#5 Tea Ceremony Rooms

  A tea ceremony room make a very important role in Japanese tea ceremony. That is a place that two persons meet each other through drinking tea.  The personality of the owner of the tea room appers in it, and it is pleasure of the tea ceremony that watch it. Today, I explain about concept of Japanese famouse tea ceremony rooms and its history.
   Culture of drinking tea is very old tradition in Japan. In Muromachi period, according to some records, so-called tea ceremony room did not exist. But there is a building called Kaijo  and tea was served there. Kaijo is the place that nobles gather, and reads Japanese poetry.  This is the origin of the tea ceremony room.
  It is the 16th century that a tea ceremony room, for the purpose of taste the mountain village while being in the city,  of the prehttp://translate.weblio.jp/sent form was completed by Rikyu.  Juko Murata who was a teacher of Rikyu and assumed a father of wabi-cha made the foudation of tea ceremony room. A four-and-a half mat room is basic, and a room smaller than it called Room of Koma, and one bigger than it called Room of Hiroma. Koma means small place, and Hiroma means large place.
  
   It is normal with the tea ceremony room that there are usually gardens called Roji as well as a building itself. Roji has a role to lead a guest to the tea ceremony room which is not in everyday life. At first the guest put the baggage away at a place called Yorituki, and fixes the outfit. He is led to the room called Machiai, and waits for an other invited guests being prepared. After that, they enter the tea ceremony room depending of the greeting of the owner. While these proceses, Roji affects them.

Roji

  It is said that Rikyu loved Room of Koma. Because the tea ceremony that he wanted to be is that a visitor communes with a owner through tea directly. Actually, since so-called  Souan style tea ceremony room is very simple and inconvenience, the space is completely cut off with the outside world - it is only said that a man in the room feels it to the last. As for Tai-an - Rikyu's famous tea ceremony room, the characteristic emerges well.

Tai-an

The entrance not tobe able to go through when I do not stoop down called Nijiriguchi, 2-mat very small space, unaffected simple rom. It is just the tea ceremony room which emdodied in wabi-cha.

Nijiriguchi

 These are the basic knowledge of tea ceremony room. On the next article, I will introduce  some example of famous tea ceremony room.