Transformation of a bold assertion
Since returning from Japan several of weeks ago, all that I had learned over the past decade about the relationship between Christianity, the early development of the Japanese tea ceremony and the unification of Japan during the Christian Century is being transformed from an abstract construct of linked historical facts, to becoming a concrete and coherent experiential reality for me. This resulted because I saw and experienced for myself the aftermath of something that miraculously and then catastrophically occurred in Japan because, I believe, Japanese Christians created and conducted the Japanese tea ceremony in such a way that it helped hundreds of thousands of Japanese become Christians in less than a century who were later willing to die rather than deny their faith in Jesus.
Basis for the bold assertion
This bold assertion about the role of Japanese Christians in the early development of the Japanese tea ceremony is radically different from traditional beliefs about its origin. That is why it took me a decade of research to be willing to come to a conclusion that flies in the face of the views of most historians. The reason for the discrepancy is based upon the same reason my wife, who grew up in the Midwest, never heard about the internment of Japanese Americans during World War II until she was in college. Just as the United States tried to whitewash American history by not including the internment in history books, Japan did everything it could to remove the influence and impact of Christianity from its history and transform its view of the Japanese tea ceremony to being based solely on Buddhist, Shinto and Confucian roots.
While I have all the historical information needed to provide a solid argument that my position is valid, I have been encouraged to document and share my historical research at a later time so that I can move on to explore how the Japanese tea ceremony was actually able to help bring, for better or worse, unity to a nation who had been in constant civil war for two centuries and, more importantly, help hundreds of thousands of Japanese become Christians in less than a century. For this reason, I have been taking lessons in how to perform the tea ceremony, collecting the tea bowls and accessories necessary to host the tea ceremony, and working to transform the entire landscape at our home into a place where the Japanese tea ceremony can appropriately take place. Consistent with this direction, my wife, Janie, and I went to Japan to specifically explore the sites significant to the early development of the Japanese tea ceremony, the political and religious impact it had on the nation, and the devastation that resulted when Christianity was prohibited in Japan and Japanese Christians were massively mutilated and martyred as a consequence.
First-hand experience of a complete Japanese tea ceremony
On our first day in Japan, Janie and I, together with a new friend we had just met, had the wonderful opportunity to participate in a half-day workshop that enabled us to experience every major aspect of a formal Japanese tea ceremony. We stepped off a busy street in Osaka through a massive Japanese gate and entered the quiet serenity of a beautiful tea garden surrounded by thick sound- insulating walls. The trickle of water was in the background as we were guided along a pathway amid rocks, pines and stone lanterns until a teahouse emerged before us. We changed into traditional Japanese clothes for the tea ceremony. Once attired, we sat at a low table overlooking the garden and silently meditated to prepare ourselves for what was ahead. We were then offered hot water and rice crackers to wet our pallets before the delicious meal ahead. The tray set before us was a treasure to the eyes—a multitude of selected delicacies separated by a checkerboard of partitions highlighted each tantalizing morsel. Then we were left alone to savor the food and enjoy each other’s company while our hosts prepared the tearoom.
Once all was ready, we used the ladle at the stone basin to cleanse our hands and mouth. We entered the tearoom on our knees with our heads bowed so we could fit through the small door and experience the Japanese tea ceremony’s main event, the thick tea procedure. After entering, we used our knuckles to propel ourselves around the room, first to the alcove to ponder the meaning of the hanging scroll and appreciate the simple flower arrangement displayed there. Next, at our places before the charcoal pit where water boiled in the iron kettle, a stack of lacquered boxes was placed before us. There were rough-hewn mulberry spears, one for each of us, on top of the stacked boxes. Each of us, in succession, turned the upper boxes slightly to reveal a small open corner at the lower right of the bottom box. After inserting the mulberry spear into the dark open corner of the lowest box, the upper boxes were then passed to the next person until there was only one box left with a cover on it. A special confection hidden at the center of each box was revealed as the upper boxes were removed and passed on or the cover was removed from the last box. Each of us, when our box was opened before us, then used our mulberry spear to pierce the confection and place it on a paper napkin on the palm of our hand. We then used the mulberry spear to cut the confection cross-wise into fourths so we could eat the confection by spearing each piece one at a time. The rough-hewn spear, being an inefficient cutting tool, tore the confection apart rather than cleanly slicing it into uniform pieces.
