KJ
71 Special Online Feature
The
New Way of Tea
by Junji Ito
from The New Way of Tea, International Chado Culture Foundation,
in collaboration with Ikko Tanaka, ©2002 Used with permission
Today, combining contemporary art and regional culture has become a
common methodology, and there is an active moment to create futuristic
expressions of traditional aesthetics through digital technology. But
compared to the West, which underwent a revolution of the notion of
the plastic arts in the Renaissance, interpretations and expressions
of postmodernism in Asia are far from uniform, and because of the significant
cultural differences from region to region, a uniform repertory of past
styles to serve as references cannot exist. The expressive style of
the period shifting toward post-postmodernism, which embraces even modernism,
but the tendency toward a free intermingling of time and space that
is common to all of Asian culture can be regarded as quite similar to
postmodernism’s affirmation of all styles, and I believe this
similarity will contribute in the future to cross-cultural understanding
and creativity throughout the world.
In the midst of such emerging cultural trends, it is heartening that
the contemporary nature of the expressive modes of chanoyu, which developed
against the background of the Zen Buddhism that reached its final form
in Japan, should be attracting attention not only in Japan but around
the world.
When we speak
of chanoyu today, in the early twenty-first century, we of course refer
to its traditional ceremonial beauty, the sukiya-style of architecture
of its tea rooms, and the highly refined and artistically accomplished
furnishings and tea utensils used in chanoyu, but if we were to ignore
the aesthetics inherent in the activity of chanoyu as a whole, and in
particular its contemporary relevance, we would be adopting a one-sided
approach. The experimental forms relating to chanoyu on display at the
Asian Society have great significance as a means of achieving an understanding
of the essence of the traditional modes of expression of chanoyu on
display at the Japan Society.
Of course Sen Rikyu (and the other formulators of chanoyu) did not foresee
in any way the form our contemporary society would take. As a matter
of fact, the beauty of this ceremony was nurtured in the fires of constant
warfare, and perfected under circumstances in which even the immediate
future was uncertain. There is an expression used to describe the last
moment before death: “the moment of truth.” No doubt the
originators of chanoyu frequently experienced this instant of recognition
of the true nature of human existence and society that occurs at the
border between life and death as they perfected this timeless at form.
The custom of drinking tea was, from the beginning, strongly associated
with spirituality. As Kakuzo Okakura notes in his The Book of Tea, in
eleventh-century China a “tea ritual” had already been established
within the Zen (Chinese, Chan) Buddhism. Zen is widely recognized as
a practical religion that advocates actualizing the teachings of Buddhism
within everyday life. As its name indicates, Zen is based on meditation:
the word zen derives from the Sanskrit word dhyana, meaning meditation,
which is one of the six paramitas, or practices to attain enlightenment.
Zen practitioners sought to lose themselves in meditation and become
one with all things in the universe. In their animistic way of thinking,
the ultimate truth resided in all actions and phenomena. This perspective
of establishing one’s own existence through one’s relationship
with others, and the basic structure of chanoyu, which puts this insight
into practice, have been united from the inception of chanoyu up through
its perfection by Sen Rikyu.
One of the interesting features of the aesthetics of chanoyu is its
stylistic flexibility, as evidenced in such actions and sensibilities
as mitate (allusion) and sukiya – a flexibility that is based
on the teachings of Zen, which values the relationship of equality among
all things united by the rejection of any substantial individual self.
And since this is a universal way of thinking that transcends time and
space, it responds to and accepts each changing age, making possible
the establishment of new modes of expression suitable to the age. This
is likewise true of those who participate in chanoyu: the aims of Zen
practice are behind their effort to ignore the differences in their
social ranks and circumstances and preserve in chanoyu relationships
of fundamental equality.
In the “Suki” Exhibition that I curated for the Japanese
pavilion of the 1995 Venice Biennale, together with Hiroshi Senju and
Jae Eun Choi, who have also contributed to the present exhibition, we
attempted to develop the concept of relativity discussed above within
the field of contemporary art with its varied styles, and to explore
the possibilities of realizing this in the present; at that time we
translated “Suki” as “togetherness” because
we were pursuing not simply formal goals but an ideal mode of being
for our world. Chanoyu is, in its own small way, the concrete practice
of ultimate peace, a reconciliation of differences.
