Hiroma covers tea spaces larger than four and a half mats — six, eight, ten, and eighteen mats being the usual sizes. They suit large open gatherings and formal full gatherings, and are frequently combined with architectural detailing derived from shoin design.
Origins
The shoin and assembly halls used in medieval tea are the ancestors of the large room, developed as spaces where formal arrangements such as the daisu and the large stands would look right. In the warrior-class and daimyo schools, shoin-derived large rooms remain the principal setting.
In practice
They suit occasions where one principal guest is accompanied by many others, and where formal procedures — full display on the long board, daisu procedures, the shin-daisu — are performed. The scale changes how the procedures read: what is intimate in a small room becomes ceremonial here.
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.
Term info
- Category
- Term
Related terms
- Chado (The Way of Tea)chado
The Japanese practice of preparing and serving powdered green tea, treated as a lifelong discipline rather than a beverage ritual.
- 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.
- Yojohan (four-and-a-half-mat room)yojohan
The reference size for a tea room — four mats and a half — sitting on the boundary between shoin and thatched styles.
- Koma (small room)koma
Tea rooms of four and a half mats or fewer, where the spirit of wabi tea appears most strongly.
- Shoin (formal reception room style)shoin
The formal architectural style, with alcove and staggered shelves, that hosted tea before the thatched style.