Once all had eaten their confection, the host took the square silk napkin that was used for cleansing the tea container and tea scoop from his belt and held it up by pinching two of its corners between the thumb and forefinger of both hands. He then proceeded to transfer his hold from corner to corner until he had successively held up each of the four sides of the napkin, bending each side slightly as he rotated the cleansing napkin around from corner to corner and from side to side until each corner and side were held up in succession on top.
Once this was completed, our host proceeded, step by step, to ceremoniously cleanse each utensil used in the thick tea procedure—the tea container, tea scoop, tea whisk and tea bowl. Each act of cleansing involved three repeated actions for each item. Then the equivalent of three scoops of green tea powder for each of us was emptied from the tea container into the tea bowl. First, three scoops were spooned into the tea bowl with a bamboo tea scoop and then the rest of the tea was poured directly into the tea bowl from the tea container. The top of the mound of tea in the tea bowl was then scored with the tea scoop three times by the host and then shown to us before a small amount of hot water was added to the bowl so the tea powder could be whisked into a thick broth.
The tea bowl holding the thick tea was then placed before the first of us to drink from the common tea bowl. After expressing appreciation to the host for the tea and asking forgiveness from the next person for drinking the tea ahead of that person, the first person then turned the tea bowl so as not to drink from the front of the tea bowl. After sipping the tea three full times and then a half sip more, the rim of the tea bowl used was wiped with a special pre-moistened, folded paper napkin. After each portion of the rim used for sipping was wiped, the soiled portion of the folded napkin was then turned under to provide a new clean portion to wipe the rim again for a total of three wipes before it was passed on to the next person.
After each of us drank from the same tea bowl, cleansed its rim for the next person and passed it on, the last of us to drink returned the tea bowl to the host. Then the host cleansed the tea container and tea whisk once again so we could examine them. Once examined, questions could then be asked by us and answered by our host as to the background and meaning of each piece. Once the significance of the tea container and tea scoop were discussed, the whole procedure was reversed so that each accessory used in the thick tea procedure was returned to where it was located before the thick tea procedure ever began.
What followed was another period of transition in preparation for the less formal, more interactive and abbreviated form of the tea ceremony known as the thin tea procedure. Originally, the guests left the tearoom and everything in the tearoom was restaged for the thin tea procedure. The scroll and flowers in the alcove were replaced. The host might have changed his clothes. And, even though the tea procedure would basically be repeated in the same way, the tea accessories where changed to match the more informal and relaxed atmosphere of the thin tea procedure. After the tearoom was rearranged, the guests were invited back into the tearoom.
However, in our case, we did not leave the tearoom. Everything except the tea container and tea bowls remained the same. Instead of the tea container used in the thick tea procedure that was similar to a small antique Chinese apothecary jar protected within a quilted beautifully embroidered silk bag, the new tea container was more like an empty lacquered eggshell cleanly cut in two. Rather then one common tea bowl used by everyone, individual tea bowls were used in the thin tea procedure that reflected the uniqueness of each of us. The confections served on an open plate during thin tea were small, simple and bite-sized, rather than the large single confection needing to be divided in a cross-wise pattern that were served hidden in the stacked boxes during the thick tea procedure. Unlike during thick tea where we only took three sips of tea and a little more from a common cup, during thin tea we were free to take as many sips as necessary to finish the tea in our individual tea bowl, and were invited to drink as many bowls of tea as each of us desired, even though none of us did. Also, as many sweets as were served on the open plate could be eaten by each of us when it was our turn to drink during the thin tea procedure, which, again, none of us did. Whereas talking was very focused and limited during the thick tea procedure, conversation was encouraged throughout the thin tea procedure. At the conclusion of the thin tea procedure, all the accessories used during thin tea were cleansed and replaced to where they originated just as they were in the thick tea procedure.
