The Aesthetics and Ethics of Japanese Tea Practice

3 credits · Undergraduate

In this course, we will explore the history and aesthetics of Japanese tea practice, with particular attention to how the embodied forms of the practice and the material culture of the tea setting create the conditions for states of being and relating that reflect core ethical values. This course will combine lecture, reflection, discussion, and embodied experience as ways of inquiry. Our classroom will extend to the rich tea environs of Kyoto where we will experience historic and contemporary tea rooms from the Zen temple setting to the public garden. We will explore the poetic resonance of teaware at the family museum of a traditional lineage of teabowl artisans. We will sit as guests to tea, learn to make confections, and visit a tea farm where we will join in the harvesting of tea itself.