Tea Master Has One Foot in Tradition, One in Tomorrow

This is an excerpt from one of my World Tea News articles. To find out more about my freelance writing or to ask me about writing copy for your tea business, please contact me at vee at veetea dot com. Thank you.

WTN: Has your teaching changed the way chanoyu is perceived in Japan?
Sen: Chanoyu changes according to lifestyle. The older generation has its own lifestyle, which is more traditional, but the younger generation has a busy, contemporary life. They have to have their own ideas about tea. For example, the younger generation has a tea community on the Internet. They exchange the secrets of styles of different schools in chat rooms. That’s very new. But tea is communication where you meet and exchange ideas, so it makes sense. That’s also a contemporary way of my generation.

WTN: Have the reasons for studying tea changed?
Sen: Several generations ago, people learned the way of tea to learn etiquette and how to behave, but today people are interested in learning in order to acquire knowledge about tea and art, in order to enjoy.

WTN: Is there a renaissance of tea culture in Japan?
Sen: There is a lot of interest in tea. Magazines for young people that have nothing to do with traditional art and tea are doing stories about tea ceremonies. You could call it trendy or a mini-boom, but there are many people in creative businesses, like art directors, art curators or artists, who want to get involved in tea.

Soon, you’ll be able to read the remainder of this article on my portfolio site, Copy & Taste.