Abstract
Sen Sōeki (1522–1591), widely known by his title Rikyū, is an outstanding figure in the history of the art of tea. Himself a tea-man of an unsurpassed caliber, the founder of the school of tea ceremony called Sen School, he is to be regarded practically as the founder of the tea ceremony as we understand it today, namely the ‘Way of tea’, the central idea of which is wabi. The way of tea has since his time not only dominated the entire history of the tea culture, but, having infiltrated into the very tissue of Japanese culture in general, it has exercised a remarkable influence upon the formation of some of the most important characteristics of the ethico-aesthetic sensibility of the Japanese and the norms of their behavior even at the level of daily life.
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Notes
A term of Buddhist origin, meaning literary ‘dewy path’ (or haku roji ‘white dewy path’) taken from the Saddharmapundarika Sutra,symbolizing the whole universe as the sacred world of the Buddha, and in the art of tea the Reality of Nothingness. It constitutes one of the pivotal points in the structure of the architectural style of the hermitage tea.
Sbkyii Tsuda, a man of tea and a contemporary of Rikyn.
Jyo-öTakeno (1502–1555) is counted as one of the two predecessors ofRikyn,inthe development of the idea of the hermitage tea.
Jukö Murata (1423–1502), another predecessor of Rikyû, the founder and pioneer of the hermitage tea.
Nöami (1397–1471), a noted painter renga-poet and man of tea.
Döchin Araki (1504–1562).
The ‘utensil-stand-style’ and the ‘shoin-style’ represent both the most authentic, luxurious forms of tea ceremony of grand scale which historically preceded the ‘small-room-tea’, i.e. the art of hermitage tea and which stand opposed to it. The hermitage tea is that which is now generally understood as the way of tea.
Gib (born in 1428), said to be a son of Master Ikkyû.
lkkyü Söjun (1394–1481), a Zen master of the Rinzai school, one of the most popular figures as a poet, painter, calligrapher, and traveller.
A tiny ball of ember remaining on the tip of the rush (of a rush-lamp). It is aesthetically appreciated and often referred to in Chinese poetry and is considered to be a good omen.
Shörei (d. 1583), a Zen monk of the Rinzai school.
Master Chöka (d. 824), a famous Chinese Zen monk.
Given in the part entitled Metsugo (Iwanami Series: Japanese Thought, vol. 61, ‘Theory of the Way of Art in the Post-Classical Periods’, ed. M. Nishiyama, I. Watanabe, and M. Gunji) (Tokyo, 1974) p.145).
Concerning the technical terms like ‘Tea-utensil-mat’ etc., see T. Hayashiya: ‘Japanese Arts and Tea Ceremony’ (op. cit.)
Ibid.
Ibid.
Ibid.
The position of the alcove is architecturally determined by a number of complicated technical regulations and principles. For illustrations showing the structure of the tea-room, see Hayashiya (ibid)
Kojimaya Dôsatsu, a disciple of Jyö-ö.
Rinzai, see above, ‘Collecting Gems and Obtaining Flowers’, note 8.
Muichibutsu-no kyogai,a symbolic expression for the awareness of the reality of Nothingness in Zen Buddhism.
cf.‘poetry and Philosophy in Japan’(op. Cit.) pp/ 544–546.
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© 1981 Springer Science+Business Media Dordrecht
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Sōkei, N. (1981). A Record of Nanbō. In: The Theory of Beauty in the Classical Aesthetics of Japan. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-017-3481-3_10
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