Three tea stories (3) — The merchant's pride
The stories I am telling here have few historical background. They are merely legends decorated by my imagination. Just like anything that belongs to a fantasy of the past, they are as true as one would like them to be. But it is sometimes so comforting that a story could be true that it does not matter if it really is or not. It is said that, in the Japanese world of warlords, merchants were traveling all the way to China and India to provide their masters with the greatest weapons and crafts. But as payment, they only received and handful of gold and despise. So, one day, a merchant well versed in Zen and tea desired to finally get respect. In order to do that, he decided to build quite a peculiar tea room. When a lord arrived there, he would be met with a garden deprived of any splendor. At the back of it, a weak construction was waiting for him. At the entrance, he had to leave his sword and to enter through a small square door that none could pass wit...