Nampō Roku, Book 7 (20e), Appendix 1: Two Relevant Entries from the Supplementary Book of Secret Teachings.
○ Depending on the person: at dawn, night, and such [times], there are people who have the door of the setchin wide open¹.
This is done is so that [the guests] can look at the entire [interior space] carefully².
○ If it is raining when [the guests] are leaving the koshi-kake [to move to the tearoom], it may be difficult to inspect the setchin³. [In these circumstances, one] should not be worried about [passing by] without looking inside it, so it is said⁴.
_________________________
◎ The two brief entries that are translated in this post are from the collections of secret teachings (hiden no koto [秘傳ノ事]) that were appended to the Nampō Roku. The material translated here is from the second book*, known simply as Tsuika [追加] (which means a supplement).
___________
*Sometimes referred to as the Ninth Book of the Nampō Roku (Kyū no Nampō Roku [九南方錄]), because the teachings discussed in these two books are as crucial to an accurate understanding of the Nampō Roku as are Tachibana Jitsuzan’s original seven books themselves.
¹Hito ni yori, akatsuki, yoru nado ha setchin no to hazushi-oku hito ari [人ニヨリ、曉、夜ナドハ雪隱ノ戸ハヅシ置ク人アリ].
Hito ni yori [人により]: this entry is referring to a case of personal preference (usually, on the side of the host*), rather than stating a rule.
Hazushi-oku [外し置く] means leave (the door) wide open.
In the previous post, it was mentioned that the usual preference was for the door of the setchin to be kept locked at all times, to prevent it being moved by the wind (which could be unnerving†, or even disturbing if the wind causes it to bang open and closed).
However, in this case, it is not that the door is left ajar, but that it is fully opened (and perhaps even propped in that way with a stick or rock). This would not only allow for an unfettered inspection of the interior, but, because the door was propped open against the inner wall, it would assure the viewer that nobody could be hiding behind it. This is the important point here.
___________
*Though, if he knows that one of the guests is especially paranoid, for whatever reason, he would surely take that into consideration when arranging the roji for that chakai.
The only rule is that the host must consider everything he does, and proposes to do, very carefully -- and always in light of the particulars of each individual tea gathering. Nothing is ever wrong, so long as the host has thought about it carefully beforehand. The danger is when things are done by rote, without thinking about them at all.
†If the guests caught a glimpse of the door moving, they might fear that someone is trying to hide inside.
²Kore mo ikkō ni mi-hirakite ichi-ri ari [コレモ一向ニ見ヒラキテ一理アリ].
Ikkō ni mi-hiraku [一向に見開く] means to look at the entire (interior) space carefully.
Ichi-ri [一理] means (is) the point (for doing something).
In other words, the reason why the door is opened widely is so that the guests will be able to look into the setchin, so as to ascertain that an unidentified or unknown person -- someone who is not a member of the group of guests (nor someone affiliated with the host, who might be helping or observing the proceedings) is not present there.
³Ame no toki, koshi-kake ni hanaretaru setchin mi-nikui-mono nari [雨ノ時、腰掛ニ離レタル雪隱見ニクキモノナリ].
Ame no toki [雨の時], in this case, means when rain is actually falling -- when it is raining.
If rain is not actually falling, there is on obstacle to the guests inspecting the setchin, and, indeed, they should do so as a matter of course.
Hanaretaru [離れたる] means (the guests) will go out (from the koshi-kake), (the guests) will leave (the koshi-kake). This specifically refers to the times when they are processing toward the tearoom.
Mi-nikui-mono [見にくい物]: something (mono [物]) that is difficult (-nikui [-にくい]) to see or inspect (mi [見]).
⁴Mizu-shite kurushikarazu to iu-iu [見ズシテ苦シカラズト云〻].
Mizu-suru [見ずする] means without seeing (the setchin), without looking at (the setchin).
Kurushikarazu [苦しからず] means it is not a problem, it does not matter, it is not something to fret over.
When it is raining, the guests should hurry through the roji so they do not get wet. Even if the host has provided roji-gasa [露地笠]*, these are difficult to manage for most people, so it is best for the guests to make their way to the genkan as quickly as possible (since water for washing the hands and mouths will be provided there, making a stop at the tsukubai unnecessary).
The point is not that it is unnecessary to inspect the setchin on such occasions†, but that the guests should not worry if they are unable to do so.
__________
*A roji-gasa is a sort of shallow tray-like object made of bamboo sheathes stretched over a bamboo frame. (In the photos, the outer side is shown on the left, with the interior shown on the right -- in both, the hand loop is shown at the top.)