Importance of the thick tea procedure
I have especially described our thick tea experience in detail because it is the portion of the Japanese tea ceremony that few people know much about let alone have experienced for themselves, even the Japanese. Only the thin tea procedure is often featured in demonstrations of the Japanese tea ceremony, conducted among large groups, and offered to tourists as a quintessential introduction to Japanese art and culture.
The thin tea procedure only takes about thirty to forty minutes to complete. Whereas, the complete Japanese tea ceremony, which includes the journey off the street and through the garden, the meal, the thick tea and then thin tea procedures and the return journey back through the garden and back onto the street, normally takes about three or four hours—or even more. And the thick tea procedure is the main event of the entire process. It is this portion that embodies the primary purpose of the whole four plus hour Japanese tea ceremony experience that cannot be achieved in a shorter amount of time—that being relational transformation. I think it is obvious that those who were complete strangers to us before we began the full Japanese tea ceremony experience, our hosts and our new acquaintance, became our warm friends by the time we finished. Actually, we felt like family.
Japanese tea ceremony as relational catalyst
At this point, I want to make clear that our shared experience together did not magically make us family or even close friends. To do so would require significantly more time together, shared experiences and knowledge of one another. However, close and intimate friendships cannot grow without the initial desire to become friends. We expect that ongoing and deepening relationships were jumpstarted with those who participated in the Japanese tea ceremony with us when we were in Japan. The same can be said of how the Japanese tea ceremony was instrumental in hundreds of thousands of Japanese becoming Christians during the Christian Century. They didn’t instantly become devoted followers of Jesus because they experienced the Japanese tea ceremony either. However, the tea ceremony was an important catalyst that jumpstarted their relationship with God by helping them to experience and understand what God had done through Jesus to enable them to become Christians and relate to God and others in a way that would change their world for the better.
When we remind ourselves that the Japanese tea ceremony was created by Japanese Christians to bring about peace and reconciliation to a nation that had been in civil war for over two centuries, we can now believe, based on our own experience, that the Japanese tea ceremony actually had the potential to transform the relationships of opposing warlords and thus bring unification to Japan during the Christian Century. But more importantly, we realized how the Japanese tea ceremony might well have been used to effectively introduce so many Japanese to Christ, centered them in their faith and united them as the Body of Christ before they faced torture and death. Its importance to Christians who went underground for seven generations and two-and-a-half centuries because Christianity was banned from Japan, and, if caught, were punished by death is evidenced by unearthed tea bowls with crosses on them that the hidden Christians used to secretly observe Holy Communion.
Comparison between the thick tea procedure and Communion
If we assume that the Japanese tea ceremony is based upon the Bible, much of what reflects the Gospel of Jesus Christ becomes apparent. For instance, I heard a secular explanation of the act of holding up and rotating the four corners and four sides of the square silk napkin as symbolizing the cleansing of the north, south, east and west—in other words, the four corners of the entire world. To the Japanese, the character for the number “four” also means “death.” Therefore, both the number and spoken word for “four” are conscientiously avoided by the Japanese. However, the number four is prominent two times during the Japanese tea ceremony. First, I believe the rotating of the four corners of the silk napkin at the beginning of the Japanese tea ceremony, which I believe represents the cross of Christ, introduces its overall meaning and purpose as the cleansing and renewing of Creation, including all of humanity, through the suffering and death on the cross of the Creator, Jesus Christ. And second, I believe the dividing cross- wise and piercing of the special confection hidden in the bottom stacked box with a rough-hewn mulberry stick into four pieces represents the suffering and death we, sinful humanity, inflicted upon Jesus, our Creator, who became human so he could do what was necessary to convict and cleanse us of our Sin, and reconcile our relationship to God, each other, and the whole of his Creation by dying on the cross.
