What is a roji, or Japanese tea garden? How is a tea garden used? What are tea ceremony guests doing in the garden during a tea gathering? Tea gardens are an important part of the Japanese garden tradition, influencing not just garden building over the centuries but Japanese aesthetics in general.
Japanese garden master Hiroaki Etou, who himself is a student of Chado (way of tea), discusses the basic flow of host and guests during a tea gathering, or chaji. Mr. Etou also touches on his thinking behind tea garden design and layout, as well as his approach to pruning and maintenance in the roji. After briefly describing how he became interested in building tea gardens, Mr. Etou explains the stages of a typical tea gathering, specifically the use of the garden.
The video reviews features including the mon (main garden gate), the yoritsuki-machiai (anteroom), the koshikake-machiai (waiting arbor), the chuumon (middle gate),the tsukubai (water basin), the gakumi ishi (stone for viewing the hengaku, name plate), the chiriana (dust pit), the nijiriguchi (tea house entrance), the kinin guchi (entrance for high-ranking individuals) and the katana kake (sword shelf). There the guests proceed to their ultimate destination: the sharing of a bowl of tea.
Mr. Etou’s explanation will be greatly helpful to those interested in understanding the meaning behind the various features of a tea garden and how they are used.
For more on Mr. Etou, check out www.sui-raku-kai.com
Music in this video:
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A Ghra
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