Once after the tea ceremony in Tondaya tourists asked me about the sense of the ceremony. As I had a notion about tea ceremony only in general, I told briefly, that the main point is to distract mind from the vanity of the world.
Surprisingly, I observe tea ceremony almost every day, but it hasn’t stricken that I must inquire about its sense yet.
So this question gave rise to get know more about Japanese traditional tea ceremony.

4 principles – harmony, respect, purity and tranquility are the foundation of the tea ceremony.
Harmony between humans and environment, respect to everything and gratitude for life, purity of body and soul – that lead to the tranquility.

The most important part of the tea ceremony is preparation of the tea. During the tea ceremony it is used Japanese powdered green tea “matcha”. The tea ceremony takes place in silence. Guests concentrate their attention on what is going on. There are flowers or hanging scroll for eyes; sounds of fire and boiling water for ears, smell of incense for nose, taste of tea for mouth, texture and shape of bowl for hands. Thereby, all organs of sense go on, and mind becomes purer.

The house for tea ceremony is embodiment of naturalness and simplicity and consists of one room with crawl-through entrance. People enter such rooms on their knees, with hands bowed, irrespective of their social status. The purpose is to move away from creature comforts and enjoy the tea ceremony calmly.

People speak about the saying on a hanging scroll, bowls chosen for the ceremony, the tea, but never speak about everyday cares during the tea ceremony. And I think it’s a great custom, because people need to have an opportunity to relax and time to think about eternity.