Tea Goes
to the World
Japan was among- the earliest countries
to be deeply influenced by China's tea drinking, which
was one of the many customs to spread J from China
to Japan during the Tang dynasty. Japanese history
records that as early as 729 Emperor Shomu served
tea to a hundred monks in the palace. The Japanese
surmise that the leaves had been brought back by their
missions to China. Buddhists in China had been tea
drinkers for a long time, as it helped them stay awake
during their long meditations. In 803 the Japanese
Buddhist monk Saicho (posthumously known as Dengyo
Daishi) went to study in China and there met another
Japanese monk, Eichu. They came home together in 805,
the former bringing tea seeds, which he planted in
a monastery.
Five years later, after the plant had reached maturity,
Emperor Saga stopped at the monastery and Eichu, its
abbot, served him green tea he had processed. The
emperor enjoyed it so much that he instituted tea
cultivation in five provinces near the capital. Tea
was to become an important part of Japanese life.
The original Japanese tea ceremony began as a custom
practiced in China during the Tang dynasty. However,
while it died out in China, the Japanese continued
developing it as a complex ritual with close ties
to art. Japanese artists designed beautiful bowls,
jars, cups, incense burners, and other utensils for
the ceremony.
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