Japanese tea ceremony: A critique for screens and scrolls

The last part of a larger unit on discussing and evaluating Japanese screen and scroll paintings as well as creating one. The purpose of this unit plan is to introduce descriptive aspects of art criticism while teaching them the art and culture of Japan. Students critique illustrations of classmates' descriptions of Japanese screens or scrolls.

A lesson plan for grades 9–12 Visual Arts Education

By Michelle Harrell

Learn more

• TeaHyakka Magazine: The Encyclopedia of Japanese Tea Ceremony A vast collection of poems, history, procedures, and images related to the tea ceremony.
• The World in a Bowl of Tea Facts, links, recipes, and directions for arranging flowers for the tea ceremony. You may want to suggest this site to students who want to prepare dishes or flower arrangements for the ceremony.
• Ackland Art Museum Collections include asian art.

Related pages

• Describing Japanese screens and scrolls through words: The first part of a unit on talking and writing about, as well as creating, Japanese screen and scroll paintings. The purpose of this unit plan is to introduce descriptive aspects of art criticism, while teaching appreciation for the art and culture of Japan. Students use observation and descriptive writing to discover richly detailed Japanese screen and scroll paintings so that another student can illustrate it in the next lesson.
• Describing Japanese screens and scrolls through images: The second part of a larger unit on talking and writing about, as well as creating, Japanese screen and scroll paintings. The purpose of this unit plan is to introduce descriptive aspects of art criticism, while teaching the art and culture of Japan. Students create illustrations of classmates' descriptions of Japanese screens or scrolls.
• Of earth, water, and fire: World pottery traditions: In this lesson, a photo analysis activity helps students learn about pottery traditions from around the world. Students discuss how these traditions are similar to and different from one another.

Related topics

• Learn more about Asia, Japan, arts, experiential learning, role playing, and tea garden.

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Learning outcomes

Students will:

• demonstrate knowledge of the ancient practice of the Japanese Tea Ceremony.
• discuss the merits of their work and their classmates’ work.

Teacher planning

Time required for lesson

1-1/2 days

Materials/resources

A classroom can easily be transformed into a roji (tea garden). Clear a space where students can sit on the floor. In my last classroom, I had tables with folding legs. We folded the legs of four tables and made a large rectangle on the floor. We used the rest of the tables as a partition so that there was an actually entrance to our roji from the rest of the room.

For an authentic tea ceremony, this could be a costly lesson. If someone in your school has a tea kit (I got mine from Barnes and Noble for about $35) or a tea kettle, borrow it for the day. You can get students to sign up to bring materials from home. You’ll need tea bowls—punch cups without handles or just the smallest paper or plastic bowls you can find. You’ll also need: a whisk (bamboo if you want to go all out but wire is fine), kettle or teapot, a few napkins to fold into small rectangles, a wide bowl to use for waste, tea (tea bags will work just fine), and some sweets (fruit, cake, cookies, ramen noodles, rice etc).

Student handouts can be downloaded below to review the day before the ceremony.

Technology resources

If you plan to use the PowerPoint presentation to introduce Japanese Art, you will need an LCD projector, a computer, and a screen. This should be done either at the beginning of the unit or before this lesson if you’re only doing the ceremony without the other lessons.

Pre-activities

Because I use this lesson at the end of a unit in Japanese art, students would need to have written a description and an illustration of someone else’s description. Have all three of these prepared to be displayed in the room. Students may choose to mat and hang their paintings in the style of the Japanese scroll paintings. If they illustrated a screen, they may wish to set in somewhere in the room as a partition from booksacks and extra chairs and tables.

Have all materials cleaned and ready for the ceremony.

Activities

A week before the project

Explain to students that we will be doing a project on Japanese paintings and you would love to have a Japanese tea ceremony as their critique. If students show interest in this, let them create committees for decorating the room or bringing the food and drinks. This is so much more successful if students take ownership of the ceremony and the project. All arrangements need to be done outside of class so it does not take away from the classtime.

The day before the ceremony

1. The day before the tea ceremony, give students the handout. Discuss the vocabulary and procedures in the ceremony.
2. Demonstrate with 2–3 student volunteers as you would normally practice the ritual. Allow students to ask questions so they are very familiar with the procedures before the day of the ceremony.

Right before the ceremony

1. I allow students to enter class and put their things away. They need to be in the right frame of mind before we begin and this may take a few minutes.
2. Review the following steps right before they go in and set the tone with your own voice and actions.

Entering the roji and greeting the host

1. Students will enter our pretend roji (tea garden) which is the section of the classroom decorated for the ceremony. The word chashitsu actually refers to the building in which the ceremony is performed. As students come in, they examine the scrolls that have been placed in the roji for the ceremony.
2. Students must bow to the hostess, and the hostess must greet the guests one by one before they enter the roji.
3. Then, they may take a tatami (pillow or mat) and have a seat around the short table we’ve set up. They may fold their napkin as they wait but should sit quietly, silently acknowledging classmates as they sit down.

Making tea

1. Depending on the size of your class, you may want to have 1 student assigned to prepare tea for every 4–5 students to make the time go by faster. This would also allow you to use them as extra hostesses and allow you to move about the room while taking notes in the checklist.
2. As the tea is being made, ask students to begin passing sweets (to save time). But, instruct them not to eat until the tea is served and everyone has sweets.
3. To make the tea, have hot water in the tea kettles to pour into each tea bowl or cup with a tea bag. After the tea has steeped in the cup for about 1–2 minutes, remove the tea bag and put it in the waste bowl. Offer tea to the guests and ask if it is too hot. Then, drink your own tea.

Taking the Sweet

The sweets are the refreshments that the students have brought to share (fruit, cookies, noodles, etc). Have each student pass the plate of sweets to the student beside them. Before students take the sweets, they say to the person after them “pardon me for going before you.”

Discussing the artwork

1. When everyone is served, we begin our critique. The purpose of this critique is to reflect on the work created the entire week rather than to judge what artwork was more successful. Establish this at the beginning of this discussion and open the floor for reflections from the students.
2. Begin to ask thought-provoking questions about the process of both illustrating and describing the artworks. What surprised you? What did you enjoy the most about this project? Was there anything that particularly frustrated you? Why? Try to call on students that normally might not speak during class discussion.

Assessment

While I give students a rubric with set criteria for evaluating their painting, the process is more important than the product they end up with. Individual discussions with students while monitoring the activity should focus on students’ thinking process and the sensitivity they develop with the paintbrush. In this short lesson, students will not be able to completely master this ancient art. The focus should be on experiemention and looking for details in art and writing.

I also use a checklist during critiques to check for student involvement.

Supplemental information

I’ve included some resources at the end of the PowerPoint presentation that helped me create the introduction to Japanese Art.

Comments

Although this is not a very authentic tea ceremony, it is the best version I could create within the budget and time constraints of public schools. Students have particularly enjoyed this lesson because it allows us to escape to a calm and tranquil retreat from our normally busy school day. It also encouraged students to practice respect and hospitality in sharing this ceremony together.

More comments after teaching the lesson: The students absolutely loved the tea ceremony. They always surprise me by going the extra step in bringing flowers, food, and tea from home. After the ceremony, I asked for suggestions for the next time I do the ceremony. One student said that we should have to write a paper about Japanese ediquette before the ceremony! Another student said that students should have to dress up in traditional Japanese kimonos. Several students mentioned more authentic Japanese dishes, music, and more time to discuss the paintings. In reflection, I wish that I had spent more time teaching about how the scrolls were integrated into the ceremony. There is so much that can be taught through the Japanese tea ceremony that it can be a unit in itself.