Far more than when the number “four” is emphasized are the many actions and symbols in the Japanese tea ceremony where the number “three” is prominent. To me, the many actions that are repeated three times represent the actions or person of the Trinity—God the Father, Son and Holy Spirit. Every time anything is done repeatedly three times during the tea ceremony, I hear a voice within me saying, “In the name of the Father, Son and Holy Spirit. Amen!” And, every time the folded silk napkin is held up in a triangle before wiping something to symbolically cleanse it or various items are arranged in a triangle or in threes, the Trinity comes to my mind as the central focus of the Japanese tea ceremony.
The tea and water represents the blood and water that poured from Jesus’ side so that we could be forgiven of our Sin by the shedding of his blood. The sharing of the common bowl of tea represents our shared responsibility and identification with the whole of humanity for breaking our relationship with God and, as a result, breaking our relationships with one another. And, by drinking the thick, bitter tea from the same cup, we also recognize that our relationship with God and our relationships with one another can and will be healed by identifying with Christ’s death through the partaking of his blood together. In other words, the thick tea procedure of the Japanese tea ceremony is the Eucharist. It is Holy Communion.
Relationship between the thick and thin tea procedures
I believe the reason the thin tea procedure immediately follows the thick tea procedure in spite of the fact that they are very similar is because we are intended to observe Communion as represented in the Japanese tea ceremony in two ways. First, our need to be reconciled to God as a totality of humanity by what Jesus has done for all of us on the cross. And second, our need to be reconciled to one another and our responsibility for the reconciliation of others to God because of what Christ has done for us on the cross. This is why the thick tea procedure is more elaborate and formal, with only brief and focused conversation. But, the thin tea procedure is simpler, more informal, and conversation about its meaning and purpose is encouraged. The thick tea procedure seems to be focused vertically upon our relationship to God and the thin tea procedure is focused horizontally upon our relationship to others as a consequence of our vertical relationship to God, in other words, fully loving God and loving our neighbors as we love of ourselves.
Comparison between the Japanese tea ceremony and the Last Supper
Actually, the entire sequence of the Japanese tea ceremony parallels the Last Supper during which Jesus initiated what we, today, refer to as Holy Communion. Like the Japanese tea ceremony, the Last Supper included a journey, special room, preparation, washing, meal, a symbol representing Jesus’ tortured and pierced body, another symbol representing Jesus’ spilt blood, all so Jesus’ followers would, in his own words, “do this in remembrance of me.” What Jesus wanted his followers to remember during the Last Supper was not just his suffering and death, but his entire life and ministry as reflected in everything that transpired during that prolonged time together. Likewise, I believe Jesus wants us to accomplish the same objective through the Japanese tea ceremony, that we would fully remember him and what he did for us—journeying through life with us, serving us, teaching us, healing us, eating with us, suffering and dying for us, forgiving us, all so that we could fully know him, and be and do likewise for others.
The implications of a Christian understanding of the Japanese tea ceremony
What is most important about what we learned by experiencing a full and formal Japanese tea ceremony in Japan is not that we should now all learn how to host the Japanese tea ceremony exactly as it was done during the Christian Century and expect that the impact on lives and relationships today would be the same. I do believe it is important to do so and see what happens as a result, especially among Japanese people and those of Japanese ancestry like Japanese Americans. I am committed to doing just that.
However, what might well be most important is to discern the Biblical philosophy and principles behind the Japanese tea ceremony and how they were applied so successfully to the culture and circumstances of the Japanese people at that time so that, not only conflict resolution, but most of all, the effective evangelization and discipleship of so many Japanese were what resulted. Then the Biblical foundations of the Japanese tea ceremony could be reapplied to people of different cultures and in different contexts today so their lives and relationships can be transformed as dramatically as was the case in Japan. I pray that such exploration and experimentation will take place as Christians learn from what we have discovered about the Japanese tea ceremony and, in faith, develop new approaches to ministry that will enable them to penetrate the hearts of those that God the Father, Son and Holy Spirit wants to embrace with human arms. Please, Lord, may it be so! Amen.
