More on Tea Ceremony and Luzon Jars

In order to further investigate the uniquely high value of Luzon Jars in Japan, we can explore deeper into the philosophy of Chanoyu or Tea Ceremony, which is known as the Way of Tea (Chado).

As noted earlier, there are to my knowledge only brief notes that explain the value of Luzon Jars in terms of their unique properties in preserving tea -- properties that are sometimes described in magical terms. However, I have also explored the possible spiritual and philosophical background that could have added to the great price tags placed on these wares.

Tea was used by Ch'an Buddhists in China to help them stay awake during meditation practice. Tradition states that Eisai, a Zen master, first brought tea from China to Japan in the 12th century. However it was not until 15th century that we see something similar to the modern tea ceremony when it was introduced by Zen monk Murata Shuko.

Sen no Rikyu (1522-1591) developed much of the basis of Chado, the philosophy behind the tea ceremony. Chado combines elements of Zen, Taoism and Shintoism.

The tea ceremony is a spiritual practice that encourages social interaction together with appreciation and contemplation of the simple and austere aesthetic. The ritual restored and renewed the spirit bringing inner peace and intimacy with other participants.

In Taoism, renewal takes place during the jiao ritual during the opening of temples or at regular 12 year intervals. Renewal, both spiritual and physical, is also a goal of Taoist alchemy.

Shinto belief in renewal is seen in the process of periodic rebuilding of structures. The Ise Temple, for example, is rebuilt from scratch every 20 years. A similar rebuilding practice is used with ancestral origin houses in Southeast Asia and New Guinea -- a process made easily possible by the use of wood architecture.

The tea-room or Sukiya was designed to be simple and clean -- an Abode of Vacancy. "The tea-room (the Sukiya) does not pretend to be other than a mere cottage — a straw hut, as we call it," wrote Kazuko Okakura in "The Book of Tea." And it was also ephemeral and individualistic. The Sukiya is rebuilt again and again.

Between the portico, where guests arrive, and the tea-room is a tea garden. Of special interest is the "paradise garden" known as shima "island" after the three Taoist isles of the blest. In Chinese these were known as Penglai, Fangchang and Yingchou, while in Japan they were called respectively Horai, Hojo and Eishu. Sometimes a third island known as Koryo was added. In Chinese, these islands were known as Sandao 三島 "Three Islands."

Taoism's utopia provided the right milieu for those entering into the tea-room. The isles were known for their natural beauty and harmony and for the happy, long lives of its inhabitants -- a good recipe for contemplation and socialization. Paradise was also linked with renewal and restoration as tea-lovers made a New Year's Day decoration called "Horai," after the mountain of the immortals consisting of a pile of seafood, fruit and vegetables. According to the daimyo Kiyomasa, the ideal New Year's beverage known as toso should be made from a waterfall in Horai.


Period of Luzon Jar trade

Arai Hakuseki's narrative on the captivity of Pere Sidotti written in 1710 suggests that Luzon Jars were imported into Japan as early as the Sung and Yuan dynasties. Definitely it appears that these wares were in use during the early Muromachi period (1334—1467) and sometime between between 1385 and 1440 such pots were imported into Okinawa and the pottery-making techniques were copied to produce them locally.

During the Yuan dynasty, the traveler Wang Dayuan mentions a location south of Taiwan and north of Mindoro and Butuan known as Sandao 三島 "Three Islands." The old empire of Sanfotsi mysteriously vanishes during Yuan times, but was in the same general location.

Y. Tanaka in Tokiko (1854) states that Luzon was part of a geographical region known as Mishima 三島 由 "Three Islands." Notice that the first two characters of Sandao and Mishima are the same, with the last character added to Mishima to provide the last syllable of shima "island." Mishima is thus a Japanese translation of Sandao. While I do not know whether this Sandao or Mishima were ever explicitly equated with the Taoist paradise isles, there is an interesting earlier notice that has some bearing.

In 1067, Ssuma Kuang (Sima Guang) locates the kingdom of Fusang west of the Weilu Current i.e., the southeastern origin of the Kuroshio Current, a location that largely agrees with that of Sandao and Mishima. As I have noted before, many Chinese texts basically equate Fusang with Penglai, the paradise island known in Japanese as Horai. Also, Japanese texts may do the same as suggested by ethnographer Yanagita Kunio.

As discussed earlier in this blog, the Chinese linked Sandao, the isles of the immortals, with a special type of jar known as hu 壺 that were used in sacred wine rituals during the Shang Dynasty. Wine became less popular after the Shang, but the rituals continued on in some circles and they were also preserved in the Taoist literature. The immortals who lived in Sandao were themselves known as avid drinkers. The islse were so connected with the hu jar that they were often visualized as resembling the jar in shape and possessed alternate names with "-hu" added as a suffix.

