Tōcha and Shoin no Cha — The 'Lavish Tea' of the Early Muromachi
From the late Kamakura through the Nanbokuchō and early Muromachi, tea drinking exploded in popularity within warrior society. The article covers tōcha (a tea-guessing game), the lavish gambling of the basara daimyo Sasaki Dōyo, Ashikaga Yoshimitsu's Kitayama culture (Kinkaku-ji) and Yoshimasa's Higashiyama culture (Ginkaku-ji, Dōjinsai), the dōbōshū of Nōami, Geiami, and Sōami with the Kundaikan Sōchōki, and the turning point toward wabi-cha — 200 years directly prior to the modern Way of Tea.
Tōcha and Shoin no Cha — The Opposite of Wabi-Cha
From the late Kamakura through the Nanbokuchō and early Muromachi, tea drinking exploded in popularity within warrior society. The signature forms were tōcha — a game of guessing the origin of tea — and “shoin no cha,” the tea served on shoin-style tatami with displays of imported Chinese objects.
These are the exact opposite of the later wabi-cha, being lavish and recreational. Together with dengaku and renga, they were part of the cultural current called basara and suki. Sasaki Dōyo (1296-1373), a “basara daimyō,” was representative, hosting tōcha contests with enormous prizes at stake.
From Eisai’s transmission in the previous article [Origins and Transmission of Tea], only 100 years had passed, and tea had already transformed from medicine into the grand entertainment of the upper class.
Key Terms
- Tōcha — a game of guessing the type or origin of tea
- Honpi no cha — a game of distinguishing “honcha” (Toganoo tea) from “hicha” (other origins)
- Shishu jippuku-cha — a canonical tōcha format, guessing 4 types across 10 tastings
- Shoin no cha — tea in a shoin-style room decorated with imported (karamono) objects
- Karamono — objects from China and Korea, prized and expensive
- Suki — the taste of a refined enthusiast
- Basara — an audacious, flamboyant aesthetic
- Kaisho — a dedicated room for tea, renga, and other refined arts within a residence
Timeline of 200 Years
| Period | Actor | Event | Character of tea |
|---|---|---|---|
| Early 1300s | Temples | Tea drinking spreads | Medicinal, ascetic |
| 1330s | Courtiers, warriors | Tōcha in fashion | Recreational |
| 1351 | Sasaki Dōyo | The Ōharano Flower Gathering | Lavish |
| 1408 | Ashikaga Yoshimitsu | Kitayama-dono (Kinkaku-ji) built | Karamono taste |
| ca. 1480 | Ashikaga Yoshimasa | Higashiyama-dono (Ginkaku-ji), the dōbōshū | Shoin, the tokonoma emerges |
| ca. 1490 | Murata Jukō | Begins the “grass-hut tea” | Wabi in embryo |
Tōcha — Guessing the Origin of Tea
Tōcha derives from Song-dynasty “dòuchá” and was originally a contest of tea quality. In Japan it took the form of “honpi no cha” in the Nanbokuchō — Toganoo tea being “honcha” and other origins “hicha” — which developed into the shishu jippuku-cha (“four kinds, ten tastings”) canonical form.
How shishu jippuku-cha was played
- Guests met in a tea room; first they sampled a small tasting for reference and memorized the names
- Then four varieties of tea were served in turn as the main event. Each guest recorded an answer on a wooden slip placed at the bottom of the tea bowl
- A correct guess was one point; ten tastings were tallied
- Prizes were high — horses, armor, silk, gold and silver
Sasaki Dōyo and the Ōharano Flower Gathering
The Taiheiki, in Book 33, describes Sasaki Dōyo’s magnificent tōcha at Ōharano, in which he wagered famous karamono objects without hesitation. The peak of the recreational culture of the basara daimyō.
Shoin no Cha
In Ashikaga Yoshimasa’s Higashiyama culture of the late 15th century, the shoin-style room took shape, and tea served in a shoin decorated with karamono displayed on the tokonoma, chigaidana, and tsuke-shoin — “shoin no cha” — was established.