It has a loop attached near one side, through which the fingers of the left hand are passed. Then, with the left arm held horizontally above the head, the roji-gasa is supported above the head. It usually keeps the hair dry, but often does little else, so it is better not to tarry in the roji if that can be avoided.
†Miscreants exist in all ages. But, that said, it is highly unlikely that someone will be hiding in the setchin in a time of peace; and, as security measures improved over the course of the Edo period (and, even more so into the present), the chance that someone would be hidden there is virtually nil.
0 notes
Nampō Roku, Book 3 (18.23): the Chū-ō-joku [中央卓], Part III.
18.23) The chū-ō-joku [中央卓]: two additional arrangements for the goza¹.
[The writing reads: (to the right of the upper sketch, above) onaji (同)², go (後)³; (below) mae ni chaire oku-koto ku-den (前ニ茶入置事口傳)⁴; (to the left of the upper sketch) kōro ・ mizusashi ・ futaoki (香炉・水指・蓋置)⁵; shu ・ meibutsu Chidori no toki, kono chaire no oki-kata goza kokoro-yō arite kake-okushi nari (朱・名物千鳥ノ時此茶入ノ置方後座心用有テ被置シ也)⁶, mottomo shisai nari, kuden (尤ノ子細也、口傳)⁷; (to the right of the lower sketch, above) onaji (同)⁸, go (後)⁹; (below) Shukō chawan, shita ha mizusashi, ue ni chakin ・ chasen ・ chashaku (珠光茶碗、下ハ水指、上ニ茶巾・茶筅・茶杓)¹⁰; (to the left of the lower sketch) shu ・ Jōō gotoshi wo karuru, Shukō no meibutsu yo ni kakure naki yue nari (朱・紹鷗如此ヲカルヽ、珠光ノ名物世ニカクレナキ故也)¹¹, (Ri)kyū no Yakushi-dō kake-okite, kurushikaru majiki to Jō(ō) no tamau yori naredomo, (Ri)kyū ha owari ni okarezu (休ノ藥師堂被置テ、苦カルマシキト鷗ノ玉フ由ナレトモ、休ハ終ニヲカレス)¹².]
_________________________
¹The upper arrangement is for an occasion when incense will be appreciated after the service of tea has been concluded; while the lower sketch shows the chū-ō-joku as arranged when incense will have been appreciated after the sumi-temae*. These will be compared with the relevant† shoza kazari in my commentary, below.
__________
*While it could be argued that this could also be used during a chakai when incense was not being appreciated at all, in the context of the preceding two installments, it seems most likely that Jōō was thinking in these terms -- otherwise he would have considered this possibility in his other arrangements.
As mentioned before, the chū-ō-joku was first used for chanoyu by the Shino family. Consequently, it is very likely that Jōō considered it always appropriate for incense to be appreciated during those chakai where this tana was used -- especially during the period (his middle period) when this densho was written.
†Internal evidence, regarding the way that Jōō constructed this brief document, leads directly to the conclusion that he envisioned these as alternate goza kazari for the two cases that he illustrated in the first two parts of the chū-ō-joku material.
²Onaji [同].
“The same.”
In other words, the upper sketch shows the chū-ō-joku -- as on the previous two pages of sketches.
³Go [後].
The chū-ō-joku would be moved from the tokonoma to the utensil mat, and this arrangement would be assembled, during the naka-dachi. Consequently, this is what the guests would see when they returned to the tearoom for the goza.
Specifically, the way this densho has been formatted implies that this goza arrangement would follow a shoza kazari like that shown in the first of the three chū-ō-joku pages (Nampō Roku, Book 3 (18.21): the Chū-ō-joku [中央卓], Part I*) -- where the chū-ō-joku was displayed in the tokonoma during the shoza, with a meibutsu kōro on top, and a hanaire below. The tana would then be moved to the utensil mat during the naka-dachi, with mon-kō [聞香] following the service of tea, at the end of the goza.
___________
*The URL for that post is:
https://chanoyu-to-wa.tumblr.com/post/188393093318/namp%C5%8D-roku-book-3-1821-the-ch%C5%AB-%C5%8D-joku
⁴Mae ni chaire oku-koto ku-den [前ニ茶入置事口傳].
“There is a ku-den that addresses the matter of the chaire being placed in front of [the chū-ō-joku].”
According to Tanaka Senshō, the entire text of the ku-den is: meibutsu no kōro jō-dan ni agaru yue, chaire shita ni oki nari [名物ノ香炉上段ニ上ルユヘ、茶入下ニ置ナリ], which means “because the meibutsu kōro has been elevated to the upper level [of the tana], the chaire is placed below.”