Since returning from Japan several of weeks ago, all that I had learned over the past decade about the relationship between Christianity, the early development of the Japanese tea ceremony and the unification of Japan during the Christian Century is being transformed from an abstract construct of linked historical facts, to becoming a concrete and coherent experiential reality for me. This resulted because I saw and experienced for myself the aftermath of something that miraculously and then catastrophically occurred in Japan because, I believe, Japanese Christians created and conducted the Japanese tea ceremony in such a way that it helped hundreds of thousands of Japanese become Christians in less than a century who were later willing to die rather than deny their faith in Jesus.
Basis for the bold assertion
This bold assertion about the role of Japanese Christians in the early development of the Japanese tea ceremony is radically different from traditional beliefs about its origin. That is why it took me a decade of research to be willing to come to a conclusion that flies in the face of the views of most historians. The reason for the discrepancy is based upon the same reason my wife, who grew up in the Midwest, never heard about the internment of Japanese Americans during World War II until she was in college. Just as the United States tried to whitewash American history by not including the internment in history books, Japan did everything it could to remove the influence and impact of Christianity from its history and transform its view of the Japanese tea ceremony to being based solely on Buddhist, Shinto and Confucian roots.
While I have all the historical information needed to provide a solid argument that my position is valid, I have been encouraged to document and share my historical research at a later time so that I can move on to explore how the Japanese tea ceremony was actually able to help bring, for better or worse, unity to a nation who had been in constant civil war for two centuries and, more importantly, help hundreds of thousands of Japanese become Christians in less than a century. For this reason, I have been taking lessons in how to perform the tea ceremony, collecting the tea bowls and accessories necessary to host the tea ceremony, and working to transform the entire landscape at our home into a place where the Japanese tea ceremony can appropriately take place. Consistent with this direction, my wife, Janie, and I went to Japan to specifically explore the sites significant to the early development of the Japanese tea ceremony, the political and religious impact it had on the nation, and the devastation that resulted when Christianity was prohibited in Japan and Japanese Christians were massively mutilated and martyred as a consequence.
First-hand experience of a complete Japanese tea ceremony
On our first day in Japan, Janie and I, together with a new friend we had just met, had the wonderful opportunity to participate in a half-day workshop that enabled us to experience every major aspect of a formal Japanese tea ceremony. We stepped off a busy street in Osaka through a massive Japanese gate and entered the quiet serenity of a beautiful tea garden surrounded by thick sound- insulating walls. The trickle of water was in the background as we were guided along a pathway amid rocks, pines and stone lanterns until a teahouse emerged before us. We changed into traditional Japanese clothes for the tea ceremony. Once attired, we sat at a low table overlooking the garden and silently meditated to prepare ourselves for what was ahead. We were then offered hot water and rice crackers to wet our pallets before the delicious meal ahead. The tray set before us was a treasure to the eyes—a multitude of selected delicacies separated by a checkerboard of partitions highlighted each tantalizing morsel. Then we were left alone to savor the food and enjoy each other’s company while our hosts prepared the tearoom.
Once all was ready, we used the ladle at the stone basin to cleanse our hands and mouth. We entered the tearoom on our knees with our heads bowed so we could fit through the small door and experience the Japanese tea ceremony’s main event, the thick tea procedure. After entering, we used our knuckles to propel ourselves around the room, first to the alcove to ponder the meaning of the hanging scroll and appreciate the simple flower arrangement displayed there. Next, at our places before the charcoal pit where water boiled in the iron kettle, a stack of lacquered boxes was placed before us. There were rough-hewn mulberry spears, one for each of us, on top of the stacked boxes. Each of us, in succession, turned the upper boxes slightly to reveal a small open corner at the lower right of the bottom box. After inserting the mulberry spear into the dark open corner of the lowest box, the upper boxes were then passed to the next person until there was only one box left with a cover on it. A special confection hidden at the center of each box was revealed as the upper boxes were removed and passed on or the cover was removed from the last box. Each of us, when our box was opened before us, then used our mulberry spear to pierce the confection and place it on a paper napkin on the palm of our hand. We then used the mulberry spear to cut the confection cross-wise into fourths so we could eat the confection by spearing each piece one at a time. The rough-hewn spear, being an inefficient cutting tool, tore the confection apart rather than cleanly slicing it into uniform pieces.
