Promulgation of the Contemporary Tea Ceremony 1694
endogenkan
minneapolisinstituteofart
ink, color-on-paper
aged paper
book
sketch book
hand drawn type
japan
personal sketchbook
ink
color-on-paper
hand-drawn typeface
pen-ink sketch
pen and pencil
pen work
sketchbook drawing
sketchbook art
This woodblock print, titled "Promulgation of the Contemporary Tea Ceremony," was created by Endō Genkan in 1694. It is a visual guide to the contemporary tea ceremony, featuring a detailed illustration and text instructions. Endō Genkan (1656–1702), known for his work in illustrated books, aimed to convey the intricate steps and etiquette of the Japanese tea ceremony, a traditional practice embodying Zen philosophy and aesthetic appreciation. This artwork, now at the Minneapolis Institute of Art, is a valuable historical document illuminating the social and cultural significance of the tea ceremony in 17th-century Japan.
Comments
Contemporary guide to tea ceremony, Enshū school. In the mid-1600s, an aristocrat named Kobori Enshū (1579–1647), who was also a skilled poet, artist, flower arranger, and tea master, developed his own style of the tea ceremony based on the aesthetic ideal of kirei-sabi, which combined the notions of refined beauty (kirei) and patina, the wear associated with age (sabi). Enshū’s kirei-sabi style, which partially supplanted wabi (imperfect or rustic) as the dominant aesthetic, had a great impact on the design of gardens and teahouses, decoration of teahouse interiors, and the production of tea wares in the mid-1600s. Two generations later, Endō Genkan, an adherent of the Enshū School of tea, wrote a number of important books on the Japanese tea ceremony including the volumes displayed here, which sought to disseminate Enshū’s kirei-sabi tea aesthetic.
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