It is unlikely that this “ku-den” existed very long before Tachibana Jitsuzan produced his copy of the document -- since the ancients were inclined to provide real information in their oral traditions, not just reiterate things that would be obvious from the written exposition. Doing things like this was an important facet of the Edo period, when the different schools attempted to make their traditions secretive and mysterious*.
___________
*Because these “schools” had, rather suddenly, been turned into businesses, the only way they could guarantee their revenue would be to come up with things that the interested would be willing to pay for, and secret information separated from the general public by a pay wall would be an excellent idea, irrespective of how practically meaningless the “ku-den” actually turned out to be.
The modern system is an excellent example of the lengths to which this process could proceed: the tea candidate is required to purchase a menjō, which is nothing more than official permission to study the material in question (not, as in many other activities, such as flower arrangement, a certificate of attainment, received after passing a test). He or she then begins the process of training by paying an officially sanctioned teacher -- even when, as in the case of the lower menjō, all of the material is already freely available as printed books and videos in the local book store or public library -- and the process ends when the student is permitted to purchase the next menjō. The attainment of the previous body of information is assumed, to be sure; but this is hardly assured (and I personally know of many chajin in Japan who hold menjō for temae that they could not perform if their life depended on it).
⁵Kōro ・ mizusashi ・ futaoki [香炉・水指・蓋置].
These are the objects arranged on the chū-ō-joku in the illustration. The kōro is on the ten-ita, and the mizusashi and futaoki (the disproportionately small circle, adjacent to the base of the left leg of the tana) on the ji-ita.
⁶Shu ・ meibutsu Chidori no toki, kono chaire no oki-kata goza kokoro-yō arite kake-okushi nari [朱・名物千鳥ノ時此茶入ノ置方後座心用有テ被置シ也].
Shu [朱] means that the entire text of the kaki-ire [書入] was written in red ink on the original document (even though Jitsuzan copied it in black ink).
The kaki-ire itself, meanwhile, means “on an occasion when the meibutsu Chidori [kōro] is [being displayed on the ten-ita of the chū-ō-joku], one must be mindful of the way that this chaire is placed out during the goza.”
The meibutsu Chidori kōro is shown below.
This kōro has been considered to be the highest-ranked te-kōro [手香爐] (an incense burner intended to be held in the hand while sniffing the incense)* since at least the Higashiyama period. It was subsequently owned by Jōō -- who is said to have provided the lid with its handle shaped like a plover (= chidori [千鳥], a shore bird that lives in the intertidal zone).
___________
*According to Book Six of the Nampō Roku, the purpose for which a small censer was intended can be understood from the spacing of the three feet (which often do not always contact the base on which the kōro is rested).
When they are equidistant, the kōro was intended for display on a tana. But when there is a larger space between the front foot and the foot on the left, the censer was intended to be rested on the left palm, and used for appreciating incense directly.
The larger distance on the left side allows the fingers of the left hand to be inserted, so that the thickened bottom of the kōro (which minimizes heat transmission to the point where the censer is comfortable to hold in the bare hand) rests on upward-facing palm. The three feet, then, guide the hand (and often those on the left and in front are at the sides of the hand, rather than resting upon it, while the right leg fits into the space where the third and fourth fingers branch off from the palm)
⁷Mottomo shisai nari, kuden [尤ノ子細也、口傳].
“The details are inherent [in the relationship between the meibutsu kōro and the chaire], [this is contained in] a ku-den.”
Once again, Tanaka Senshō includes the ku-den, as it was transmitted to him by a person who was a member of the inner circle of the Nampō Roku scholars affiliated with the Enkaku-ji: ku-den to ha Chidori no kōro, shoza, joku no ue chū-ō ni okuretaru yue, goza ni chaire ha tatami ni okuretaru koto mottomo no koto nari [口傳トハ千鳥ノ香炉、初座、卓ノ上中央ニ置レタル故、後座ニ茶入ハ疊ニ置レタルコト尤ノコトナリ]. This means “with respect to the ku-den, because, during the shoza, the Chidori no koro is placed in the exact center of the upper [shelf] of the [chu-o-]joku, during the goza the chaire should be placed on the tatami: this is an innate fact.” (I have put the important phrase in bold face in both the Japanese original, and the English translation.)
In other words, given the standing of the kōro*, it is natural that it takes precedence over the chaire, and so the inherent state of things is demonstrated by placing the chaire on the mat.
___________
*The argument seems to revolve not only around the fact that this was such a special censer, but also because a kōro releases perfume (which was considered to be a whiff of the atmosphere of Amida’s Pure Land), while the chaire -- any chaire, no matter how great -- is just a container for food.
