Tea ceremony in Japan was developed with considerable Christianity influences, explains a tea master prof Takehana Keiko. The current style of tea ceremony that uses grinded green tea power maccha is unique to Japan and its style - a wabi-cha style was developed by a tea master Rikyu (1522-91). Wabi-cha values the ultimate simplicity and is the origin of wabi-sabi considered to be the essence of Japanese aesthetics. Sharing of tea by a group of guests served by a tea master and a small piece of sweet given to each guest are similar to the communion. The style of tea ceremony houses is also believed to have Christianity symbolism – Roji is a road leading to a sacred place; Tobi-ishi, stepping stones, are placed so that only one person can walk through at a time; Tsukubai, a wash basin, is where you cleans yourself before entering, and the Njiri-guchi, a narrow entrance, is where you “enter through a narrow gate”. Christianity was introduced to Japan by a Navarrese missionary Francisco de Xavier (Societus Iesu) in 1549 when he arrived in Kagoshima, Kyushu. Christianity was promoted by influential figures eg the first Christian Daimyo Omura (1564) and one of the most famed Daimyo Nobunaga (1534-82), tea ceremony was one of the highly valued and practices for those educated then. Five of the seven tea masters who followe Rikyu were Christian. The support dinishes around 1958 and then eventually banned by Ieyasu in 1614. The Christian population was estimated to be about 650,000 (now about 450,000).
The Christmas tea ceremony designed by a Tokyo-based architect Hirooka and run by tourism students of Wakayama University had another dimension – environmental ly responsible festive event. The Tea House was built with 505 cardboard boxes made of 80% recycled materials, and after use collected and recycled by the local manufacture. Having a “slow-life activity” tea ceremony with the recyclable materials on a Christian occasion Christmas certainly created an interesting cross-cultural occasion.
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