Set of (5) 1970s Japanese Ceramic Tea Ceremony Sweets Bowls. Matching styles, shapes, and glazes. 

Size: 6 x 5 1/2 in. 

The Japanese tea ceremony, known as sadō/chadō (“The Way of Tea”) or chanoyu) is a Japanese cultural activity involving the ceremonial preparation and presentation of matcha, powdered green tea, the procedure of which is called temae. With origins in the 9th Century, it flowered in the 1500s when Sen no Rikyū revolutionized Japanese tea culture, essentially perfecting what is now known as the Japanese tea ceremony and elevating it to the status of an art form by incorporating Zen Buddhism. He redefined the rules of the tea house, tea garden, utensils, and procedures of the tea ceremony with his own interpretation, introduced a much smaller chashitsu (tea house) and rustic, distorted ceramic tea bowls specifically for the tea ceremony, and perfected the tea ceremony based on the aesthetic sense of wabi. Sen no Rikyū’s great-grandchildren founded the Omotesenke, Urasenke, and Mushakōjisenke schools of tea ceremony, and the tea ceremony spread not only to daimyo (feudal lords) and the samurai class but also to the general public, leading to the establishment of various tea ceremony schools that continue to this day. Tea gatherings are classified as either informal (chakai) or formal (chaji, meaning “tea event”), where a chakai is a relatively simple course of hospitality that includes wagashi (confections), thin tea, and perhaps a light meal while a chaji is a much more formal gathering that may last up to four hours, usually including a full-course kaiseki meal followed by confections, thick tea, and thin tea. 

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