One interpretation of the passage in the Lotus Sutra from which the idea for sadō [茶道] (meaning chanoyu when used as an exercise in motion meditation) arose uses tea (literally, “a medicine with a wonderful fragrance, color, and taste”) as a sort of allegory for samadhi. But this is a verbal flourish, and not a statement of fact. Samadhi can be attained through chanoyu, but drinking the tea itself is irrelevant to the process.
⁸Onaji [同].
Once again, the lower sketch also shows the chū-ō-joku.
⁹Go [後].
And this, too, is an arrangement for the goza of a chakai.
As in the upper sketch, the implication is that this goza arrangement follows the shoza were mei-kō (in a Shino-bukuro) was displayed on the ten-ita when the guests entered the room for the shoza (see the post entitled Nampō Roku, Book 3 (18.22): the Chū-ō-joku [中央卓], Part II*). In this case, the chū-ō-joku would be arranged on the utensil mat from the start of the chakai, and the appreciation of incense would take place during the shoza, following the sumi-temae.
___________
*The URL for that post is:
https://chanoyu-to-wa.tumblr.com/post/188455690861/namp%C5%8D-roku-book-3-1822-the-ch%C5%AB-%C5%8D-joku-%E4%B8%AD%E5%A4%AE%E5%8D%93
¹⁰Shukō chawan, shita ha mizusashi, ue ni chakin ・ chasen ・ chashaku [珠光茶碗、下ハ水指、上ニ茶巾・茶筅・茶杓].
“The Shukō-chawan [is displayed on the ten-ita]; [and] below is the mizusashi, on top [of which] are the chakin, chasen, and chashaku.”
The Shukō-chawan was destroyed in the fire that was set by Mori Ranmaru [森蘭丸; 1565 ~ 1582] (Oda Nobunaga’s personal attendant), to destroy the shoin of the Honnō-ji, so that Akechi Mitsuhide could not collect and display Nobunaga’s head, following his coup d’état.
While the original chawan that had belonged to Shukō was lost, several other chawan of the same type have survived, one of which is shown above and below.
The only real difference between the bowls (all of which were brought from China at the same time -- likely originally purchased as a bundle of 10 bowls, for restaurant use) was the number of marks on the outside, caused by hitting the clay with a long broom-like spatula made of split bamboo, to shape it on the mold over which the clay had been draped. The purpose was to mass-produce bowls of identical size -- which were made for serving noodles in road-side food stalls.
While Rikyū placed the Shukō-chawan on top of a large, red-lacquered sakazuki [盃] (which he handled like a temmoku-dai), this usage was unique to him. Jōō used the Shukō-chawan without any kind of base -- as had the previous users, back to Shukō himself.
¹¹Shu ・ Jōō gotoshi okaruru, Shukō no meibutsu yo ni kakure-naki yue nari [朱・紹鷗如此ヲカルヽ、珠光ノ名物世ニカクレナキ故也].
Once again, shu [朱] means that this passage was written in red ink, in the original document.
The kaki-ire means “Jōō placed [the Shukō-chawan] like this, because Shukō’s meibutsu [chawan]* was renowned throughout the world.”
It is important to remember that the Shukō-chawan was already damaged when it came into Jōō’s possession (the small crack had been painted over with same-colored lacquer, to obscure it -- but its existence was well known to the chajin of Jōō’s day). This fact stands in the background, and is the reason why this treatment (of displaying the Shukō-chawan on the chū-ō-joku) was so remarkable†.
___________
*This chawan was “renowned” and “meibutsu” because it appears that it was the first kae-chawn [替茶碗] (a large chawan, originally used only to clean the chasen, using cold water, at the end of the temae) to have been used to serve koicha to his guests.
†In Jōō‘s period, and before, as soon as a utensil suffered any sort of damage, it was considered no longer appropriate for use in chanoyu. The Shukō-chawan, then, was the exception -- because it had been used by Shukō himself -- and part of the reason it was meibutsu was because it established not only the precedent for using (slightly) damaged pieces, but also the temae by which such things could be handled without damaging them further. All of this forms the background to this episode.
¹²(Ri)kyū no Yakushi-dō kake-okite, kurushikaru majiki to Jō(ō) no tamau yori naredomo, (Ri)kyū ha owari ni okarezu [休ノ藥師堂被置テ、苦カルマシキト鷗ノ玉フ由ナレトモ、休ハ終ニヲカレス].
“[Ri]kyū [at first] arranged his Yakushi-dō [temmoku] in this way. But because Jō[ō] said that it was difficult [for people to accept*], it was better not to do it in this way. In the end, [Ri]kyū decided not to place it like this.”
