Tea Ceremony
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Pail-Shaped Water Jar, Jingdezhen ware, Ming dynasty, 17th century, Gift of Mr. Hirota Matsushige
Japanese Gallery (Honkan) Room 4
June 7, 2022 (Tue) - August 28, 2022 (Sun)Tea drinking and its role in society changed over time. In the 12th century, Zen monks introduced a new kind of tea drinking from China: green tea was ground into a powder and mixed with hot water. Monks drank this tea as a medicine and to stay awake during meditation.
Before long, the samurai also began to drink tea and competed for prizes in blind tasting competitions. In the 14th and 15th centuries, the elite samurai who ruled Japan focused on the aesthetics of tea drinking. They collected valuable Chinese works like paintings and tea bowls, displaying and using them during tea gatherings.
A century later, Sen no Rikyū (1522–91) established the foundations of the tea ceremony. When serving tea, he used valuable Chinese works together with simple utensils. He also stressed humility and the beauty of imperfection. Elite samurai practiced his style and its variations as a social, aesthetic, and spiritual pursuit.
From its origins until the present, the tea ceremony has always incorporated diverse genres of art. Works that tea masters believed had great aesthetic or historical value were carefully passed down through the generations. A selection of these works is shown here and changed regularly to reflect the seasons.
| Designation | Name | Creation/ Excavation/ Provenance |
Period | Acquisition/ Ownership/ Accession Number |
CMT | ||
| Highlight | Pail-Shaped Water Jar | Jingdezhen ware, China | Ming dynasty, 17th century | Gift of Mr. Hirota Matsushige, TG-2562 | |||
| Highlight | Pail-Shaped Tea Caddy ("Chaki") with Lotuses and Herons | Jingdezhen ware, China, Passed down by the Kōnoike family | Ming–Qing dynasty, 17th century | Gift of Mr. Hirota Matsushige, TG-2601 | |||
| Part of "Collection of Writings by Bai Juyi" (Called the "Silk-Ground Fragment") | Attributed to Ono no Tōfū (894–966) | Heian period, 10th century | B-2444 | On exhibit from July 20, 2022 | |||
| Highlight | Set of Dishes ("Mukōzuke") with White Herons | Imari ware | Edo period, 17th century | G-903 |