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chanoyu-to-wa · 7 years ago

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Rikyū Chanoyu Sho, Book 5 (Part 13): Transcripts of Rikyū's Secret Teachings.

61) With respect to the kama no shiki-kami [釜の敷紙], the side that has two folds² should always be [placed] so that it is toward the upper seat, while the side with the cut edges³ should always be toward the katte.

62) The way to place the futaoki [on the utensil mat, during the temae]:

- if it is a take-wa [竹輪]⁴, the bud should be on the side that faces forward⁵;

- if [the futaoki] has feet, then this [i.e., one of the feet] should be should be forward⁶;

- but in a 1.5-mat room, the bud should be on the front side⁷.

63) In the case of the mentsu [めんつ]⁸, the dojime [とぢめ]⁹ should be toward the back¹⁰.

64) Regarding the way to place utensils on the tsuri-dana -- it is [done] as on the countless [other] tana [that are used for chanoyu]¹¹ -- [placing] only one object is wrong¹²: in every case [there should be] two objects¹³.

◦ However, the chaire may also be placed by itself¹⁴.

◦ The habōki [羽ぼうき], kōgō [香箱]¹⁵, kan [くわん]¹⁶, futaoki [ふた置], chawan [茶わん], hishaku [ひしやく], chaire [茶入], fukuro [ふくろ]¹⁷: any of these¹⁸ should be arranged together.

◦ In the case of a two-level [tsuri-]dana¹⁹, the chaire is [displayed] on the lower level, while on the upper tana²⁰ anything may be placed.

◦ When objects are placed on both shelves of the two-level [tsuri-]dana, one object and two objects should be placed on them respectively²¹. But the way to do this is difficult to explain²².

◦ On the whole, [an object is displayed] in the very middle [of the shelf], and then [with the second] either added on the side toward the katte, or else placed on the [other] side²³.

◦ There are some sketches²⁴.

65) When [snow is expected to fall overnight so that the garden will be] snowy [the next] morning²⁵, the chōzu-bishaku should be placed out the night before, since it is charming to see the snow that has accumulated on the handle of the hishaku²⁶.

But if it is snowing heavily (or something of the sort²⁷), then there is also the case where the hishaku is not set out²⁸.

Also, on such an occasion²⁹ [the host] may decide not to put any water in the [chō]zu-bachi, though he [still] puts [the hishaku] in place³⁰.

_________________________

¹Kama no shiki-kami [釜の敷紙].

This refers to the object usually known as a kami kama-shiki [紙釜敷] today.

Originally this was a pack of note paper that was carried in the futokoro by noblemen-courtiers*, and the way to fold it had been determined in ancient times†. A waka written on a piece of kai-shi (by the Emperor Go-Sakuramachi [後桜町天皇, 1740~1813]) is shown above.

Jōō preferred to use the braided rest (this rest is technically called a hedate [隔て]; though most modern-day chajin do not know that word -- or even he origins of this kind of kama-shiki -- and refer to this kind of kama-shiki as a kumi kama-shiki [組釜敷]) that was placed between the two stones of a cha-usu [茶臼] (tea grinding mill) when not in use‡; while Rikyū eventually came to prefer to use his ordinary pack of kaishi** as his kama-shiki.

Rikyū's kumi kama-shiki is shown above. __________ *The use of this pack of writing paper (which technically was known as kai-shi [懷紙], which means “paper carried in the futokoro”) as a kama-shiki seems to date from Sōtan's time, specifically after he entered the service of Tokugawa Ieyasu's granddaughter Tōfukumon-in [東福門院; 1607 ~ 1678; her name was Tokugawa Masako [徳川和子] -- though her name is also sometimes pronounced Kazuko] (the chūgū [中宮], or empress consort, of the Emperor Go-mizunoo [ 後水尾天皇; 1596 ~ 1680]; they were married in 1620).

†Note that in the photo “two folds” (ori-me [折目] means a fold) are located on the right side (②), while “one fold” is at the bottom (①); and the “cut edges” (kiri-me [切目]) are found on the left, and at the top (Ⓚ, ⓚ).

In this entry, however, the word kiri-me is used to refer specifically to the side of the kami kama-shiki that is opposite the side with “two folds” (i.e., the edge marked “Ⓚ” in the above photo).

