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The following is a map of Shogunate Japan

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The picture below is a labeled diagram of the Shogunate Japan Social Hierarchy, with descriptions of what each classes role is.

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Source A: Clyne, J et al, (2012). History 8: The Ancient and Modern World. South Yarra, Victoria: Macmillan.

Source B: Soshoski, D. (1996). Introduction to Japanese Culture. Singapore. Tuttle Publishing.

Source C: Kruse, D. (2000). The Medievals (Second Edition). Singapore: Oxford U.P.

Source D: Japanese-tea-ceremony.net. (2007). The Tea Ceremony.

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The Tea Ceremony now

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The Tea Ceremony in the Shogun time

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The following video is a short, step by step procedure of the Tea Ceremony.

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Demonstration of the procedure for Japanese tea ceremony. This video introduces the simplest way that you can try at home. You don't have to worry detail gestures too much. Just follow the basic steps and enjoy! If you want to do it properly, check other videos to explain each steps specifically.

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The Tea Ceremony today, in 2016, is still a very important cultural and religious practice in Japan. In today’s time, the Tea Ceremony is not so much a religious ritual, but more a pastime for the Japanese community. During the Tea Ceremony, participates drink from their own cups, instead of sharing one amongst the whole room, and they drink a Tea called Matcha, a powdered Japanese Green Tea. Today, the Japanese take the Tea Ceremony as a spiritual and artistic discipline. The Tea Ceremony is a time to notice and appreciate the simplicity of the Tea room and enjoy the company of friends, a moment of purity, rather than to find yourself and become one with the natural environment around you, how it was when the Tea Ceremony first started. “The Japanese tea ceremony is an artistic pastime unique to Japan that features the serving and drinking of Matcha, a powdered Japanese green tea,  having witnessed or taken part in the Japanese Tea Ceremony only once, one will come to understand that in Japan, serving tea is an art and a spiritual discipline.” (Japanese-tea-ceremony.net). In the Shogunate Japan time period, the Tea Ceremony was all about peace, relaxation and quiet. Today, the Tea Ceremony is about connecting with your friends and having a spiritual bond between each other. However, there is still parts of the Tea Ceremony that are silent reconciliation and reflection. The Tea Ceremony also includes several interconnections like landscape gardening and architecture. The Tea Ceremony’s ultimate aim is to gain spiritual satisfaction through the art of drinking Tea. However, its other purpose is for the host to entertain the guests by serving homemade Tea.“The Tea Ceremony is based in part on serving tea, but is also includes the intimate connections with architecture, landscape gardening e.c.t. Its ultimate aim is the attainment of deep spiritual satisfaction through the drinking of tea and silent contemplation, and to entertain participates.”. (Japanese-tea-ceremony.net )As a conclusion,the Tea Ceremony is still a big cultural and religious practice in the Japanese community that is no based around connecting with the spiritual world, but also friends and family.

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How did Religious Beliefs Influence The Tea Ceremony?

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How did Religious Beliefs Influence The Tea Ceremony?

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Religion was a big influence during the Tea Ceremony, helping to find yourself and focus on the world around you.The main religion associated with the Tea Ceremony is Buddhism. Buddhism is all about meditation and relaxation, which is the concept of the Tea Ceremony. To drink Tea and relax by meditating. It was actually Buddhists that came up with the Tea Ceremony. It states in An Introduction to Japanese Culture that “In effort to remain alert to their religious duties, Buddhist monks passed a tea cup amongst themselves.”.The other two religions, Shintoism and Confucianism, play smaller parts in the Tea Ceremony than Buddhism, but still a reasonable amount. Shintoism is all about connecting with nature. As you know from the paragraph before, the Tea Ceremony is about becoming conscious and connecting with the natural environment around us, which fits perfectly with the religion Shintoism. Confucianism also plays a part in the Tea Ceremony by helping people find where they fit in their life and other people’s life, in other words reflection, as Confucianism is all about finding your place. All three of the main religions in Shogunate Japan played parts in the Tea Ceremony in both big and little ways. (An Introduction to Japanese Culture). Overall, the Tea Ceremony has little pieces of all three Shogunate Japan religions that help it become what it is, but the most important religion is Buddhism.

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The Tea Ceremony is a type of Japanese Cultural Practice which was a very important part of daily life in Shogunate Japan. The Tea Ceremony originated back in the 13th Century CE, and so it was quite a popular practice around half-way through the Shogunate Japan time-period, which stretched from the 8th Century CE to the 18th Century CE. “The classical Tea Ceremony had its origins in the 13th Century CE, it wasn’t until 3 years later in the 16th Century CE, when it was considered a true cultural practice”. (D. Kruse, 2000, page 2). The Tea Ceremony takes place in a small room, usually in a garden, with glass sliding doors and a few windows. Objects in the room are limited. Only a few paintings, some flowers and maybe some type of scroll are permitted. This is to prevent any sort of distraction during the ritual. The Tea Ceremony was created by Zen Buddhists to calm themselves and keep their religion alive. Three years later it became a regular cultural practice for the whole Japanese community, not just the Zen Buddhists. During the Tea Ceremony, participates would pass around a cup of tea to drink, then proceed to meditate for an hour or so before consuming the tea again. This is so the participates can find themselves and become aware of the natural environment around them.Buddhist Monks pass a tea cup amongst themselves to keep their religion alive and become conscious of the natural environment around them. (D. Kruse, 2000, page 2). As shown above, the Japanese Tea Ceremony was a very important cultural practice that helped to relax and help you become conscious of the world around you.

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Life in Shogunate Japan was kept under strict order and always consistent .  One of the most important aspects of life in Shogunate Japan was family. Families that lived under the same roof could stretched from children and parents to grandparents and sometimes even great grandparents. Meal Times were very important in the times of Shogunate Japan as it was a time for everyone in the family to share the day’s activities. The Emperor also had a rule that certain people weren’t allowed to wear certain things, certain types of materials and certain colours of clothing. When it came to living in the Shogunate Japan time period, there were a lot of strict rules to obey.  Family in Shogunate Japan was a very important part of everyday life, and meal times was the time they used to catch up, making it a very important part of the day. The emperor also had strict rules and would not allow certain genders to wear certain materials and colours. (Clyne, J. et al, 2012, p.202)In the Shogunate Japan time period, the people were split up into six classes, the Emperor/Shogun, the Warriors, the Peasants/Farmers, the Artisans/Craftsmen, Merchants and Hinin/Ronin. This way of categorizing communities is called the “Social Hierarchy”. The Social Hierarchy characterizes all the classes into a different job. The Emperors/Shoguns run the country and keep everything in order. The Warriors defend to country and protect the Emperor and Shogun. The Peasants and Farmers grow and harvest crops for food. The Artisans and Craftsmen make items like pottery that aren’t all that useful. Merchants float between all the different classes without a real purpose and the Hinin and Ronin are outcasts and don’t serve any meaning. “The social Hierarchy is used to separate and coordinate the people of Shogunate Japan.” (Clyne, J. et al, 2012, p.202) As a result, we can see that Shogunate Japan was a very difficult and strict time to live in with strict organisation and rules to obey.