Though chanoyu does indeed pursue a whole created by the reconciliation
of differences, it by no means rejects the existence of the individual.
The monk Eisai, who transmitted both Zen and tea to Japan from China,
studied Zen in the Southern Song dynasty, which was also a stronghold
of Taoist thought. Taoism teaches a relativism in which the individual
is not merged into the whole but rather each individual’s existence
is affirmed by his relationship with other sentient and non-sentient
beings. Chanoyu is a means for studying this principle experientially.
Einstein’s Theory of Relativity articulated the relative nature
of matter from a scientific perspective and had a tremendous influence
on twentieth-century society; it should be no surprise, then, that in
such an age Zen, which is based on a principle of spiritual relativity,
has been rediscovered and enthusiastically received.
There is a well-known story about the origin of Zen. One day Shakyamuni
Buddha and his disciples were wandering in the mountains, when Shakyamuni
suddenly held up a lotus blossom. His disciples did not know what he
was trying to communicate and were silent – except for Kashyapa,
later regarded as the founder of Zen, who smiled. Shakyamuni saw his
smile and said that Kashyapa had grasped the truth of enlightenment.
This anecdote teaches the importance of interactive communication, as
expressed in the famous Zen principle of “transmission from mind
to mind.” The conviction that truth exists in the mutual understanding
that is achieved through interaction with others is also the essence
of chanoyu.
Chanoyu as it developed in Japan, growing out of the “tea ritual”
of Chinese Zen temples, evolved through the wabi cha of Murata Shuko
and Takeno Joo and achieved its distinctive culmination at the hands
of Sen Rikyu, but I think that the Zen experience achieved more dramatic
expression in chanoyu by incorporating elements of the aesthetics of
Zeami’s Noh drama, the most advanced aesthetic system of its day,
perhaps through Zen Master Ikkyu of Daitoku-ji, who exerted a strong
influence on all of the founders of chanoyu.
Zeami perfected the Noh drama and through this achievement brought Japanese
aesthetics to their apogee. Like the founders of chanoyu, Zeami held
a Buddhist view of the universe and, also incorporating the pan-Asian
attitudes toward death and birth, extended his aesthetics of relativism
even further to include the realm of the dead, the realm of spirits
(rei). His theory of hana, flower – such as “the hidden
flower” and “the flower of time” – which grew
out of his experience as an actor, is well known, and his metaphysical
world view is replete with linked series of intuitive images reminiscent
of the twentieth-century painter Giorgio de Chirico. With the advancement
of virtual reality technology for media arts, this metaphysical style
of expression is becoming more and more widespread.
Chanoyu and Noh have many features in common, among them the articulation
of a path that leads to the unfolding drama, simultaneity of events,
and the attainment of spatial “nothingness.” But while Noh
is a form of expression that is first and foremost meant to be observed
by an audience, chanoyu differs from Noh and is a unique form of artistic
expression in that it gives each person involved a role as a participant
actually experiencing the event. This special feature of chanoyu is
a major reason that contemporary artists who attempt to engage in direct
communication with their audiences through installations and interactive
tools also express a strong interest in chanoyu. I also think that chanoyu’s
emphasis on the ordinary in both its experience and environment –
such as the frequently cited use of ordinary Korean rice bowls as tea
bowls and its preference for common flowers and simple, minimal gardens
– is an especially attractive feature to contemporary artists
and designers.
For all of these reasons, and because of the great deal of overlap with
the aims of art from the twentieth century on, the experiential aesthetics
inherent in chanoyu also offer a rich source of inspiration for new
creations based on digital environments and network foundations.
I believe that the works of the Japanese and other Asian artists who
have participated in this exhibition not only capture the essence of
artistic expression within traditional chanoyu but also point the way
to its future.
[Originally included in the catalog for an exhibition in New York City
jointly presented by Asia Society and Japan Society, published by ]
Copyright
held by the author
Back to
KJ #71
Subscriptions