‡Because cha-usu [茶臼], like most of the other things used for chanoyu in the fifteenth and early sixteenth centuries, were imported from Korea, they were considered very precious because they were nearly impossible to replace (Japanese copies of a similar quality began to be made towards the end of the fifteenth century). To prevent the stones from rubbing together when the mill was not in use, a braided circular rest (with a hole in the middle, through which the post around which the upper stone rotates passed), known as a hedate [隔て] (which means partition or divider), was used to keep them apart.

Jōō used the hedate that had belonged to Shukō (a copy of which is show above) as the kama-shiki in his Yamazato-no-iori [山里の庵] ko-yashiki [小屋敷].

In the present day, most chajin do not know the actual origin of this object, and it is usually referred to as a kumi kama-shiki [組み釜敷き].

**Rikyū's kaishi was the size of what is known as the “women's kaishi” (joshi-yō no kaishi [女子用の懐紙]) today. However, it was made of much thinner paper (closer to tissue paper than to the washi that is used for modern day kaishi).

The reason why his kaishi came to be used by women was because it was unknown to Sōtan or the machi-shū -- certain machi-shū had taken to using their kaishi as kama-shiki though (like most things that were custom made) the sizes differed (and finally a larger size came to be preferred which approximated the size of the bottom of most kama). The Sen family became aware of this (and many other things that were associated with Rikyū's chanoyu) only after Hisada Sōri [久田宗利; 1611 ~ 1685] (Rikyū's great-grandson through one of his daughters; Sōri was also the older brother of Fujimura Yōken [藤村庸軒; 1613 ~ 1699], another famous chajin of the Edo period) was absorbed into the Sen family by marriage (to Sōtan's daughter). However, since these things had been passed down through Rikyū's daughter (there is in fact no reason -- other than hate-infected prejudice -- to suppose that her temae, or anything else, would have differed in the least minor detail from Rikyū's), the Sen family contemptuously said that they were therefore “women's things,” and not to be used by men (this is also why the Senke’s traditional “women's temae” differs so pointedly from their “men’s temae”: the women’s temae was closely modeled on Rikyū's temae, while the men's temae was based on the machi-shū temae of Shōan and Sōtan).

²Itsu mo kami-za [h]e ori-me futatsu [no] kata [何時も上座へ折目二方].

Kami-za [上座] means the side of the room where the tokonoma is located -- the place where the shōkyaku usually sits.

The kami kama-shiki is made in the following way: 20 sheets* of paper of a suitable size† are taken together and folded in half (the right edge is folded toward the left).

Then the bottom edge is folded upward toward the top. __________ *This is the usual number for kami kama-shiki made today (and intended to be used as kama-shiki). However, a pack of kai-shi (the special notepaper kept in the futokoro by courtiers, which is what the original kami kama-shiki was supposed to be) contained 48 sheets of notepaper.

†The paper used is usually around 9-sun 5-bu by 1-shaku 2-sun 5-bu (though this is somewhat variable -- more so in the past than today).

³Kiri-me ha itsu mo katte no kata nari [切目ハ何時も勝手の方也].

The side of the pack (opposite the side with the two folds) that consists of the loose ends of the papers.

⁴Take-wa [竹輪].

A bamboo futaoki.

⁵Me wo saki [h]e [目を先へ].

This literally means “the bud (or eye) should be forward.” However, does this mean forward relative to the host's eyes*, or to the way the host's body is oriented†?

In Rikyū's writings, saki [先] is always used to mean on the far side, the side closest to the far wall (in which the furo-saki mado [風爐先窓] is located), while mae [前] means on the side facing toward the host.

But beginning in the Edo period, the meaning of saki began to become confused with that of mae -- and this was applied to classical writings as well (meaning that the Edo period interpretation of such documents is often the exact opposite of what the author intended). This is the case here.

According to Rikyū, the bud (or other feature that makes one side of the futaoki different from the rest -- such as the natural crack in the right-hand take-wa) should be on the side that faces toward the host. Consequently both of the futaoki above are oriented with their front sides toward the camera.

However, if a utensil was signed, the signature was supposed to be on the bottom, or on the back side (if it could not be written on the bottom). This makes the futaoki shown on the left problematic.

The most likely explanation is that someone else forged Rikyū's kaō onto this piece‡, and wrote it on the front so that the kaō would be seen when the futaoki was being used.

Nevertheless, because it confuses two classical teachings (the eye was supposed to indicate the front; but the kaō was supposed to be located on the back) it seems that this particular futaoki was (at least in part) responsible for the subsequent confusion between saki and mae. __________ *In other words, facing toward the host.

