Chado, literally "the way of tea", is the Japanese practice of preparing, serving, and receiving matcha as a formal discipline. It is also called chanoyu ("hot water for tea"). Although a gathering centres on a bowl of tea, the practice covers the architecture of the tea room, the selection and combination of utensils, seasonal food, calligraphy, flowers, and the conduct of both host and guest. Practitioners describe it less as a hobby than as a form of study pursued over decades.
Historical development
Powdered tea reached Japan from Song-dynasty China in the twelfth century and was first used in Buddhist monasteries as an aid to meditation. Through the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries it moved from aristocratic display toward the restrained aesthetic known as wabicha, shaped decisively by Murata Juko, Takeno Joo, and above all Sen no Rikyu. Rikyu's descendants founded the three houses — Urasenke, Omotesenke, and Mushakojisenke — that still direct most practice in Japan today.
What practice involves
Study proceeds through temae, the choreographed sequences for handling utensils. A student begins with how to fold the silk cloth and enter a room, and progresses over years through increasingly demanding forms. Lessons are usually weekly, and most schools issue graded certificates as a student advances. Practice changes with the season: a sunken hearth is used in the colder months and a portable brazier in the warmer ones, and the utensils, sweets, and hanging scroll change accordingly.
Learning in Japan today
Classes are held in dedicated tea rooms, community centres, universities, and increasingly online. Beginners are not expected to own utensils or to sit in the formal kneeling posture; many classrooms provide equipment and offer seated (ryurei) practice using a table and stools, a form developed at Urasenke in the nineteenth century for exactly this purpose.
Sources
- 茶道（デジタル大辞泉 / 日本大百科全書 / 改訂新版 世界大百科事典 / 精選版 日本国語大辞典） / コトバンク
Supports: 「茶道」の語が江戸期になってから一般化した呼称であり、それ以前は「茶の湯」「数寄」と呼ばれていたこと（各辞典で17世紀初頭〜18世紀と時期の記述に幅があるが、江戸期成立である点は一致）
About this article
Edited by the operator of Chaen (a one-person operation) / Last updated:
Tea ceremony descriptions can vary by school and source. Where interpretations differ, this glossary avoids definitive claims and focuses on broadly shared understandings. If you notice an error, please let us know viaContact. To learn about our organization, seeAbout Chaen.
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Related terms
- Wabiwabi
Finding sufficiency of mind within insufficiency and plainness; one of the root concepts of tea practice.
- Ichigo ichie (one time, one meeting)ichigo ichie
The principle that every gathering is unrepeatable, and should therefore be treated as if it will never occur again.
- Josei chado (women in tea practice)josei chado
The predominance of women in modern tea practice — a consequence of Meiji-period girls' education, not of older tradition.
- Chanoyuchanoyu
The older and more practice-oriented name for Japanese tea culture, beside the more inward-sounding chado.
- Senchado (the way of steeped tea)senchado
A separate tradition centred on steeped leaf tea, with its own utensils and its own literati background.
- History of Japanese tea practicechanoyu no rekishi
Eight centuries from Eisai to the present, through shoin tea, wabi tea, warrior tea, and modernisation.