Capitalism in Crisis: Development, Sustainability, & Inequality in Global Perspective

(2014-2015)
Presents

From Medicine to Beverage to Art:
Technology and Change in Tea Consumption


Dr. Wayne Farris
Professor of History & Sen Sshitsu Distinguished Chair


Friday, November 7; 2:30-4:00 pm
History Department Library, Sakamaki A201


This presentation is part of an attempt to re-write the history of J apanese tea. Conventionally,
the history of tea in J apan is synonymous with the story of the Way of Tea also known as
chanoyu or sad. While the story is accurate so far as it goes, Professor Farris argues that it fails
to provide the agricultural, technological, and commercial context in which the J apanese art of
tea developed. Until about 1250, tea was considered a medicine, as exemplified by Drink Tea
and Prolong Your Life authored by Ysai (1141-1215). Beginning in 1250, however,
technological changes arising in Song China and imported to J apan by thirsty Buddhist clerics
and warriors converted the brown, bitter liquid into a sweeter, more delicious beverage. These
technological changes may be documented both in Song China and in late Kamakura J apan
through the cache of documents connected to the Kanezawa warrior household. These
inventions eventually were responsible for the spread of tea consumption to the commoner
populace after 1400. Then, two more technological changes originating in J apan during the
sixteenth century, along with the importation of a new strain of Camellia sinensis from Ming
China, made the beverage even more palatable. Uji became the area producing the finest tea in
J apan and was the preferred tea for the masters of the 1500s. Sen Rikys art is unthinkable
without the various technological changes that commenced long before his time.