†In other words, facing in the same direction as the host's body is oriented.

‡Since, in Rikyū's day, the kaō was written on a utensil to indicated ownership: it was written on special utensils, to help prevent their “getting lost” (which is the polite way of saying “stolen”), and was not written on something that was disposable, like a bamboo futaoki.

Writing the kaō on such things was an Edo period practice related to the idea of konomi-mono [好み物] and the cult of the Senke, a way of giving value to something that otherwise was worthless.

In fact, this kaō is also a little too stylized, a little too carefully written -- when compared with those found on pieces that are known to have been inscribed by Rikyū himself. This plays into the idea of its being an Edo period forgery.

⁶Ha ka ashi no aru-mono naraba kore mo saki [h]e nasu nari [はか足のあるものならば是も先へなすなり].

First of all, the element that is being read as ha [は] is actually partially illegible in the printed version of this page (which is all that exists*). Assuming it is ha, the most likely interpretation is as ha [刃], which means an edge (a corner) or a prong (a projection, like a leg); or ha [端], which means a side or edge†.

The corner/edge or foot should be on the forward-facing side of the futaoki. But, again, which side is considered to be forward-facing is no longer clear. __________ *The “original copy” of the Rikyū Chanoyu Sho is one of several copies of the same block-printed edition. The blocks from which they were printed have apparently not survived.

The manuscript or manuscripts from which these entries were copied have not been identified.

In fact it is clear that the texts of these entries were extracted from multiple sources, including Rikyū's Nambō-ate no densho [南坊宛の傳書], and some that may be linked with Jōō (though these are more likely late sixteenth century versions of his teachings, perhaps as recounted for his machi-shū auditors by Furuta Sōshitsu). While others appear to be virtually contemporaneous with the Rikyū Chanoyu Sho -- in other words, early Edo period machi-shū writings (like the Sōjin-boku [草人木] and the Kai-ki [槐記]), some of which may have been written as part of the effort to create a fictionalized version of chanoyu history based on the machi-shū teachings followed by Shōan and Sōtan.

†If the element is not ha, but a kanji (for example) that was not cut clearly (or which was poorly, or carelessly, inked -- or which had become clogged by paper lint), it is not possible to guess what it might be -- though the idea of an edge or corner seems most likely (since this part of the entry deals with something like a leg). The reader should think of something like the gotoku [五徳], mikkan-jin [三閑人]/mitsu-ningyō [三つ人形], and mitsu-ba [三つ葉], where a leg or projecting point should be located in the front.

⁷Ichi-jō-han no kamae ni te ha me wo mae [h]e nasu nari [一疊半のかまへにてハ目を前へなすなり].

Rikyū never oriented things differently in different settings, purely because the setting was different. Consequently this appears to be another machi-shū teaching.

The most extensive (and authoritative) collection of notes related to the 1.5-mat room was assembled by Katagiri Sekishū (based on documents that he received from Kuwayama Sōzen, the principal disciple of Sen no Dōan); but this teaching is not found in any of these writings.

⁸Mentsu [めんつ].

Mentsu [めんつ] refers to the mentsū [面桶] -- the “magemono-kensui [曲げ物建水]” as it is usually known today.

⁹Dojime [とぢめ].

The word dojime [綴じ目] means the seam where the wood that forms the sides of the mentsū is stitched together with a thin piece of cherry bark. The dojime is clearly visible in the photo, above; the dojime is considered to be the front of the mentsū.

¹⁰Mentsu ha dojime wo ato [h]e nasu nari [めんつハとぢめをあとへなす也].

Ato [h]e nasu [後へ成す] means to be, or be located, on the back side (of something).

Rikyū used the mentsū with the dojime on the back side (the side closest to his feet). This is the way the mentsū was oriented when it was set up (the cup of the hishaku touches the mouth of the mentsū on the opposite side from the dojime). When he was facing the furo, or a mukō-ro, the dojime was on the side toward the lower end of the mat (and the sadō-guchi); when he was seated on the daime, or in a 4.5-mat room when the ro was being used, the dojime was more or less facing toward the wall (at the left side of the utensil mat), since he picket the mentsū up and carried it with him when he turned on a diagonal toward the room*.

However, certain machi-shū physically rotated the mentsū -- some turning it so that the dojime was on the side of the mentsū immediately beside their left hip, while others turned it so that it was on the side and adjacent the wall. This practice persists in the temae of many of the modern schools.