Once all had eaten their confection, the host took the square silk napkin that was used for cleansing the tea container and tea scoop from his belt and held it up by pinching two of its corners between the thumb and forefinger of both hands. He then proceeded to transfer his hold from corner to corner until he had successively held up each of the four sides of the napkin, bending each side slightly as he rotated the cleansing napkin around from corner to corner and from side to side until each corner and side were held up in succession on top.
Once this was completed, our host proceeded, step by step, to ceremoniously cleanse each utensil used in the thick tea procedure—the tea container, tea scoop, tea whisk and tea bowl. Each act of cleansing involved three repeated actions for each item. Then the equivalent of three scoops of green tea powder for each of us was emptied from the tea container into the tea bowl. First, three scoops were spooned into the tea bowl with a bamboo tea scoop and then the rest of the tea was poured directly into the tea bowl from the tea container. The top of the mound of tea in the tea bowl was then scored with the tea scoop three times by the host and then shown to us before a small amount of hot water was added to the bowl so the tea powder could be whisked into a thick broth.
The tea bowl holding the thick tea was then placed before the first of us to drink from the common tea bowl. After expressing appreciation to the host for the tea and asking forgiveness from the next person for drinking the tea ahead of that person, the first person then turned the tea bowl so as not to drink from the front of the tea bowl. After sipping the tea three full times and then a half sip more, the rim of the tea bowl used was wiped with a special pre-moistened, folded paper napkin. After each portion of the rim used for sipping was wiped, the soiled portion of the folded napkin was then turned under to provide a new clean portion to wipe the rim again for a total of three wipes before it was passed on to the next person.
After each of us drank from the same tea bowl, cleansed its rim for the next person and passed it on, the last of us to drink returned the tea bowl to the host. Then the host cleansed the tea container and tea whisk once again so we could examine them. Once examined, questions could then be asked by us and answered by our host as to the background and meaning of each piece. Once the significance of the tea container and tea scoop were discussed, the whole procedure was reversed so that each accessory used in the thick tea procedure was returned to where it was located before the thick tea procedure ever began.
What followed was another period of transition in preparation for the less formal, more interactive and abbreviated form of the tea ceremony known as the thin tea procedure. Originally, the guests left the tearoom and everything in the tearoom was restaged for the thin tea procedure. The scroll and flowers in the alcove were replaced. The host might have changed his clothes. And, even though the tea procedure would basically be repeated in the same way, the tea accessories where changed to match the more informal and relaxed atmosphere of the thin tea procedure. After the tearoom was rearranged, the guests were invited back into the tearoom.
However, in our case, we did not leave the tearoom. Everything except the tea container and tea bowls remained the same. Instead of the tea container used in the thick tea procedure that was similar to a small antique Chinese apothecary jar protected within a quilted beautifully embroidered silk bag, the new tea container was more like an empty lacquered eggshell cleanly cut in two. Rather then one common tea bowl used by everyone, individual tea bowls were used in the thin tea procedure that reflected the uniqueness of each of us. The confections served on an open plate during thin tea were small, simple and bite-sized, rather than the large single confection needing to be divided in a cross-wise pattern that were served hidden in the stacked boxes during the thick tea procedure. Unlike during thick tea where we only took three sips of tea and a little more from a common cup, during thin tea we were free to take as many sips as necessary to finish the tea in our individual tea bowl, and were invited to drink as many bowls of tea as each of us desired, even though none of us did. Also, as many sweets as were served on the open plate could be eaten by each of us when it was our turn to drink during the thin tea procedure, which, again, none of us did. Whereas talking was very focused and limited during the thick tea procedure, conversation was encouraged throughout the thin tea procedure. At the conclusion of the thin tea procedure, all the accessories used during thin tea were cleansed and replaced to where they originated just as they were in the thick tea procedure.
