• In Chinese T'ang dynasty (818-907), tea was popular in China.
• 785 the famous chajing by Lu Yu is written
• Tea drunk at that time was dancha: tea leaves are steamed, beaten into firm balls, which are then shaved into a powder and mixed with water, and sometimes additional spices.

• The tea plant is not native to Japan
• First seeds probably came to Japan in Heian period (794-1185), by priests

• Three protagonists of 侘び茶: 珠光（しゅこう）, Joo, 利休

• Around 1450: 珠光（しゅこう） learned shogun-style tea in Nara, then formed 侘び茶. Moved to Kyoto, and taught it in Shimogyo district, so his students are called Shimogyo Chanoyu practitioners.
  • Soju was his student, built the first 4.5 mat tea house (normal was 18 then) with pine + cedar in front. People wrote how this gave the idea of a mountain cottage and hermitage in the city

A good place to hide yourself
When depressed even in the mountains
The hut under the pine tree
In the middle of the capital

• Takeno Joo: Also part of Shimogyo circle in Kyoto, went back to Sakai in 1536, then 利休 became his student.
  • Sakai is an open, bustling city, with European calling it Venice of Japan. Most merchants at that time practised CNY, mostly to collect items. Because there's limited numbers of Chinese tools, they turn to Japanese ones.
  • Rodriguez (1561-1634) describes Sakai's tea houses: the meaning is to find an isolated tranquility within a city space
  • 1564: Shinshosai Shunkei (Sakai tea man) sais: CNY doesn't need Chinese tools anymore!
  • They had so much wealth, so they'd be at ease at this artificial shortage of CNY
• CNY infects Hideyoshi Toyotomi (1536-1598), he builds huts in his castles in Nagoya, Kyoto and Osaka)

• In CQ41, it is described how the Christian missionaries arriving to Japan between around 1500 and 1600, were quite keen on CNY because they could get in touch with many people through it; and that 利休 learned about it, too (as exemplified by some of his 7 disciples being Christian - 3 say some, 5 others, 7 others still, arguing not all of them were openly Christian).
  • Of 高山　うこん we know it for sure; and of 織部 also
• Portuguese or Spanish; either merchants (uninformed) or missionaries (who wrote great reports), eg Jesuit Luis Frois (1532-97) or Alessandro Valignano (1539-1606)
  • They appreciated CNY especially, since it was not tied to religion.
  • These missionaries were very respectful towards Japanese customs and culture, learning Japanese and social rules.
  • Valignano ordered all Jesuit premises to have a tea room
• Most interesting figure: João Rodrigues (1561-1633), who explains 詫び as follows:

• Sen Soshitsu XV sais in CQ41 that the purification of utensils with a silk cloth and the purification of mouth and hands at the つくばい come from the Christian mass; but for me, that seems a bit far-fetched. He also compares the にじり口 to Matthew 7:13: Enter by the narrow gate; … for the gate is narrow and the way is hard, that leads to life, and those who find it are few. (Again, I find this a tad too much, but it's a nice anecdote.)

• History in XVI (Thomson)

• warrior clans at that time pursued both the martial as well artistic, most importantly, CNY
• 3 generations:
  • 長近（なが　ちか）(1524-1608). Founder of 金森 clan.
  • 可重（よし　しげ or あり　しげ）(1558-1615): valiant warrior, able administrator, accomplished man of culture
  • 重近（しげ　ちか）/ 宗和（そう　わ）(1584-1656). Didn't fight, only CNY.

• 長近: Upstart warrior; because he was good, he could ally himself with 3 important warlords:
  • 織田信長（おだ　のぶなが）(1534-82). 長近 trained 8-year old 信長, and they fought together. 信長 gave 長近 his name (1560), hence they share 長. In 1582, 信長, having conquered about ⅓ of Japan, was assassinated, so 長近 joined 秀吉. Around that time, his son was also killed, so after that he became interested in Zen.
  • 豊臣秀吉（とよとも　ひでよし）(1536-98). Continued to unify Japan after 信長. 長近 around that time adopted his son 可重; 秀吉 gave them some land around 高山, where they build a city. 秀吉 died in 1598, and 長近 went to 徳川家康.
  • 徳川家康（とくがわ　いえやす）(1542-1616). Strongest warlord at that time.
• 長近 learned tea from 利休 and a rustic guy called 幽宅（ゆう　たく）; after 利休's suicide, 千道安（どう　あん）took shelter in 長近’s 高山 castle, and taught 長近's son 可重. Also friends with 古田織部（ふるた　おりべ）(1543-1615).
  • 可重 friends with many important warriors and tea people, like 織部（おりべ）and 小堀遠州（こぼり　えんしゅう）(1579-1647). Died in 1615.
  • 宗和: Eldest son of 可重, disobeyed an order of 徳川家康（とくがわ　いえやす）to join battle in 1614, was disinherited and moved to 京都（きょうと）. Also friends with 織部（おりべ）and 遠州（えんしゅう）, and with people of many different social circles. Highly regarded: Was called princess because his CNY was so elegant.
    • He made some Seto potters move to 高山, so 高山 became an important city for 道具.
    • He also worked closely together with the 御室（おむろ）kiln (1646-1704) established by 仁清（にん　せい）near 京都.

