and lock the gate, thereby leaving the outer world behind. The path to the tea house is called a roji. The surroundings are supposed to suggest the quiet of the deep mountains; therefore, the plantings tend to be evergreens and shrubs. Perennials and annuals are avoided, and though a rarity, it is possible to see flowering trees or shrubs. Typically the ground is covered in moss due to the climate in Kyoto.

In the outer roji, plantings are sparse. There is usually a covered bench where guests sit while awaiting the host. There really is no reason to wait since preparations begin at dawn when the water drawn from the well is freshest. Besides the garden and tea house have already been cleaned, but the idea for the guests to relax and remove their thoughts from worldly concerns. The guests should simply enjoy the garden. When the host arrives, bows exchanged, and the guests move toward a gate that separates the inner and outer roji.

“The roji was a carefully designed environment, a corridor whose true purpose was to prompt the mental and spiritual repose requisite to the tea gathering. To walk the length of a roji is the spiritual complement of a journey from town to the deep recesses of a mountain where stands a hermit’s hut. The designers of the tea garden compressed that emotional and sensory experience into the short distance between the street and teahouse…they designed into the roji a series of thresholds, some of which are physical barriers and some more abstract. At each of these thresholds the guest is encouraged to release worldly cares and progressively enter a “tea state of mind” (Keane 80).

In the Missouri Botanical Garden, we have an arbor where guests wait to attend the ceremony. Once the host arrives, the guests cross a dobashi bridge, a wooden bridge covered with soil where moss or grass is encouraged to grow. Our bridge has plantings along its edges to give the illusion of greenery, as the surface is covered with concrete colored to look like soil. Unfortunately the sun falls directly on our bridge most of the day, so moss and grass do not thrive. The path continues with stepping stones in the so, informal, style. Though the stones serve the practical function of keeping feet clean, they also, due to their spacing, cause the guest to slow down from the busy pace of the outer world. Stones can also be arranged to cause the guest to stop and admire a chosen view or lantern.

The middle gate divides the inner and outer roji. It may be the mere suggestion of a gate through the use of a panel of woven bamboo held up by a stick or it may be roofed with hinged doors. Still, it is not a strong barrier and only rarely has fencing at its sides. The gate is symbolic of entering a deeper state of consciousness. The Missouri Botanical Garden has a roofed gate that stands before the entry to the inner roji.

Typically, the inner roji contains a tsukubai used to rinse the hands and mouth in purification. This is placed next to the Missouri Botanical Garden’s teahouse. There should also be a dust pit, a small hole in the ground often lined with roof tiles or stones. Within the hole, an evergreen branch may be set inside with two large chopstick‐like twig pickers on top. It suggests a visual image of cleanliness, but it also a place to put “dust of the mind.” No troubles or worldly concerns should enter the tea room. I did not notice this during my survey of the garden, but I could have missed it.

Next, the guest will use the crawl‐through entry. It is a square opening set low in wall that forces guests to duck and bow. This shows humility. Often, there was a rack outside for the samurai to place their swords. The openings were too small for samurai to enter while wearing their swords. Of course, footwear must also be removed before entering the tea house. Within the room, as it is in the Missouri Botanical Garden teahouse, there is an alcove where a scroll would hang and a place for tachibana. At the time, no scroll was on display, but the teahouse was not in use.

Tea Ceremony Etiquette

Guests are seated on the tatami mats in accordance with their importance. Typically, there is room for the host and up to five guests in a ceremony. Here is the pattern for the ceremony as suggested by Sosa Fujinuma:

  • Respond to the host’s request and make a bow
  • Pick up the kaishi (special paper) with both hands.
  • Take the sweet
  • The host’s assistant puts out the tea
  • Make a bow to the host’s assistant
  • Make a bow to the next guest – “Excuse me for going before you.”
  • Bow and say, “Thank you for the tea.”
  • Turn the chawan (tea bowl) clockwise twice in order to avoid its front
  • Drink the tea. It should be slurped loudly. Also, finishing in three sips is correct. It takes some attention to manage the quantity properly. Don’t forget to wipe the bowl between sips.
  • Turn the chawan back so that the front faces you.
  • View the chawan.
  • Turn the front toward the host’s assistant. The host’s assistant comes to take the chawan.
  • You both bow.

Keane, Marc P. Japanese Garden Design. Grand Rapids: Tuttle, 2004.