Tea ceremony glossary

A separate tradition centred on steeped leaf tea, with its own utensils and its own literati background.

Rikyu's eldest son (1546–1607), who succeeded to the Sakai Sen house; the line ended after him.

Rikyu's adopted son (1546–1614), who revived the Sen house in Kyoto; all three present schools descend from him.

Rikyu's grandson, the third head of the Sen house, whose four sons became the source of the three schools.

The tea master (1522–1591) who brought wabicha to its definitive form and from whom the three Sen schools descend.

Noami's grandson (d. 1525), the last of three generations of doboshu, who completed the shoin tea system.

The plain, small tea room of earth walls and unfinished timber that became the emblem of wabi tea.

A name for Rikyu's wabi tea, using the name he held before receiving the title Rikyu.

One of the private memoranda from Sen-house circles, valuable as an unedited record of actual practice.

Chinese tea culture of 960–1279, in which whisked powdered tea was established; the direct ancestor of matcha practice.

A Sen-lineage school founded by Yamada Sohen that took root in Edo among both warriors and townspeople.

A practitioner's name granted by a school's head at the senior certificate levels, marking formal discipleship.

A bow made by everyone together at the beginning and end of a sitting, marking its boundaries.

A school transmitting Kanamori Sowa's elegant taste, closely tied to Kyoto court society.

The Sakai merchant tea master (1502–1555) who deepened wabi tea through classical poetry, and taught Rikyu.

The part of a vessel touching the mats — the outer circumference of the foot, where wear accumulates.

Wooden stands set in the host's area to hold tea containers and the water jar; each type carries its own procedure.

The modern tea master (1875–1960) who founded an organisation to study tea across school lines.

The most formal utensil stand, from which all other stands derive; used in the highest-ranking procedures.

The procedures performed with the daisu stand, standing at the top of every school's system.