Mitate is the act of repurposing a vessel made for something else as a tea utensil. It is the technique in which a practitioner's invention and wit appear most vividly, and it is a claim about where value comes from: the host's judgement rather than an object's provenance.
Origins
Juko, Joo, and Rikyu all used mitate, bringing household objects and imported goods into the tea room. Rikyu's bamboo flower vessel named Onjoji is a celebrated example, as is the aesthetic of tethering a fine horse to a thatched hut.
In practice
A nanban jar used as a flower vessel, a stone lantern basin as a garden water basin, a well bucket as a fresh-water jar — all of these are mitate. It is a demanding technique, because a mitate that does not work simply looks like a mistake, and the host has no pedigree to fall back on.
Why it matters
The Ido bowl, the highest-ranked vessel for thick tea, was everyday Korean domestic ware. Mitate is therefore not a marginal game but the mechanism by which some of the most valued objects in the tradition entered it.
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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