RAKU CHA RYU

Melody in wood I still remember my first trip to Kyoto. It was in July. One day, while some scattered rains washed the trees and refreshed the airs with a soft wind, I entered the walls of Nanzenji, one of Kyoto’s famous temples. The great gate and its darkened wood pillars exhaled a perfume close to incense and moss. A top note, sparkling and emotional, came from nose to eyelashes like tears of joy. Then an earthy wave, the middle note, fresh and light like a breeze among the oaks. And finally, for the base note, a deep blow of sliced wood, low and rich, rough on the palate and caressing on the nose. I never forgot that perfume of Nanzenji. To me, it is typical of central Japan. I think I mentioned it a lot before. I had to, eventually, give it a proper homage. The missing history of perfumes Tanizaki said that Japanese aesthetic plays on shadows to suggest things rather than to show them. I never read anything about the smells of Japan. Yet, more so than shadows,...

Leaf harmonium As I enter a new country, I am always surprised by the fauna and flora. There is the luxurious Thai vegetation that floods any cracks of Bangkok’s walls, a sombre and wet green comfortably sleeping in its unshakable power. And then there is the Scottish green, fractured like a thunder,   with dark woods and tortuous leaves gleaming like a gray rock. I knew of the central part of Japan and its soft mountains, shaped like a silk robe and dressed in velvety foliages. Coming to Korea, the color variations became immediately chaotic. Not anymore could I see the delicate landscapes, gently painted in a typhoon diluted ink, but I was facing and immense fresco of pastels drawn with a dry and swift brush. Two close countries had such difference in their beauty. With these few remarks in mind, I could also notice that the construction woods of Korea were much clearer than the Japanese ones but far less perfumed. How can I believe, then, that two poets ca...

The man of tea learns of it quickly : a long-neck jet black vase has a different aura from a simple open and refreshing bamboo vase.   Why do we keep the room empty ? Simply to give space to imagination ? Any item keeps the mind busy. Across history, powerful politicians have always understood this, one way or another. « Beauty » is a sensibility that varies with cultures and fashions. To change our conception of the beautiful, of the agreeable, is to change our approach of the world. Aesthetic is politic During the Momoyama era, a kind of Japanese Renaissance compressed in a handful of years, Sen no Rikyu ruled over aesthetic — according to some historians. The man who wanted every warlord to bow as he entered the tea room set the social tone to modesty of mean, dark colors and rustic simplicity. Some say that Hideyoshi Toyotomi, the great lord of the time, supported Rikyu in his actions. Others say that he saw in the Tea master’s aesthetic powe...

What we leave behind Fallen barks, dead trunks, decrepit walls and forgotten bags are strewn all around Awaji. Coming here, I was given the keys of Mujuan , a tea pavillon as abandoned as the island. The 1995 earthquake has seriously shaken the two tea rooms and gigantic garden. A young beginner like me should not claim to open his own tea pavillon, but what master would settle in someone else’s house and, furthermore, a let down house ? Aguste Comte said that « the dead rule over the livings ». They are the cause of our birth, our world is the result of their actions. We are born in ruins — palaces and forests that our ancestors shaped. Someone else grew what we are harvesting today. Yet, we like new things. We like when an item is made for us. We like to be its first owner, its only recipient. The more I go, the more this mindset seems strangely vain to me. Ceramics I like will survive me for thousands of years. I am merely one of their guests. I do ...

Focus The nape stiffens up, the eyelids get closer, the eyes converge on an invisible dot. Right there is the bowl to prepare. The back stiffens up, the vertebras align, the arms relax and I walk straight. The way to the pavillon is ahead. When a great event approaches, these sensations can start occurring several weeks in advance. All my body focus. There is no room for confidence nor doubt. Confidence is the enemy of perfection, doubt is the enemy of action. All that is left to do is to tie the bow, looking straight at the target. Too much tension and the arrow will spring before the game starts. Not enough and the hand will shake like a needle. A tea ceremony is a seasonal matter. There is no pleasure to strawberries if they come all year long. To accept that seasons pass, that pleasures change along the year, is the very first step toward the acceptance of our own fragile condition. At my young age, there are already pleasures that I will not kn...

Reaching the end This is the end of my experience.  On the 2nd of August, I went up in the mountain one last time, to Shoraku workshop.   Right in front of me, Sasaki-sensei fired the pieces that I asked him to design for his family. Then I had to choose the pieces I would bring back to Paris…or somewhere else…and we made tea together, one last time, with our tea bowls still burning hot. Why did I decide to make this trip ? Why ceramic again ? This question never left me. Freedom of the slave Hegel said that the master think s/he is free because the slave obeys him but that, in fact, the slave learns to act on the world itself while the master is everyday more dependent him/her. The dialectic between the master and the slave is, among other things, that the one that is at first deprived of freedom is in fact getting more freedom that the one that thinks that s/he is free. Tea masters buy ceramics that they never make. They organize i...

A ceramic meditation A Chôjiro style tea bowl from Shôraku workshop. Nothing is more still that burnt clay.   But the light keeps dancing on ceramics with an astonishing refinement. And very often, the most imperfect and simple pieces are the most playful with their environnement. Sometimes, I think that this specific relationship with environnement is one of the roots of the wabi-sabi aesthetic : it creates what I call a welcoming nature . Arts and their nature Frame itself separates the art from our world Most of the western (but also eastern) arts exhibit a strong human presence. The art is somehow remarkable , a human intention separates it from anything that could be called ‘natural’. The vivid colors, the geometrical lines, any pattern or drawing that could be described as more or less realist — which, in fine , means that it creates its own reality — all of these are different ways to distinguish the « human » world made by art from the «...

The seven rules of Tea :  “First you must make a delicious bowl of tea; lay the charcoal so the water boils;  arrange the flowers as they are in the field;  i n the summer suggest coolness,  in the winter, warmth;  do everything ahead of time; prepare for rain;  and give those with whom you find yourself every consideration.” — Sen no Rikyu  (who liked to improvise such sayings) In any tea ceremony, there are at least three steps : purification of the ustensiles, preparation of the actual tea and the cleaning of the ustensiles. To my knowledge, these are the incompressible steps that any tea practice include, even for a minimal tea event. Broadly speaking, what is a « tea ceremony » ? It is an event organized by a host in a place that is adequate or not for tea and to which the guests attend generally with some preparation. A great deal of codes govern over the behavior of the host and his way of serving tea (and,...

If one had to define what is the tea ceremony, how s/he should proceed ? " Tea is nought but this: first you heat the water, then you make the tea. Then you drink it properly. That is all you need to know." — Sen no Rikyu  (also the author of hundreds of other maxims on Tea that render this one much more esoteric) Enter a world of simplicity... The Japanese name of the tea ceremony is Sado ( 茶道 ). Sado should be translated as the Way of Tea. And " Way " must be understood here in its Asian meaning as a path that shapes one’s life, the occasion to meditate at all time on how to behave. But the tea ceremony is also sometimes called chanoyu ( 茶の湯 ) which means " hot water of tea ". Their are many explanations to this name and I will just mention one of them : it is supposed to remind hosts and guests that tea is simply the act of serving tea.  One could already feel the paradox that runs through...