Tea ceremony glossary

Regular lessons in a teacher's tea room — the ordinary form in which tea is studied.

The collective term for what is worth looking at in a utensil — glaze flow, distortion, kiln effects, age.

The vessel that receives used rinsing water; an unobtrusive utensil that nonetheless sets the tone of a procedure.

Matcha kneaded with a little water into a thick paste, traditionally shared from a single bowl; the centre of a full gathering.

A small lidded container for incense, offered for examination after the charcoal procedure.

Sotan's third son (1613–1672), founder of Omotesenke, who served the Kii Tokugawa house.

The foot at the base of a bowl or jar; cut last, and the place where the maker's hand shows most directly.

The pickles that, with hot water and the final soup, signal the end of the rice and of the meal.

The lower part of the body drawing in toward the foot; what fixes the posture of a vessel.

The small-sleeved garment of the Muromachi to Edo periods, ancestor of the modern kimono and source of utensil textile patterns.

A smaller natsume, light in feeling and standard in the portable box and basket procedures.

Korean-lineage bowls with an even white slip over a dark body; soft white that suits any season.

A small patterned silk cloth the guest uses to support the bowl for thick tea and when examining utensils.

The early-Edo daimyo tea master (1579–1647) who established the refined aesthetic called kirei-sabi.

Tea rooms of four and a half mats or fewer, where the spirit of wabi tea appears most strongly.

The townsman practitioners of Momoyama Sakai — Rikyu, Sokyu, Sogyu — among whom wabi tea was formed.

The sense of beauty in age, wear, and quiet that the passage of time produces; spoken of alongside wabi.

The prescribed forms — bows, walking, handling utensils — through which respect is shown.

A warrior-class school carrying Hosokawa Sansai's style, holding closely to Rikyu's wabi.

The bow made from a kneeling position; the basis of both guest and host etiquette.