Importance of the thick tea procedure
I have especially described our thick tea experience in detail because it is the portion of the Japanese tea ceremony that few people know much about let alone have experienced for themselves, even the Japanese. Only the thin tea procedure is often featured in demonstrations of the Japanese tea ceremony, conducted among large groups, and offered to tourists as a quintessential introduction to Japanese art and culture.
The thin tea procedure only takes about thirty to forty minutes to complete. Whereas, the complete Japanese tea ceremony, which includes the journey off the street and through the garden, the meal, the thick tea and then thin tea procedures and the return journey back through the garden and back onto the street, normally takes about three or four hours—or even more. And the thick tea procedure is the main event of the entire process. It is this portion that embodies the primary purpose of the whole four plus hour Japanese tea ceremony experience that cannot be achieved in a shorter amount of time—that being relational transformation. I think it is obvious that those who were complete strangers to us before we began the full Japanese tea ceremony experience, our hosts and our new acquaintance, became our warm friends by the time we finished. Actually, we felt like family.
Japanese tea ceremony as relational catalyst
At this point, I want to make clear that our shared experience together did not magically make us family or even close friends. To do so would require significantly more time together, shared experiences and knowledge of one another. However, close and intimate friendships cannot grow without the initial desire to become friends. We expect that ongoing and deepening relationships were jumpstarted with those who participated in the Japanese tea ceremony with us when we were in Japan. The same can be said of how the Japanese tea ceremony was instrumental in hundreds of thousands of Japanese becoming Christians during the Christian Century. They didn’t instantly become devoted followers of Jesus because they experienced the Japanese tea ceremony either. However, the tea ceremony was an important catalyst that jumpstarted their relationship with God by helping them to experience and understand what God had done through Jesus to enable them to become Christians and relate to God and others in a way that would change their world for the better.
When we remind ourselves that the Japanese tea ceremony was created by Japanese Christians to bring about peace and reconciliation to a nation that had been in civil war for over two centuries, we can now believe, based on our own experience, that the Japanese tea ceremony actually had the potential to transform the relationships of opposing warlords and thus bring unification to Japan during the Christian Century. But more importantly, we realized how the Japanese tea ceremony might well have been used to effectively introduce so many Japanese to Christ, centered them in their faith and united them as the Body of Christ before they faced torture and death. Its importance to Christians who went underground for seven generations and two-and-a-half centuries because Christianity was banned from Japan, and, if caught, were punished by death is evidenced by unearthed tea bowls with crosses on them that the hidden Christians used to secretly observe Holy Communion.
Comparison between the thick tea procedure and Communion
If we assume that the Japanese tea ceremony is based upon the Bible, much of what reflects the Gospel of Jesus Christ becomes apparent. For instance, I heard a secular explanation of the act of holding up and rotating the four corners and four sides of the square silk napkin as symbolizing the cleansing of the north, south, east and west—in other words, the four corners of the entire world. To the Japanese, the character for the number “four” also means “death.” Therefore, both the number and spoken word for “four” are conscientiously avoided by the Japanese. However, the number four is prominent two times during the Japanese tea ceremony. First, I believe the rotating of the four corners of the silk napkin at the beginning of the Japanese tea ceremony, which I believe represents the cross of Christ, introduces its overall meaning and purpose as the cleansing and renewing of Creation, including all of humanity, through the suffering and death on the cross of the Creator, Jesus Christ. And second, I believe the dividing cross- wise and piercing of the special confection hidden in the bottom stacked box with a rough-hewn mulberry stick into four pieces represents the suffering and death we, sinful humanity, inflicted upon Jesus, our Creator, who became human so he could do what was necessary to convict and cleanse us of our Sin, and reconcile our relationship to God, each other, and the whole of his Creation by dying on the cross.