Japan also had its own Shinto tradition of sacred jars. These were used in the ancient ritual of tasting the new rice during the harvest festival. Interestingly a somewhat similar ritual was used by the Shogun during the season of new tea. Jars were also used for the Shinto rice wine ritual known as naorai.

So, we can surmise that if Mishima did indeed represent the three isles of the immortals with Luzon as Horai, then the ancient jars from that land would have indeed made appropriate vessels for the sacred tea ceremony. They would have brought great prestige to the owners as they possessed all the classic linkages. Luzon Jars could be viewed then as a type of "Holy Grail" of the tea ceremony connected, as it would have been thought, with the historical paradise lands found in both Shinto and Taoist belief. So it comes as no surprise that during the time of the Spanish governor Antonio de Morga in the 17th century, that Japanese merchants were willing to pay fantastic sums for old pots that seemingly had no worth to the European.

Apparently though they had lost their worth in Luzon itself. They must have at one time been handed down as heirlooms as they were preserved by the people mostly as relics. In Pampanga, they were known by the name of the local sand, balas, that was used as temper during the firing process. These balasini were very rare but apparently still in existence during Bergano's time in the 18th century, so it could be that some people still valued them enough to preserve them as part of their inheritance.

Wang Dayuan writes that merchants from Santao frequently visited the ports of South China during the Yuan Dynasty, and in the early years of the Ming Dynasty we hear that the kingdom of Luzon sent an envoy to Okinawa. I have argued that earlier kings from this region followed a policy of attraction in their quest to guard the trade routes. Could the hyping and selling of the once-sacred balasini constitute a new twist in that age-old game?

Regards,
Paul Kekai Manansala
Sacramento

References

Kōdansha. Kodansha Encyclopedia of Japan, Tokyo: Kodansha, 1983, 111.

Okakura, Kakuzō, and Sōshitsu Sen. The Book of Tea, Tokyo: Kodansha International, 2005.

Sasaki, Sanmi, Shaun McCabe, and Iwasaki Satoko. Chado: the way of tea : a Japanese tea master's almanac / Sasaki Sanmi ; translated from the Japanese by Shaun McCabe and Iwasaki Satoko ; foreword by Sen Sôshitsu XV, Boston: Tuttle, 2005.

More on Luzon Jars

I have received some comments in correspondence as to whether the value of Luzon jars in Japan (known as Ruson-tsubo) might be due just to their antique and practical value rather than to any sacred valuation.

As I have noted previously in this blog, the Japanese had an old mythological tradition of jar worship going back to the epics Kojiki and Nihon Shoki. Jars were associated with food production even before rice agriculture, something that may hearken back to Jomon times. The jar sacrifices and festivals were instituted by Jimmu and linked with the far-off fairyland Takamagahara.

Evidence that the Luzon jars, used in the tea ceremony (chanoyu) since at least the early Muromachi period (1334—1467), were considered sacred may first appear, in European sources at least, in the notices of Carletti during the 1590s.

In describing the Luzon jars in Japan, Carletti noted that "the king of this Japan and all the other princes of the region have an infinite number of these vases, which they regard as their principal treasures, esteeming them more than anything else of value."

Referring to tea or cha, Carletti has this to say about their relationship with the Luzon jars.

But to return to the aforesaid cha, besides the many special properties that they attribute to it, they say that the older the leaf the better it is. But they have great difficulty in preserving it for a long period and keeping it in prime condition, as they do not find containers, not even of gold or silver or other metals, which are good for this purpose. It seems a superstition, and yet it is true, that cha is preserved well only in the aforesaid vessels made simply of a clay that has this virtue...

Carletti notes that the Japanese consideration of the old and homely Luzon jars seemed beyond reason and linked with some superstitious or supernatural belief in the clay used to make the vessels. In Appleton's Journal (1875), a description is given of the tea ceremony and the imperial tea utensils, which further accentuates these beliefs:

Clothed in light, white garments, and without weapons, the members of the Cha-no- yu assemble round the master's house, and, after resting some time in the anteroom, are conducted into a pavilion appropriated exclusively to these assemblies. This consists of the most costly kinds of wood, but is without any ornament which could possibly be abstracted from it ; without color, and without varnish, dimly lighted by small windows thickly overgrown with plants, and so low that it is impossible to stand upright. The guests tread the apartment with solemn, measured steps, and, having been received by the host according to the prescribed formulas, arrange themselves in a half-circle on both sides of him. All distinctions of rank are abolished. The ancient vessels are now removed with solemn ceremonies from their wrappings, saluted, and admired ; and, with the same solemn and rigidly-prescribed formulas, the water is heated on the hearth appropriated to the purpose, and the tea taken from the vessels and prepared in cups. The tea consists of the young, green leaves of the tea-shrub rubbed to powder, and is very stimulating in its effect. The beverage is taken amid' deep silence, while incense is burning on the elevated pedestal of honor, toko; and, after the thoughts have thus been collected, conversation begins. It is confined to abstract subjects ; but politics are not always excluded. Many of these old jars, wrapped in costly silken folds, and preserved in chests lacquered with gold, are preserved among the treasures of the Mikado with all the care due to the most costly jewels, together with documents relating to their history. Those coming from the Philippine Islands are said to surpass all others in value, from some distinctive virtue supposed to be imparted by their material to the tea.