The Yakushi-dō temmoku [藥師堂天目], shown above, was fired at the Seto kiln, and so was an early example of what came to be known as Shino ware (Shino yaki [志野焼]†) in the Edo period.
Rikyū used this chawan on one of the meibutsu kazu-no-dai [數ノ臺]‡ known as the Hotta-dai [堀田臺].
___________
*Jōō’s argument -- at least based on the context of this entry -- seems to be that, because the Yakushi-dō temmoku was not well known by the chajin of that day, or because it had been newly made in Japan, it was not appropriate to display it as a mine-suri on the chū-ō-joku. Thus, Jōō’s objection might reflect the traditional prejudice that Japanese chajin have always held against locally made/newly made objects vis-à-vis antique or imported pieces.
It is important to understand that this episode appears to date from Rikyū’s younger years -- perhaps shortly after Jōō had accepted the young man as his disciple (and so several years before he commissioned Rikyū to visit the continent and bring back carefully selected tea utensils for resale in Japan).
Also, while the shira-temmoku are listed as the highest class of temmoku in the Yamanoue Sōji Ki [山上宗二記], this does not mean that they were so regarded at the time when they were first made (the white temmoku seem to have all been made to Jōō’s order, and so would date from his middle period -- as a distinctly wabi , locally made, alternative to the imported Kenzan bowls).
†Though this is not entirely clear from the surviving historical documents, it appears that this name was given to the white-glazed version of Seto ware because many (or famous) examples of this type of pottery were owned/cherished/favored by the Shino family -- the same family who first used the chū-ō-joku during the service of tea.
‡The kazu-no-dai were rather ordinary black-lacquered temmoku-dai, albeit imported from China.
These dai were originally made to hold bowls of heated sake, in China, where they were used in drinking houses (the red-lacquer markings on the bottom of many of these dai indicate the drinking house for which they were made). That these dai were elevated to such an important position in Japan reflects the rarity of utensils that were imported from the continent during the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries.
Most likely, the Yakushi-dō temmoku was placed on top of the Hotta-dai when Rikyū displayed it on the chū-ō-joku.
==============================================
I. The upper arrangement.
It should be understood that the implication, from the way this densho was constructed, is that this arrangement for the goza (marked go [後] in the digitally modified sketch, below) would follow the shoza arrangement (marked sho [初]) where the chū-ō-joku was displayed in the toko, with the meibutsu kōro above and a hanaire below, as shown below:
During the naka-dachi the tana was moved from the tokonoma to the utensil mat. While the meibutsu kōro* was again placed on the ten-ita, the hanaire was replaced by a mizusashi, and the futaoki was also added to the arrangement.
While nothing is said, the chū-ō-joku was apparently placed in the center of the utensil mat, with the bon-chaire associated with the second kane from the heri. Shibayama Fugen comments that displaying the bon-chaire in front of the right side of the tana (rather than centered on it) is a way to show added respect to the chaire†.
___________
*The ō-meibutsu [大名物] Chidori kōro [千鳥香爐] was one of the highest-class kōro of all times. It still survives to this day.
†We must remember that, originally, the ro was on the host’s left. In such a case, the bon-chaire is shown moved farther away from the ro, which, indeed, is the more respectful position, since the farther from the guests (and the dust which their movements raise), the purer the location -- though always keeping in mind the kane, and the chaire’s relationship with them. This densho dates from Jōō‘s middle period, when this kind of orientation (i.e., with the ro cut on the left) was still universally preferred.
The reasoning becomes confused when the ro is cut on the host’s right, yet the arrangement remains as shown in the sketch.
——————————————–———-—————————————————
II. The lower arrangement.
This sketch should be understood as following on from the same sort of shoza kazari (marked sho [初]) as seen in the installment that was published immediately before this one (once again, I have digitally modified the following sketch to reflect this idea) -- where mei-kō [名香] (enclosed in a kō-bukuro [香袋], or in a kōgō) was displayed on the ten-ita at the beginning of the gathering:
Here incense would be appreciated immediately after the sumi-temae (the tadon [炭團] having been put into the ro along with the rest of the charcoal); and tea would be served (using the Shukō-chawan) after the naka-dachi. This kind of arrangement is known as chasen-kazari [茶筅飾].
The way the modern schools arrange the objects (including the chashaku) on top of the mizusashi for chasen-kazari was derived from this sketch.
Aside from his recitation of the two ku-den (which do little more than restate the text of the kaki-ire), Tanaka Senshō has nothing to say about either of these arrangements.
0 notes