P1+Chado

=P1 Chado= Jacob H & Remi S Chado the art of Tea 

In 1600, a new art that would change Japan greatly was introduced by the Chinese. It was known as tea. The tea was brought over from China in the Heian Period. At first tea was just drunk by only court nobles and Zen monks. Then Zen Monks started to use tea to help them stay awake during their mediation. The monks also used tea as a medicine. Over the centuries passed drinking tea became a ritual ceremony called the tea ceremony.

The Tea Ceremony, as a cultural art, comes from cultural diffusion from China in the seventh century. The tea ceremony is performed by Samurai, to calm and focus their mind and body. The tea ceremony was held in a teahouse, a simple building set in a beautiful garden. Upper class social ranking people had special tea rooms in their houses. Mastering the rituals surrounding the making and serving of tea was an honored accomplishment and practicing the ceremony showed a warrior's exquisite taste and manners. There are many variations of the tea ceremony. The different ones are performed depends on the occasion of time of the day. There was an elaborate code of rules governed every step of the long ceremony. Before you entered the room you were required to rinse your mouth out and clean your hands with water. Don’t be late or early, it was a sign of disrespect to your host. Once you arrive, remove your shoes. The host will then give you slippers to cover your feet. The tea given to you will be small, so drink all of it. Try to avoid drinking form the front side. There will be Tea utensils there (such as flowers and side food) that you’re host has chosen. Give compliments on these items. This is a very important responsibility as a guest. In the Tea ceremony everyone is equal during that time. Even the Shogun and a merchant could sit together. To perform this ceremony, many types of Tea must be used.

Many types of Tea have been used to create exquisite taste and perform practices and rituals. Out of the many types of Tea made throughout the world, Japan only produces Green Tea. Inside the category of Green Tea are many others. There are 15 main types of tea. Any type of tea that is prepared by being steamed is Ryokucha. This is the Japanese term for steamed. The mostly drank tea by Japanese people is called Sencha. 80% of green tea consumed in Japan is this. These leaves are crushed and dried. Gyokuro is made the same way as Sencha tea is. This is a high grade tea and is very expensive. Maacha Tea is used in Tea Ceremonies and is also used for cooking. These types of leaves are steamed, and then grounded on a stone like mortar and pestle. One of the lower class teas made in Japan is Bancha. Each Tea gets such a flavor by being made with patience and focus.

There are many types of tea that each has their own unique flavor and taste. They get these flavors by being made different ways. The first step of making the tea is pressing the leaves down with a brick and mixing them with different flavors such as salt or ginger. Then the leaves are boiled in water until they were ready. Another process of making tea is the tea is steamed and grounded into stone. Others were prepared by being crushed and dried. Even though these processes sounds easy, if you accomplish these processes it was a great accomplishment. This was made with such care and patience because it was so important to their culture.

In Japan, it wasn’t as much of the Tea’s importance as the ceremony. If the Tea Ceremony was used to Calm and Focus people’s minds, everybody would be impatient and non-focused. What would the Tea ceremony be like without the Tea? This plays a gigantic role in the Japanese culture. When people were sick, they used Tea as a cure to make them feel better. Without Tea, people would not have a cure to heal them. Most people in Japan drank Tea more than anything else. It was a popular beverage and tasted very good. Without Tea, Japan would be much worse than it is today. Japan would definitely not be what it is today, if Tea had not been introduced to the Japanese.

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