The history of tocha covers the tea-guessing gatherings that flourished in warrior society from the late Kamakura through the Nanbokucho period. It is the prehistory of tea practice, later displaced by the interior orientation of wabi tea.
Development
The Chinese Song game of competing over the quality of teas reached Japan and became popular as socialising among the warrior and court classes. The representative form was honpi tocha, distinguishing the tea of Toganoo from all other teas.
In practice today
It is not performed now, but it is referred to in tea history as the contrast against which wabi tea is defined — the standard formulation being "from tocha to wabicha".
About this article
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