Chanoyu can be presented almost anywhere. In a room or outside. Cha-dō-gu, 茶道具, tea-way-tools, are carried to the place where Tea is to be prepared. Carrying anything can be called hakobi, 運び, carry. In a Tea-room, the fire that is needed to make hot water for tea is held in a portable brazier called a fu-ro, 風炉, wind-hearth, or in a permanent hearth set in the floor called a ro, 炉, hearth. The water is heated in a kama, 釜, kettle. In Japanese beliefs, fire must have a permanent place, so that the ‘fire-god’ will ‘know’ where to lite. Hence, the permanent ro, a hearth sunk in...
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Chasen and the Gorintō
Chasen and the Gorintō
In Cha-no-yu, 茶の湯, tea-’s-hot water, the cha-sen, 茶筅, tea-whisk. The chasen is a length of bamboo that is cut into many tines at one end, and has thread wound around the bamboo to separate the outer ring of tines. By itself alone may represent the Go-rin-tō, 五輪塔, Five-ring-tower. The Go-rin, 五輪, Five-rings or principles, are Chi, 地, Earth, Sui, 水, Water, Ka, 火, Fire, Fū, 風, Wind, Kū, 空, Void. The Kanji for ring, 輪, also means the Indian concept of chakra, points or areas on the human body. The chasen is round to manifest the chakra which is a circle. The word Gorintō is composed of...
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