In the present context, it is not entirely clear where the dojime is supposed to be†. __________ *Rikyū did not rotate the mentsū. It remained always in the same orientation, relative to his body. It “turned” when he turned his body.

†Ato [後], on the back side, could refer to either the way Rikyū used it (with the dojime always on the side of the mentsū closest to his feet), or the way those machi-shū used it who turned the dojime toward the (left) wall.

¹¹Yorozu no tana ni [萬のたなに].

Yorozu [萬] literally means ten-thousand, hence a number (almost) impossible to count. Therefore, on countless tana.

¹²Ichi-iro oku ha ashiki nari [一色置ハあしきなり].

Iro is used as a counting word for objects belonging to a single type or class*. Ichi-iro [一色] means one kind (of thing).

Ashiki [悪しき] means bad, evil, wrong. __________ *In this case objects small enough to be placed on the tana: futaoki, hishaku, habōki, kōgō, chaire.

A chaire and a natsume would belong to the same iro, because they are both tea containers, while a natsume and a kōgō do not (even though they are both lacquered containers).

¹³Nani ni te mo ni-shoku nari [何にても二色也].

Ni-shoku [二色] means two kinds* (of things).

This seems to be a machi-shū rule, because it deviates from what Rikyū did and taught. __________ *Two objects that are somehow different. For example, a hishaku and a futaoki; or a chaire and a habōki. But not two tea containers.

¹⁴Tadashi chaire bakari ha ichi-iro mo oki nari [但茶入斗ハ一色も置也].

The problem with general rules is that they rarely work. This is why Rikyū preferred not to discuss rules.

¹⁵Kōgō [香箱].

The kanji are usually pronounced kō-bako today. Originally this name referred (only) to lacquered kōgō.

¹⁶Kan [くわん].

Kan [鐶], the detachable metal handles for the kama. Kwan [くわん, or くゎん], as written here, represents an archaic pronunciation.

¹⁷Fukuro [ふくろ].

Perhaps a miscopying for fukusa [ふくさ]*?

I know of no instance where the shifuku would be displayed† on the tana by itself‡. __________ *There are occasions when the fukusa [袱紗, or 帛紗] is displayed on the fukuro-dana, and on other tana as well.

†This entry is difficult. It is ostensibly discussing the things displayed on the tana when the guests enter for the sho-za or go-za, or when they leave -- obviously, during the temae, it is entirely possible that nothing will be on the tana at all.

‡In Book 5 of the Nampō Roku the shifuku is sometimes removed and placed down on the ten-ita of the daisu, with the chaire then set on top of the shifuku. But this is not what is being described here.

¹⁸Izure mo tori-awase okubeshi nari [いつれも取合可置也].

Izure mo [いづれも = 何れも] means any of (them), both, all. In other words, the host is supposed to select two of these objects, and arrange them together on the tsuri-dana.

¹⁹Ni-jū no tana [二重のたな].

This refers to a tsuri-dana that has a second shelf suspended below the original (larger) one. It was created by Furuta Sōshitsu*, while Rikyū only used a tsuri-dana with a single shelf. __________ *The tsuri-dana was derived (by Rikyū) from Jōō's fukuro-dana. The first example of a tsuri-dana is in the Tai-an [待庵] at Yamazaki, Kyōto (though when this room was rebuilt the tsuri-dana ended up in the tsugi-no-ma, the room next to the chaseki). The Tai-an was erected in the summer of 1582.

Rikyū's single tsuri-dana usually represented the naka-dana [中棚] of the fukuro-dana (though sometimes it resembles the kō-dana [香棚] -- such as when the chaire is displayed on the tsuri-dana).

Oribe's ni-jū tsuri-dana [二重釣棚] combines both the naka-dana (the upper shelf) and the kō-dana (the lower shelf) into one. This is why the chaire is always displayed on the bottom shelf (because, on the fukuro-dana, the chaire is always displayed on the kō-dana).

²⁰Ue no tana ni ha [うへのたなにハ].

Ue no tana [上の棚] means the upper shelf. The orthography used here is just strange.

²¹Ni-jū no tana ni mina oku-toki ha ichi-iro to ni-shoku to oku-beshi nari [二重のたなに皆置時ハ一色と二色と可置也].

Mina oku-toki [皆置く時] means that something is placed on both* of the shelves (simultaneously). __________ *Mina [皆置時] literally means “on all of (the shelves).”

²²Oki-yō ha kaki-tsuke gatashi, kuden ari [おきやうハ書付がたし、口傳有].

