The History and Materials Science of Tea Utensils

About 800 years ago, Yosai (Japanese Zen master) said “The tea is a healing elixir, and the art of aging”. On the other hand, tea utensils are made rationally, using every basic material in daily life. The author wishes to interpret, arbitrarily, that Rikyu Sen had much scientific ability to think. Although it seems presumptuous that this book unravels the tea ceremony, also called comprehensive art, scientifically, the authors took a pen to make use of knowledge learnt until now for understanding tea utensils. The “Chanoyu” (Japanese tea ceremony) may be a strange world. Although the authors cannot step into the spiritual realm of arts, they wished to glimpse quietly the tea utensils from the field of materials science. Can the spirit of “Wabi-Sabi” (Soan-cha) thought by Rikyu really be seen? When the tea saint Rikyu Sen (1522-1591) would bloom and complete a tea ceremony, in Europe, Leonarde da Vinci (1452-1519), who was a genius artist and scientist in Italy, being representative of the Renaissance, was playing an active part, integrating art and science. This what young people should learn.