VERSIÓN EN ESPAÑOL
When tea is made with water drawn from the depths of mind
Whose bottom is beyond measure,We really have what is called cha-no-yu.Toyotomi Hideyoshi
In that sense, it is common for tea houses to be separated from the outside world, usually by a very subtle element. This is the case of Kano Shoju-an, a quiet tea house located at the southern end of the Philosophy Path in Kyoto, which is separated from it by a footbridge across the stream, and in that way detaching the visitors from their mundane daily life.
However, despite its sacred character, the aesthetics of the tea houses are far from the opulence that can be found in a temple. By contrast, the Kano Shoju-an is a construction that enhances the fragile and fleeting nature of life, based on principles such as wabi (the beauty of things imperfect, simple and natural) and sabi (the patina covering things over time.)
THE SŌAN STYLE
"Soan" means "grass hut" and refers to the typical characteristics found in many of the teahouses. It was influenced by the style Shoin, that we will discuss in the next post.
The Kano Shoju-an has, like most tea houses, two elements: the garden and the building itself. Very simple materials make up the garden, although it is carefully designed. The path of stones or roji, which features a larger stone at the entrance, the gravel paths, the finely arranged thatched islets, the stone where visitors take off their shoes or kutsunugi ishi, are part of a complex but subtle micro cosmos surrounding the tea house.
The construction system of the house uses bamboo walls and columns, coated with mud and rice straw roofs.
In front of the windows, there are some suspended screens made of woven straw, which are climatic devices, since they protect the inside from the incidence of the sun during hot days while not preventing the passage of the breeze, and they can be removed in winter.
Inside, space flows between the different environments with harmony and flexibility.
The fine sliding screens or shoji (which is a window of rice paper framed by a wooden lattice), the terraces, the wide windows and the simplicity and lightness of the materials help establishing a strong link between the interior and exterior environment. In fact, the exterior is used as a "tableau" since the window frames a particular view by being located at a certain height and position.
For a Japanese, however, Sadō is a condensed, stylized version of everyday life.
"What is the cause of suffering, the cause of life, since we deny the existence of a God who created the universe? That concept is what Buddha called the zen .... We have to the suffering from the beginning, which is the zen. And the Zen produces life and life is necessarily unhappy, because what is life? Living is birth, aging, illness, death, and other ills, including a very pathetic evil, not to be with the ones we love. "
- JAPANESE TRADITIONAL ARCHITECTURE