The shoin display was arranged by the dōbōshū — men of the arts who took the “-ami” name:
- Nōami (1397-1471) — Steeped in renga, ink painting, and tea ritual; laid the foundations of the shoin display
- Geiami — Nōami’s son
- Sōami — Geiami’s son. Completed the Kundaikan Sōchōki, classifying karamono into upper, middle, and lower
Three generations served the shogun as gomotsu bugyō (officers over shogunal treasures), overseeing the appraisal, display, and tea ritual of karamono. In shoin no cha, karamono tea bowls (tenmoku), karamono tea containers (katatsuki, nasu), karadō flower vases, and bokuseki (writings of Chinese Zen monks) were prized.
The Dōbōshū — From Ji-sect Monks to Cultural Officials
The dōbōshū were originally wandering monks of the Ji sect who came to serve the shogun, adopting “-ami” names. They occupied a distinctive place as cultural specialists across social class:
- Nōami — Combined renga, ink painting, and tea ritual; laid the foundations of the shoin display
- Sōami — Completed the Kundaikan Sōchōki, systematizing the classification of karamono
Their work was later absorbed into the role of the tea master (chajin). Here we find the origin of the “cultural specialist as a profession.”
Kitayama and Higashiyama — Two Cultural Contrasts
Kitayama Culture — Ashikaga Yoshimitsu (1368-1394)
The showy karamono taste symbolized by Kinkaku-ji (the Golden Pavilion). As the third shogun, he resumed Nippon-Ming trade, and karamono flowed in in large quantities. A showy, international aesthetic.
Higashiyama Culture — Ashikaga Yoshimasa (1449-1473)
A more inward taste symbolized by Ginkaku-ji (the Silver Pavilion) and the Dōjinsai. The four-and-a-half-mat “Dōjinsai” (in the Tōgudō within the Ginkaku-ji compound) is considered the prototype of the later tea room.
Yoshimasa was politically inept, but out of his absorption in karamono, renga, and tea came the essence of Japanese culture. In the midst of the chaos of the Ōnin War (1467-77), the search for stillness and refinement crystallized ironically well. “Culture at its highest, produced by an inept shogun” is one of the paradoxes of Japanese history.
Basara and Suki — Two Aesthetics
In the Nanbokuchō, basara daimyō — Sasaki Dōyo, Toki Yorito — embodied a flamboyant aesthetic that ignored established order: “basara.” Tea was part of their entertainment.
From the mid-Muromachi on, the word “suki” took hold and came to mean a more refined enjoyment. “Sukisha” referred to cultured men with multiple interests — renga, tea, ikebana. Basara’s showiness folded inward, transforming into suki’s refinement.
The Dōjinsai — The Prototype of the Tea Room
Ashikaga Yoshimasa’s four-and-a-half-mat room “Dōjinsai” in the Tōgudō of Higashiyama-dono (today’s Jishō-ji, the Silver Pavilion) is one of the oldest extant shoin-style rooms. It has the three canonical elements — tsuke-shoin, chigaidana, oshi-ita — and became the direct prototype of later tea room architecture.
Size, spatial composition, and the way light enters — all become the standard of the later “tea room.” The completed form of shoin no cha, before the completion of wabi-cha.
From Tōcha to Wabi-Cha — A Great Reversal
In the late 15th century, Murata Jukō (ca. 1423-1502), who built a hut at Shōmyō-ji in Nara, criticized the extravagance of shoin no cha and began a “grass-hut tea” in a four-and-a-half-mat room combining wamono (Japanese-made objects) with karamono. This became the turning point from tōcha / shoin no cha toward wabi-cha.
From lavish to austere. From karamono to wamono. From “gambling and entertainment” to “the state of the heart.” The character of tea, established over two centuries, reversed itself in a single stroke.
From This Article to the Next
We have traced 200 years of “lavish tea.” The next article turns to the reaction: Murata Jukō — father of wabi-cha. Practicing Zen under Ikkyū Sōjun, saying “even a straw-thatched hut takes a fine horse if you tie one to it,” working in a four-and-a-half-mat small room where wamono and karamono mingle — we trace Jukō’s life and thought in detail.