RAKU CHA RYU

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...

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. The celestial pavillon It is said that in ancient times, the Chinese literati used to meet in very remote pavilions, somewhere at the back of a mountain. The path leading to it could be very perilous. Many hours   of walk and great dangers awaited the courageous mandarin. But eventually, shortly behind a cliff or a bambou forest, he was discovering a lonesome hut with a view on the sky or a lake. Entering the place, the literati leaves behind any political or personal feud. The world of men has been temporarily suspended. Only the open hearts and high minds remain. Participants hold a giant brush made of yack hair. They use it to...

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. The buddhist drug It is said that Bodhidharma, father of the Chan buddhism, decided one day to meditate for nine years in front of a wall without sleep. Nevertheless, one day, his eyelids got heavy and he eventually closed them. When He woke up, he was extremely mad at himself. So as to not reproduce the same mistake, he tear his eyelids and threw them on the ground. From that same ground the first tea tree was bon. Bodhidharma’s disciples turned it into a drink by grounding the leaves and served it to the master. Hence, never again did he got sleepy during meditation. In the Chinese temples of the Chan sect (Zen in Japan), tea powder bec...

Camellia sinensis traumans — Scaring tea Tea ceremony today is often seen as a stiff traditionnal art, stressing, proud and stuffed with so many rules that an Emperor would barely follow…long story short : it’s a snobish art. Because of that and some other things, it also became a gramps arts. Recently, as I was talking to a australo-japanese girl, I mentioned that I practiced tea ceremony. She then replied with a mocking tone : « my [ Japanese ] grandma would love it. » Here is another story : as I was talking to two experienced students of my tea school in Japan about what we felt when doing tea, they both replied : « I feel fear. » There is no abuse of tea, but there are abusive practices of it. I said before that the multiplication of rules in tea ceremony certainly made it more beautiful. But it also produce more anxiety. And it was not always like that. Recently, I went through some interesting pictures of tea ceremonies taken at th...

Pay respect to the place Almost two years ago, I started to study the tea ceremony. More than a study, it became a practical, aesthetic and even ethical question. I practiced in my tea master’s pavillon but also in many places without any tools : in the Parisian subway, in a park of Omotesando or even at the top of a temple in Ayutthaya, Thailand. One of the very first versions of the tea room Soon, my room in Paris was emptied of any superfluous thing. I put some mats on the floor and then tatamis. A woodboard served as a tokonoma (alcove), some other woodboards were there to hide a plug in the wall. I had the leisure of thinking every single detail in the place.  Now, I would like to pay my respect to this space. It is the room where I grew up and never quite felt at home. I tried to make it into a personal space, one in which I could welcome my friends as I would like them to welcome me. No place had me question so much what « to inhabit ...

In tea ceremony, slowness is much appreciated. The host must have a perfect knowledge of what s/he is doing, use items with care and treat guests with respect. One may think that it is merely an choreographic aesthetic. But I think that what is at stake is related to a certain definition of « the virtuous man » that one can find all around the globe. Gift as a virtue a Zen monk from Sasama village Wether these men are priests or warriors, wizards or beggars, many men from different culture share the ability to give without any fear of the futur. Hence Saint-Martin whom, in the depht of the desperate freeze of winter, gives half of his coat to a hobo. In the same way, there is this buddhist tale of a Zen monk whom, as he meets a thief in his house, seeing that he is depressed by the rather minimalist decoration, offers him his robe and his food while sighting : « I wish I could give you the moon ». Pierre Clastres teaches us that the same goes in so...

After our last firing, Sasaki-sensei and I prepared tea together. In ancient times, tea people would write down records of their tea ceremonies and of the most important pieces they saw. It was called a chakaiki . This is a modern chakaiki with pictures and commentaries. Tokonoma — white boats and blue beauties All of this trip was made possible thanks to the help of Alex Kerr, a famous american writer in love with Japan and expert in —at least— calligraphy. As Sasaki’s friend, he accepted me in his old house full of treasures, only forty minutes by bicycle from the workshop —and that was the closest house ! My legs will certainly remember the seven endlessly uphill kilometers that I had to ride every morning in the mountains. But my heart will surely also remember Alex Kerr’s generosity. Before I left the house, Mr. Kerr offered me one of his calligraphy. He signs his works instead of using a stamp — I think that is his way of playing between Western and Eastern trad...

Sasaki during our last firing at Shoraku About two weeks ago, I asked Sasaki-sensei to make two tea bowls. The first one had to be made for his personal use, the second for his family. None of them should be made to be sold. What did he understood of my words ? I have no idea. Nevertheless, he started to make four bowls… Later, he would explain that it was a way to make sure that at least two would survive…but each bowl he made was different. One of these tea bowls will be my « ceramic » conclusion to this internship. Master’s style Sasaki-sensei il a smiling and sweet man, convivial and fond of bright colors. He loves shiny green glazes, chalk white shoes and the Japanese tapas bars where saké is overflowing.   A black or a red raku tea bowl is not exactly the perfect expression of his character. One can feel it in Sasaki’s works. His creations alternate between classic dark/red and colorful essays. Sasaki's tea bowls Before our last fi...

Or why is it so hard to write anything non-polemical about Tea ? « Any miso soup left ? » —Kobori Enshu (probably.) (Quote also more arguably attributed to Hideyoshi Toyotomi) The subject of the tea ceremony and its history is so sensitive among practitioners today that to write a consensual introduction to the tea ceremony is a very difficult task. It is partly due to the fact that contradictory information is common.  Certainly, most people agree very vaguely on the chronology and the basics of Tea. But everything regarding the spirit with which it must be practiced and the interpretations to give to the countless legends and tales that go with it is the subject of great debate. Anyway, that is why I will only stick to the few things that I have understood from my various readings and conversations in the hope that it will be interesting to my readers. I have no pretension to present here the one and unique truth about what tea is or...

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 «...