• Middle of Edo period (1603-1868), CNY became a genteel pastime (self-righteous decadence). This annoyed two people:
  • Matsudaira Fumai, who tidied up lists of famous tea utensils, dispelling unscientific myths.
  • Ii Naosuke, tidied up CNY spiritually. He added the idea of solitary reflection, where the host has his own reflection after the guests have left. This is his addition to CNY.
• Meiji restoration begins (1868), and CNY is regarded as frivulous on one hand, and focus shifts to the West away from all traditional Japanese arts.
• At 1872, CNY was officially considered a genteel pastime, an artistically inclined entertainment.
  • Gengensai XI and the heads of the other two Sen families fought this; and tried to revitalise CNY. ryūrei developed by Gengensai is one result of this.
  • At that time, CNY in decline, but sencha very popular. From sencha comes the grand tea gathering, ie open-house, large-scale invitations, which CNY adapted.
  • Still, CNY declines, and heads of the Sen families are impoverished at Ennōsai's times.
• Tanaka Senshō, student of Ennōsai, breaks away from Urasenke and calls for an opening of CNY, publishing books etc.
  • sukisha during latter half of Meiji period (1868-19129: goverment officials, doctors etc. (wealthy) pursue CNY as a hobby, mostly collecting 道具; practising a very free, undogmatic CNY
    • Segai Inoue Kaoru (1835-1915) was one of them. He made tea for the emperor in 1887, further removing CNY from the genteel pastime and placing it as an important cultural heritage.
    • Donnō Masuda Takashi (1848-1938): Organised invitation-only tea gatherings, membership to which was very sought after because you got to hang out with the rich and important (Daishikai group)
    • Around 1900 there were a whole bunch of such groups in 東京 and Osaka area.
    • They lament that during Meiji, all cultural focus is on the West, while the own art is neglected. This is why they collected so much of it.
  • Sukisha fading around 1930 because they all died around that time; but Sen lineages picking up by now.
    • 1936 they held a grand tea gathering to commemorate the 350th anniversary of the Kitano gathering; and 2000 people per day came; and 1940, to commemorate 利休's 350th death anniversary, 5000 came.
  • Women: Around 1907, tea ceremony became part of curriculum for women, in order to learn good manners. Around 1920, possibly, CNY shifted from male to female domination. 1929 Okakura's Book of Tea translated into Japanese. By 1936, CNY is on the radio, and people by a surprisingly high number of printed material on CNY.
    • After WW2, growth continues under the Sen lineage families.

• took place around 1940. Developments that caused this:
  1. Before that, tea gatherings organised by corporate organisations such as the Daishinkai and Kōetsukai (1922 and 1915, respectively). 数寄者（す　き　しゃ）such as Donnō would present their collections to the public
  2. Grand public tea gatherings in 1936 and 1940
  3. In Westernized Meiji climate, a lot of museums devoted to Japanese arts popped up between 1926-40), such as the Nezu Institute of Fine Arts.
• Upside of this: the public becomes aware of CNY.

• Accordung to Thomson XI 2020
• 家 for house, hierarchical, including secret teachings (hiden), and own set of 道具, which each head adding new items (or new boxes to existing items)
  • Preservation is very important, keeping the old ways
• But in XVI that system wasn't in place, it was just tea masters (usually from Sakai and warlords). Preservation wasn't so important, there was room for innovation.
  • やまのうえ sais: A tea master between 40-50 should bring his own style into CNY and breathe new fresh life into CNY.

• Urasenke Chanoyu Handbook One