So I saw a question posted by /u/Theundercave here - How does the evolution of the Japanese tea ceremony relate to the history of Japan?, but by the time I saw it it was too late and I figured that, since the question itself leads to so many more tangents that make sense to discuss, and I had a barebones discussion structure of it for something else I'm doing, I’d post it here. Before this discussion though, I’ll quickly mention Ann Cline’s view^1 that “the term "tea ceremony" was a misnomer, applied by nineteenth-century Westerners to a practice the Japanese call variously chanoyu ("boiling water for tea") or chado ("the way of tea"),” which allows for a ‘freer’ discussion of the evolution of the tea ceremony as it is not limited merely to a static concept as “ceremony” would imply. Also, whilst the evolution of the tea ceremony has certainly evolved alongside Japanese history and culture, so too has it (and the people involved in it) influenced the latter, and in some cases it remained similar despite huge cultural shifts, which I’ll touch on later.

Tea Origins

So as we know, tea came to Japan for the first time early on during the Heian, with most evidence crediting its introduction to monks like Saicho (notably founder of Enryakuji and Tendai Buddhism) and Kukai, during the period (Asuka to mid-Heian, or 538 – 1000) of massive “cultural borrowing” from China to Japan. As we know, tea in the traditional Chinese culture involves the same tenets involved in Buddhism, Daoism, Confucianism, and related philosophies – of self-cultivation, which tea (and tea ceremonies) nicely manage to pull together in a structure that was favoured by the nobles and upper class. It just so happens then that this aligns perfectly with the ideals of Japan, and as was the case with many other facets of Chinese culture Japanese nobles and monks sought to emulate the Chinese practice of tea drinking – that is, describing it’s taste, texture (口感, kǒugǎn, mouth-feeling), smell, as well as the variety of ways in which it could be prepared and served, and its medicinal/remedial purposes.

However, we also know that this excitement and vigour in tea drinking faded, only to reappear with the introduction of matcha by Yosai (Eisai, also known as the founder of Rinzai Zen Buddhism) during the early Kamakura period (12th century), some of which was planted in Toganoō-ji (Toganoosan Kosan-ji). During this time of political and cultural uncertainty and turmoil, Yosai observed that

man has gradually declined and grown weaker, so that his four bodily components and five organs have degenerated

and what better beverage to soothe the heart’s craving for bitter than tea, which can

put the heart in order and dispel all illnesses.

A theory of why tea was so beneficial was that, especially for commoners, they began to boil their water, which as we now know can prevent the spread of many diseases. Side note – during the Heian period (when tea was in vogue) as well as during the same time in China, tea was generally made by whisking (not an egg whisk, a tea whisk) powdered tea into hot water. This changed back to the method that has lasted until today, that of steeping/infusing – submerging tea leaves, powdered, ground, or as is, into hot water). However, throughout the tea ceremony’s (chanoyu) evolution over time, has been done through powdered green tea and a whisk. It’s for this reason that, as the popularity spread once again (filtering through all classes this time, rather than only in the upper class), not only was Toganoo tea considered “real tea” (honcha) in comparison to tea sourced from other areas, “non-tea” (hicha), but the religious rituals of the tea ceremony, or rather the philosophies of Zen Buddhism, significantly influenced the chanoyu. However, the more “pure” tradition of the tea ceremony took form during the Muromachi period in the early 15th century, with the four main concepts of rules, setting, behaviour, and taste, all of which directly came from Zen Buddhism.