Since Rikyū only used a tsuri-dana with a single shelf, he did not go into this in any of his writings. The “secret teachings” would have been elucidated by Sōshitsu, or the machi-shū. Perhaps they may be found in the Furuta Oribe kiki-gaki [古田織部聞書].

²³Ōkata ha mannaka ni te sōrō, mata katte no kata [h]e yosete mo waki ni mo oku nari [大かたハ眞中にて候、又勝手の方へよせてもわきにも置なり].

While it is possible that this sentence describes three different arrangements*, it seems that the second phrase (beginning with mata [又]) modifies the first†, and this is how I have translated it.

However, the suggestion that the second object may be placed on either the katte side, or on the “other” side suggests that whomever was responsible for this text was not familiar Rikyū's teachings on the matter. According to him, the second object should usually be placed on the side of the shelf closest to the wall‡. __________ *One where the utensil is placed in the middle of the shelf, one where it is on the katte-side of the shelf, and one where it is on the other side of the shelf.

†That is, one object is placed in the very center of the shelf, and then another is added to it, either on the left or to its right.

‡So, on an ordinary tsuri-dana, the second object would be placed on the right side of the shelf, next to the sode-kabe; while on a Shū-un-an-dana [集雲庵棚] (a tsuri-dana suspended in the left-hand corner of the room, without a sode-kabe), the second utensil would be placed on the left side of the shelf. It is not a matter of the host's preference, as the text here seems to suggest.

²⁴Zu ari [圖あり].

No sketches are found in this book. Perhaps they were missing from the source document.

²⁵Yuki no asa ha [雪の朝は].

Literally this phrase means “on a snowy morning.”

However, since the next sentences advises the host to set out the chōzu-bishaku the night before (so that snow will accumulate on the handle), my translation was an attempt to create a logical preamble.

²⁶In the morning, the guests do not wash their hands before entering the tearoom for the sho-za, since they will have already done so at home while preparing themselves for the gathering. Consequently, they will all be able to walk by the tsukubai and observe the effect of the freshly fallen snow without any need to disturb it.

Prior to the naka-dachi the host should change the water in the tsukubai, and for this he has to use the hishaku. Thus, when the guests come out for the break, the handle of the hishaku should be rinsed clean.

²⁷Ōyuki nado no toki ha [大雪などの時は].

Ōyuki [大雪] means a heavy snowfall, or snowing heavily. -Nado [-など] means “or something of the sort.”

Perhaps we can think of the two meanings of ōyuki as separate situations. Or perhaps something like heavy winds that will blow the accumulated snowfall around is another possibility.

At any rate, the sense is that a situation has arisen that will make using the tsukubai difficult, if not impossible; thus the host must think of practicable alternatives -- and the absence of the chōzu-bishaku will serve the guests notice of what they might expect.

²⁸Hishaku wo okanu-koto mo ari [ひしやくを置ぬ事も有].

If it is snowing heavily, the tsukubai might end up being buried under the snow. In which case, the host may decide to put washing water in the genkan (either in the cleaned-out chiri-ana, if there is one, or in a bucket or some such container).

Even if he decides to use the tsukubai, he will have to melt the snow away with warm water, and the effect of snowfall collecting on the handle of the hishaku will be lost.

²⁹In other words, the author is continuing to address the case where it is snowing heavily.

³⁰[Chō]zu-bachi ha mo mizu wo irezu ni mo oku nari [水鉢ハ水をも入ずにもをくなり].

The first word should be chōzu-bachi [手水鉢]*, the basin stone. The tsukubai [蹲踞]† (which technically is a slang word).

Mizu wo irezu ni mo [水をも入ずにも] means something like “even with respect to the water, even if [the host] is not going to put any in....”

Oku nari [置くなり] means “it should be placed.” This refers to the chōzu- bishaku.

Here the situation is that the heavy snow has filled the tsukubai, or perhaps the water has frozen over (or is in the process of freezing) with a cap of snow on top (which might be visually interesting in its own right). Since the host will have to prepare wash-water in the genkan for the guests to use in any case, he may opt to leave the tsukubai much as it is -- but placing a freshly rinsed hishaku on top‡. __________ *Perhaps the text had become corrupted.

†Tsukubai [蹲踞] means to assume a crouching position.

‡To show the guests that he has thought carefully about the situation and decided to leave the snow as it is -- not just ignored the tsukubai because of the snow.

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