Far more than when the number “four” is emphasized are the many actions and symbols in the Japanese tea ceremony where the number “three” is prominent. To me, the many actions that are repeated three times represent the actions or person of the Trinity—God the Father, Son and Holy Spirit. Every time anything is done repeatedly three times during the tea ceremony, I hear a voice within me saying, “In the name of the Father, Son and Holy Spirit. Amen!” And, every time the folded silk napkin is held up in a triangle before wiping something to symbolically cleanse it or various items are arranged in a triangle or in threes, the Trinity comes to my mind as the central focus of the Japanese tea ceremony.
The tea and water represents the blood and water that poured from Jesus’ side so that we could be forgiven of our Sin by the shedding of his blood. The sharing of the common bowl of tea represents our shared responsibility and identification with the whole of humanity for breaking our relationship with God and, as a result, breaking our relationships with one another. And, by drinking the thick, bitter tea from the same cup, we also recognize that our relationship with God and our relationships with one another can and will be healed by identifying with Christ’s death through the partaking of his blood together. In other words, the thick tea procedure of the Japanese tea ceremony is the Eucharist. It is Holy Communion.
Relationship between the thick and thin tea procedures
I believe the reason the thin tea procedure immediately follows the thick tea procedure in spite of the fact that they are very similar is because we are intended to observe Communion as represented in the Japanese tea ceremony in two ways. First, our need to be reconciled to God as a totality of humanity by what Jesus has done for all of us on the cross. And second, our need to be reconciled to one another and our responsibility for the reconciliation of others to God because of what Christ has done for us on the cross. This is why the thick tea procedure is more elaborate and formal, with only brief and focused conversation. But, the thin tea procedure is simpler, more informal, and conversation about its meaning and purpose is encouraged. The thick tea procedure seems to be focused vertically upon our relationship to God and the thin tea procedure is focused horizontally upon our relationship to others as a consequence of our vertical relationship to God, in other words, fully loving God and loving our neighbors as we love of ourselves.
Comparison between the Japanese tea ceremony and the Last Supper
Actually, the entire sequence of the Japanese tea ceremony parallels the Last Supper during which Jesus initiated what we, today, refer to as Holy Communion. Like the Japanese tea ceremony, the Last Supper included a journey, special room, preparation, washing, meal, a symbol representing Jesus’ tortured and pierced body, another symbol representing Jesus’ spilt blood, all so Jesus’ followers would, in his own words, “do this in remembrance of me.” What Jesus wanted his followers to remember during the Last Supper was not just his suffering and death, but his entire life and ministry as reflected in everything that transpired during that prolonged time together. Likewise, I believe Jesus wants us to accomplish the same objective through the Japanese tea ceremony, that we would fully remember him and what he did for us—journeying through life with us, serving us, teaching us, healing us, eating with us, suffering and dying for us, forgiving us, all so that we could fully know him, and be and do likewise for others.
The implications of a Christian understanding of the Japanese tea ceremony
What is most important about what we learned by experiencing a full and formal Japanese tea ceremony in Japan is not that we should now all learn how to host the Japanese tea ceremony exactly as it was done during the Christian Century and expect that the impact on lives and relationships today would be the same. I do believe it is important to do so and see what happens as a result, especially among Japanese people and those of Japanese ancestry like Japanese Americans. I am committed to doing just that.
However, what might well be most important is to discern the Biblical philosophy and principles behind the Japanese tea ceremony and how they were applied so successfully to the culture and circumstances of the Japanese people at that time so that, not only conflict resolution, but most of all, the effective evangelization and discipleship of so many Japanese were what resulted. Then the Biblical foundations of the Japanese tea ceremony could be reapplied to people of different cultures and in different contexts today so their lives and relationships can be transformed as dramatically as was the case in Japan. I pray that such exploration and experimentation will take place as Christians learn from what we have discovered about the Japanese tea ceremony and, in faith, develop new approaches to ministry that will enable them to penetrate the hearts of those that God the Father, Son and Holy Spirit wants to embrace with human arms. Please, Lord, may it be so! Amen.
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