Dad’s head?
Rikyu designed the “temae”, the procedure of making the Japanese tea and hosting it to the guest without any “muda”, waste of action or movement. When doing the temae, the utensils has the address of where it should be located. For instance, “mizusashi”, a water pot, is placed on the 16th mesh of tatami from the kama1.
Tatami is a traditional Japanese floor mat that is made of straw and rush (juncus), weaved together. Those materials help the room to keep the humidity around 40%. Japan is a humid country which averages near 65% year round. The juncus has a high absorptive power, which means that it’s likely to get molds easily. I remember my mom warning me not to put hot things directly on the tatami, or be careful of spilling water, or vacuum alongside the mesh so I won’t ruin the material.
There are few types of tatami. In Kyoto, we use what is called Kyoma, which has a length of about 191 cm, width around 95.5cm, largest in size.
Tatami has a designed cloth around the mat to strengthen the corners or to fill the gap between each tatami which is called “fuchi” or “heri”. The kanji is written as “縁”, which also means fate. A fate for tatami and tatami is fuchi… I like how it can be described like that.
In Japanese tea, there is a rule not to step on the heri. This was a surprise to me even though we had a tatami room, I didn’t know for many years this was against the rule until I learned Japanese tea. My teacher explained that heri represents the parent’s head. Traditionally, we respect the elderly and have the order of an upper seat for the elderly or higher level person in the further back of the room and lower person near the entrance. Heri was used for the border to separate the upper and lower seating. Therefore stepping on it means you’re ignoring the formality and being unrespectful to your parents. Interesting to hear those stories, especially from an elderly person. But it might just be a good excuse to take care since it’s easily torn and costs a lot to put a new one.
Carpe diem
When I was going to my tea lesson in New York, the first thing I would do was to stop at the reception and look at which room I would be in. It made me really excited to see my name on this one particular room, 4.5 tatami mat. 4.5 mats are 8.2 square meters in size. You can imagine it’s a small room but it is built with a lot of creations so the guests can enjoy, from the moment they step in. Just simple and beautiful.
Tea house, which we call “Chashitsu”, was created to give the biggest hospitality from the host to the guest that would suit the perfect atmosphere for the most delicious tea.
Once in a lifetime opportunity
Or carpe diem, used in the movie “Dead Poets Society”, this is the basic thought of the host, thinking of what would make the guest feel comfortable and the moment that would never be the same.
The room that I loved was a replica of the “Yuin” tea room2. “Yuin” was made by a tea master Sotan, who was the 3rd generation of Rikyu. Even after he retired from tea and transferred the headship of the family, he studied tea in a different room called “Konichian”, which is now the most famous important cultural property. But after he gave the room to his 4th son, he built “Yuin” on the east side of Konichian which is called “Yuin”. In kanji, “Yuin” is written as “Hide away (retire) again”.
The guests enter the room from a small door bending your body forward. Once you go in and look up, you will see the tokonoma, the alcove, with the wordings on the hanging wall that is the first message from the host to the guest along with the seasonal flowers. While you wait for the tea, listening to the sound and enjoying the smell, you look at the host preparing the bowl. To your right, (in the corner back of the host) in the wall there is a pillar that is called a toothpick pillar. They cut the bottom like the end of a toothpick to make the space feel wider.
These are just one example but how they designed just using the 8.2 square meters is amazing thinking of the line of flow for both the guest and the host and entertaining until the last bit.
Creativeness
Development of AI and technology is our future but sometimes we can learn from tradition or history. Efficient… yes but I seem to think that word is without a warm heart. Human beings are here for being creative.
24 hours are given to everyone equally. How you use it is up to you. Don’t try to be efficient, act and talk like your grandmother.
Just be simple and beautiful.
Comment