Wabi Sabi in the Japanese Tea Ceremony
R. Benoit, March 2006

“Wabi Sabi is only vaguely understood by most Japanese people these days. If you ask people on a Tokyo street to describe it, they will likely give you a polite shrug and explain that Wabi Sabi is simply unexplainable … few can put their finger on it” (Gold, T., 2004, p. 6).

“In a nutshell, Wabi Sabi is imperfection, or more fully, appreciation of the value and beauty of imperfection. Wabi Sabi celebrates the preciousness of all things imperfect, which is truly all things” (IBID, p. 16).

Wabi and Sabi Defined

There are several ways of defining Wabi and Sabi. Simply put, Wabi means “Empty, Lonely, Basic” while Sabi is typically described as “Worn, Weathered, Decayed”. Ascetics who abandoned society to wander the Japanese mountains five hundred years ago first popularized the ‘Wabi Sabi’ movement. They lived their lives in simple thatch huts while pursuing a vigorous spiritual journey and were highly respected for their dedication.

WABI SABI
An appreciation of imperfection
Solitary.. Desolate.. Abandoned.. Rustic.. Simplicity.. Tranquil.. Peaceful.. Withered.. Chilled.. Stillness.. Spare.. Poverty..

FURYU
Display of Ostentation
Gorgeous.. Sumptuous.. Gold.. Precious.. Chinese.. Treasures.. Famed.. Extravagance..
Ornate.. Rich.. Aristocracy

Wabi Sabi vs. Furyu Tea Ceremony
In order to understand what Wabi Sabi means to the Japanese Tea Ceremony and why it developed, one must return to the centuries preceding the Grand Tea Masters when the drinking of tea as a social exercise was proliferating throughout society. Though tea was initially brought to Japan through Buddhism and monks were the first to make use of it as a medicine, the foundations of the tea ceremony developed through tea-drinking games and parties known as ‘Tocha’.

During the mid-fifteenth century, the Tocha, or Tea competitions, reached their peak and were considered decadent forms of entertainment by Zen tea masters who valued a more austere and moral form of tea gathering. At the same time as the common ‘Tocha’ were being enjoyed by the Samurai and merchant classes, a more elegant tea, or ‘Furyu’ form of Tea Ceremony, was being popularized by the aristocracy.

This ‘Furyu’ tea ceremony included ornate, rich and sumptuous utensils that were precious and sometimes made of gold. The early Grand Tea Masters (Murata, Jo and Rikyu) came to despair that the Furyu form of tea had more to do with impressing guests with elaborate etiquette, but at its core, had none of the true Buddhist, or Zen, values of the Tea Ceremony they were trying to promote.

‘Wabi’ Tea developed as an alternative to the Tocha and Furyu forms of Tea Ceremony. It became “an oasis which answered both the spiritual and cultural needs of the people… a bowl of tea is made with care that comes from one’s true mind of enlightenment. It is served in a humble yet subtly beautiful utensil of the Wabi style, and one drinks it with undivided attention” (Chanoyu Quarterly, No. 74, p. 22).


“For the first time, we find the development of an inner identity between tea and Buddhism. In this case, the word tea does not indicate the tea plant. Nor does it indicate a beverage to be taken as medicine or to be enjoyed for its taste, and neither does it refers to ritual uses of tea or the pursuit of elegance. It refers to a comprehensive cultural system, or a cultural life which has Zen as its essence and which manifests itself in the act of drinking tea.” (IBID, p. 16).

Both Zen and Wabi had a clear influence on every aspect of Tea Ceremony from architecture, gardening, clothing, food to ritual. The sumptuous gardens of palaces were replaced with the simple Roji, or tea garden. In the Roji, there were no flowers permitted, only shrubs, grasses and natural stones. The size of the tearoom was reduced to three or four and a half tatami mats, rather than the large Shoin-style receiving rooms. Instead of silk kimono, elaborately patterned and woven with gold and silver threads, tea masters wore simple cotton or linen kimono. Rikyu’s legacy of Wabi is alive today in every rustic teahouse, but more importantly in the appreciation in the ‘chill and withered’ that he was able to instill into the Japanese aesthetic.

Wabi in Tea Today: Personal

After living with the notion of Wabi Sabi through Tea Ceremony, I found that my aesthetic did indeed shift, very gradually, towards Wabi. In the first few years I lived in Japan, I was dazzled and amazed by objects with gold filigree or finish, polish and extravagance. Over time however, in the praise that I heard of Wabi objects, I gradually began to appreciate and look beyond what I saw as shortcomings and enjoy their simplicity.

In the final months before my return to Canada, when I lived with only a table, a few tea and painting items and a kimono or two, perhaps I came closest to understanding how a ‘Wabi’ life could be so much more enjoyable and liberating. With so few things to care for, I realized how little I truly needed to live my life. When the container of antiques arrived bearing precious treasures collected over seven years, my heart sank a little, feeling anchored, with every object that came into my home. The Wabi life I’d led so successfully, so enjoyably for a few months was at an end, at least, for a time.

Further Reading on Wabi Sabi
Chan, Peter. Bonsai Master Class. New York: Sterling, 1988.
Chanoyu Quarterly. (Various articles and authors). Kyoto: Urasenke Foundation.
Gold., Taro. Living Wabi Sabi. Andrews McMeel Publishing, 2004.
Juniper, Andrew. Wabi-sabi: the Japanese Art of Impermanence. Boston: Tuttle, 2003.
Koren, Leonard. Wabi-sabi for Artists, Designers, Poets & Philosophers. Berkeley, CA: Stone Bridge Press, 1994.