Japanese & Oriental Ceramic. Hazel H. Gorham

      Cha fin (tea master) preparing tea for cha no yu. One of the operations of this pastime is the careful ceremonial cleaning of each article as it is put into use. To the left of the server a small bowl for waste water. In front of him on the matted floor a small white bamboo whisk for mixing the tea and a lacquered box holding the powdered tea with measuring spoon balanced on the top. On the lacquered board an Oribe pottery bowl for holding cold water for replenishing the water in the iron hot-water kettle. The large object is a black earthenware fire pot (the "furo" the making of which gave the Eiraku potters their start in the ceramic art world of Japan) with a cast iron kettle for boiling the water. Balanced on the open top of the kettle is a bamboo dipper with which the hot water is ladled over the powdered tea; the small almost indistinguishable object beyond the furo is the iron lid of the water kettle. This form of serving tea is used only in the summer, in winter the "furo" is replaced by a sunken fire box level with the floor mats.

      Cha no yu

      It is in the making of pottery articles that the Japanese artist expresses in the simpliest and most direct way his love of the material he is working with and his conviction that to be beautiful an article must first be useful. And this idea, we humbly submit, is of value to all peoples.

      Before attempting to explain in detail the distinguishing features of shape, colour and design of Japanese ceramic wares it will be well to stop and explain one influence which has moulded Japanese taste for centuries, the aesthetic cult or pastime known as cha no yu (literally "hot water for tea") It is coincidence only that the development of porcelain making took place just at the time that cha no yu played a prominent part in Japanese history, because pottery, not porcelain, is the chosen ceramic ware for cha no yu. However the arti tic taste fostered by cha no yu dictated the form and colour and texture of all forms of ceramics.

      The words cha no yu, cha do and chajin are indispensable in the consideration of any form of Japanese art. Simple words "cha do" "tea teachings" and "cha jin" "tea-men" they are packed with meaning for the Japanese, and all but meaningless for Occidentals. For more than three hundred years the tea-men (cha jin) have been the accepted judges of what constitutes good taste in Japanese art and their influence is still felt in the etiquette of the daily lives of the people, in their homes and gardens, in their clothing and in their outlook on life. Even the language has not escaped, for the Japanese word expressive of confusion "mucha kucha" translated literally means "without tea, bitter tea." For many years the word used to denote any and all ceramic wares was "cha wan" or "tea bowl"; and even today common rice bowls are called cha wan or gohan cha wan, literally rice tea bowls.

      Tea ceremony, the usually accepted translation of cha no yu, is most unsatisfactory for the words themselves mean only hot water of (or for) tea. Although the cha no yu of today has come to be representative of conservatism and reactionism, it was not so in the beginning. Originally it must have objectified the spirit of progress, even adventure. The designs on the tea utensils in those days were new, the latest importations from abroad. The tea-men of those days were discontents and pioneers, dissatisfied with the crash materialism of their day and its gaudy, ostentatious art.

      They went to the other extreme and in revolt they preached the doctrine of beauty in imperfection and the joy of living in harmony with nature. They entertained their friends in surroundings suggestive of poverty, not wealth; drank their tea from bowls that had been discarded by Korean potters; arranged their flowers in crude earthen pots that had been used by farmers to store seeds in; and rigorously kept the conversation at such gatherings away from the glories of war and the admiration of the spoils of conquest, the things uppermost in the minds of the people of that day.

      The first teachers of cha no yu were priests of the Zen sect of Buddhism. Their insistence on contemplation and reflection on the oneness of the universe, man and nature, ran counter to the prevailing spirit of war and struggle for military supremacy of their day. It was a time known in Japanese history as the Sengoku Jidai, Civil War Period, when three great leaders Oda Nobunaga, Toyotomi Hideyoshi and Tokugawa Iyeyasu successively struggled for leadership, and it was also at this time the first vanguard of European civilization was making its appearance in the Orient. In Europe it was the time of the Renaissance and this spirit found expression in Japan too. Hideyoshi, who loved to clothe himself in colourful garments and who lived in grand dwellings, decorated by master artists, which have never been excelled in gorgeousness of colour and decoration, was fascinated by the teachings of cha do. He became an ardent student of cha no yu and his enthusiasm spread to his generals and retainers. The shortest way to his favour was to present him with something that could be used for the performance of cha no yu, so his followers vied with one another in making things of pottery that would meet with his approval. All of Japan was swept with a mania for "cha ki," pottery utensils suitable for cha no yu. Feudal lords, given their choice between the grant of large tracts of land and a famous piece of pottery, eagerly chose the pottery.

      In the estimation of the Japanese the most important pottery for cha no yu is first, the cha ire (tea jars), next the cha wan (tea cups). Under the Tokugawa Shogunate the most precious possessions of the military men were said to be tea jars, specimens of calligraphy and swords, in the order named. Toyotomi Hideyoshi was the first to reward services rendered him by his followers with pottery articles to be used in cha no yu. Tokugawa Iyeyasu and his successors were only too pleased to follow this precedent. Such a high value was set upon these intrinsically valueless things that it became the custom that a cha ire (tea jar) was granted only for the lifetime of the recipient and must be returned on his death. Sometimes the heir was granted the honour of inheriting it.