Students in Prof. Alicia Volk's Japanese Art after 1500 class tour Japanese Teahouse

A rare chance to experience one of the "purest examples of its type outside of Japan"

Students in ARTH 383 Japanese Art after 1500 got a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to visit the Embassy of Japan’s Ippakutei teahouse in Washington, DC last Friday (November 6th). After learning about the tea ceremony in its many dimensions in the classroom (including the study of architecture, garden design, tea implements in many mediums, the creation and curation of a memorable tea ceremony, philosophy, aesthetics, religion, and politics), they were able to fathom the embodied and total experience of the tea ceremony by visiting this space tucked between the embassy’s Old Residence and Rock Creek Park. Built in 1960 to commemorate one hundred years of Japan-United States relations, the Ippakutei teahouse is normally closed to the public. It is the purest example of its type outside of Japan and is modeled on such historical examples as the elegant 17th century teahouse at the Katsura Detached Palace outside of Kyoto and 16th century “grass hut” (soān) prototypes by tea masters such as Sen no Rikyū. Students traversed the garden's “dewy path” (rōji) marking the passage away from the mundane to the rarefied space of the teahouse, and then, in a gesture of humility, entered through its tiny “crawl-in entrance” (nijiriguchi). It was fascinating to connect such a highly symbolic site, steeped in geopolitical significance here in Washington, with the role of the tea ceremony in the power dynamics of a war-torn Japan five hundred years ago. What an unforgettable experience!