Tocha was a medieval game of drinking several teas in comparison and guessing their region or brand, which became enormously popular in Muromachi warrior society.
Development
It began in the Nanbokucho and Muromachi periods as a game of distinguishing honcha, the tea of Toganoo, from hicha, everything else, and developed into gambling with elaborate rules. It flourished as a showy amusement of warrior society.
What followed
Wabi tea from Murata Juko onward is held to have arisen from a reaction against the flamboyant entertainment of tocha. Understanding what tocha was makes the wabi turn legible: it was not a refinement of an existing aesthetic but a rejection of gambling as the social form of tea. The modern seven-exercise form chakabuki preserves a trace of the practice as a training exercise.
About this article
Edited by the operator of Chaen (a one-person operation) / Last updated:
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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.
- History of tochatocha shi
The rise and displacement of tea-guessing contests, which constitute the prehistory of wabi tea.