Aesthetics of Tea

Respect is shown and respect is given.  Everything is in its place and all of our senses are tenderly touched in a way we will never forget.Jin Kitamura Bill Tingey Photo © Copyright

Dedication and devotion

Most people will have a complete understanding of the maxim “art for art’s sake”.  But what about “craft for craft’s sake”?  Is the meaning more or less the same?  I would say that in both cases a degree of indulgence is suggested on the part of the artist or craftsperson.

In the case of art the notion is one of a pure “art”.

A pure “craft” is, perhaps more than anything else, something extolling the skills necessary to make an object.  This may result in it becoming something to be admired rather than used, although that is not always the case.

Far less commonly heard is “art for life’s sake”.  In this case something of the purity of a work is compromised for a purpose—this could be political, decorative, or simply to enhance the experience of life in some way.

A “craft for life’s sake” is much easier to define as the function is clear and its aesthetic qualities are an added extra to enhance the enjoyment of life.  This, of course, is also true of a good piece of industrial design, itself a kind of craft. (See blog Japanese Industrial Art 22/12/2017)

As twilight deepens guests arrive at the bidding of the host.  The path is lit and anticipation is nurtured.
Jin Kitamura Bill Tingey Photo © Copyright

 In a collection of writings on aesthetics, Shuichi Kato (加藤周一1919-2008) uses these two maxims—“art for art’s sake” and “art for life’s sake”—as a way of trying to better understand the aesthetics of Tea in Japan.

He feels that neither of these maxims fully describes the artistic qualities and overall approach to be found in the culture of Tea.  Instead he attempts to describe Tea as “life for art’s sake”.

Kato maintains that when the practices of Tea were being refined in Japan before the fifteenth-century, the guiding maxim was “art for art’s sake”.  By the eighteenth-century, it was an “art for life’s sake”.  But in its heyday during the fifteenth-, sixteenth- and seventeenth-centuries it was, as he puts it, “life for art’s sake”.

This could perhaps be interpreted as being an example of a complete and utter dedication to the art and skill of tea ceremony, in which, incidentally, craftwork plays an important part.

The skill which is exercised in the making of the paraphernalia used in a tea ceremony is phenomenal.  And rightly so.  It needs to match the precision and care with which the host and guests move, behave and play a part in the whole ceremony, itself so natural and yet so programmed as to be an expression of “life for art’s sake”.

The dedication with which true lacquerware is made and decorated is staggering.  But not unique.  There is an envious commitment by the Japanese to the presentation of food, for example.  In modern life the Japanese can sometimes be totally focused on doing something “in the RIGHT way”.  I see nothing wrong in this.  Although I would have to admit that it may sometimes inhibit creative development.

The strict ritualisation of a tea ceremony can be off-putting.  However, in the hands of a skilled, sympathetic host and equally sympathetic guests, the whole experience is elevating, meditative and touches all of our senses tenderly and yet permanently.

Nevertheless, who would dare to completely pooh-pooh a maxim designed to foster perfection.  Long live “life for art’s sake”.  And “life for craft’s sake” too.

A tray or platter to match the stringent needs of a tea ceremony.  Made by Wakashima Senior.

Reference

Collection of Essays on Art—The Aesthetics of Tea—Two Hypothesis

Shuichi Kato (加藤周一1919-2008) 

Published by Iwanami Shoten, 1967

美術論集、茶の美学—二つの仮説

岩波書店　昭和四十二年九月二十七日


Bill Tingey Photo © Copyright

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