Quite obvious from this description is that the tea vessels were considered sacra, sacred traditional objects, and that the material (clay) of the ancient jars was considered to have some special quality that was imparted to the tea. It is also worth noting that the text above mentions "documents relating to their history," in reference to the old jars, something that would be worth investigating.

Previous blog posts have discussed the sacred jars in the Philippines and Borneo, where old, rude earthenware pots were so esteemed they would not be sold by the owners at any price. Since these items were in all cases ancient, they were either handed down as heirlooms, traded as antiques or discovered in ancient caches. George Windsor Earl, writing in 1837, gives a curious account of Dyaks of western Borneo who recovered such ancient sacred wares from what were apparently burial mounds.

The relics of an ancient people are also to be met with in the inland parts of the west coast, and, although the information I was enabled to collect concerning them was extremely vague, I came to the conclusion that they were a race distinct from the Hindus near Banjar Massin. These relics consist merely of tumuli, in which are sometimes found small earthern jars, and being supposed by the Dyaks to be connected in some manner with the ashes of their forefathers, are in all probability graves. The jars are very scarce, and are so highly valued by their possessors on account of their supposed oracular powers, that the offer of a sum equal to five hundred pounds sterling has been refused for one of them. The jars are consulted by their owners before they undertake any expedition, and they believe that it will be prosperous or the contrary according to the sound produced, probably by water being poured into it. I much regretted being unable to inspect one of these vessels, as their materials and manufacture might possibly throw some light upon the relation which the natives of Borneo bear to the people of some other parts of India.

The traveler Fedor Jagor also mentions in reference to Luzon jars a story from Japan of the priest Giogiboosat that also indicates a connection of sacred vessels with burial mounds.

This earthen vessel was found in the porcelain factory of Tschisuka in the province of Odori, in South Idzumi, and is an object belonging to the thousand graves ... It was made by Giogiboosat (a celebrated Buddhist priest), and after it had been consecrated to heaven was buried by him. According to the traditions of the people, this place held grave mounds with memorial stones. That is more than a thousand years ago. ... In the pursuit of my studies, I remained many years in the temple Sookuk, of that village, and found the vessel. I carried it to the high priest Shakudjo, who was much delighted therewith and always bore it about with him as a treasure. When he died it fell to me, although I could not find it. Recently, when Honkai was chief priest, I saw it again, and it was as if I had again met the spirit of Shakudjo. Great was my commotion, and I clapped my hands with astonishment ; and, as often as I look upon the treasure, I think it is a sign that the spirit of Shakudjo is returned to life. Therefore I have written the history, and taken care, of this treasure.

So, in Borneo, Japan and the Philippines, we see that jars were seen as sacred and having mystical powers and even personalities. In ancient Japanese mythology, jar deities known as Mika were animate and said to produce progeny -- beliefs similar to those found in the Philippines and Borneo. In Japan, the early jar worship was related to food production, first pre-rice agriculture and then specifically linked with rice crops. In Southeast Asia, sacred jars were considered more as storage vessels for holy water or beverages.

During some time at or before the Muromachi period, jars again take on a new sacred function as containers of tea leaves and beverage in the tea ceremony of chanoyu. That there is some link with the practice further south is strongly indicated by the fact that the Japanese sought ancient earthenware jars just for this purpose from Southeast Asia, putting great price on the value of these items. And it was the material, the clay, of which these vessels were made that was considered as granting their special sacred qualities. Previously in this blog, we have recorded how in Southeast Asia sacred jars are also linked with special divine clay.

Regards,
Paul Kekai Manansala
Sacramento

References

Appletons' Journal, "Among the Philippines," Appleton's Journal vol. 14, 1875, 228.

Earl, George Windsor . The Eastern Seas: Or, Voyages and Adventures in the Indian Archipelago, in 1832-33-34, Comprising a Tour of the Island of Java -- Visits to Borneo, the Malay Peninsula, Siam ..., W. H. Allen, 1837, 274-5.

Fairchild, William P. "'Mika'-Jar Deities in Japanese Mythology," Asian Folklore Studies 34 (1965): 81-101.

Jagor, Andreas Feodor, Fedor Jagor. Travels in the Philippines, Chapman and Hall, 1875, 166-7.

Varley, Paul, Isao Kumakura, Kumakura Isao. Tea in Japan: Essays on the History of Chanoyu, University of Hawaii Press, 1994, 116-7.