The influence of Zen Buddhism on the chanoyu and Muromachi Japan

So I haven’t really answered your question directly on the evolution of the tea ceremony so far (as tea came about earlier, and yet its change was nevertheless just as significant of a cultural indicator in the history of Japan), but anyway – The earlier Kamakura period saw the massive spread of Buddhism (and its various sects, such as Jodo, Jodo Shinshu, Ji, Rinzai, and so on), but the Muromachi saw a different type of “religious spread” – rather than simple religion, priests and monks now spread artistic and cultural influence from mainland China, and (arguably more significant) was the adoption of Zen rituals by the newly established military class – bushi, or samurai. It’s important to remember the fluidity of the concept of a “tea ceremony” – prior to Rikyu (the renowned tea master who codified the culture behind the tea ceremony), there was no concept of chazen ichimi, that “tea and Zen have the same flavour” – it seems that before him, the unification of the tea ceremony and Zen Buddhism, whilst clear, was never put into words and followed.

It’s hard to quantify just how much Zen’s impact on Muromachi Japan was, but it’s safe to say that it was “a lot” – many aspects of nationalism, commerce, military, government, art, and so on, were all affected by Zen Buddhism during the Muromachi period – a whole new answer could be written specifically on the extent of this influence, though, so to remain within the scope of this question it’s enough to understand that it did. An example of a poem that exemplifies the “functional individualism and … romantic individuality (associations with nature) [that were] not unrelated to the special character of Muromachi art” (Ishida):

At the water's edge on the moor to the south of the river, there stands a plum tree The blossoms that flower on its sparse branches bring tidings of spring At dusk the tree casts its shadow long on the ground The moon appears, joining the gulls that soar. How delightful!^2

The appreciation of the natural landscape as opposed to the manmade is seen within the entirety of this poem, echoing the same trend seen across the Muromachi.

Evolution of the concepts of chanoyu, the changing chashitsu, and the parallels between new religions

This is also reflected in the tea ceremony, where we see an increase in the focus on floral arrangements in vases, with scrolls, and so on, alongside tea cups, however obviously still drawing upon the Buddhist ideals of individual peace and harmony. Back to the tea ceremony then – it was this set of religious customs that separated chanoyu from regular drinking of tea, a set of customs inspired by the monastic Zen rules that monks lived by – that is, preparing tea in such a way to achieve divine enlightenment. It’s hard to definitely quantify the periodic changes in the tea ceremony throughout this period of time, however through some general deductions it is agreed that it was largely with the development of a separate tea room that divides the two periods before Rikyu.

Beginning with the tea room, chashitsu, the typical tatami mats, shoji and fusuma doors, and a low-level table/desk reflected the shoin-style room which came to prominence during the Muromachi period, also influenced by (as you may have guessed) Zen Buddhism – specifically, the libraries used by monks. There was also the symbolic nijiriguchi (the small, cramped tea house entrance), which in Kumakuru’s (co-editor, Varley Tea in Japan) view represented the idea that the tea ceremony, the tea room, and the world of tea, was something extraordinary (an idea similarly echoed by the moving of the entire tea making process into the room itself, establishing in essence a microcosmic world of tea) – unlike the mundaneness of their everyday lives, in a way the consumption of tea allowed them to transcend these mere trivialities and reach a heightened sense of self.

However, the tea ceremony’s most basic concepts have been of simplicity, purity, and purification, can be seen in Shinto, and, as the symbolic bringing of Shinto and Buddhism together throughout the late 15th century and early 16th, so too did it reflect in the changing of the tea ceremony. This unification of traditionally Japanese and Chinese philosophies (which had previously co-existed, yet never really intertwined) is seen in the development of a new variation of the tea ceremony that previously wasn’t seen, wabicha, by Murata Shuko – that is, that “In pursuing this way of tea, great care should be taken to harmonise Japanese and Chinese tastes” (so in a roundabout way I’ve partially answered your question), as opposed to simply mirroring the Chinese processes and articles used in the tea ceremony. Shuko’s careful use of the harmonising of the two different cultures happened alongside the development of new Japanese-only tools, such as native ceramics which represented a “reassertion of such basic native values as naturalness and irregularity” (Varley). These tastes were also reflected in the combination of Shinto principles with that of Confucianism, and not so soon after during the influx of Europeans and Christian missionaries, the ceremony itself shifted to reflect this change, though not in the way you’d expect.

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