is a Japanese pastime based on the identification of different types of

tea Tea is an aromatic beverage prepared by pouring hot or boiling water over cured or fresh leaves of '' Camellia sinensis'', an evergreen shrub native to East Asia which probably originated in the borderlands of southwestern China and northe ...

. The custom originated in

China China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. It is the world's most populous country, with a population exceeding 1.4 billion, slightly ahead of India. China spans the equivalent of five time zones and ...

where it is known as ''Doucha'' (闘茶) during the

Tang dynasty The Tang dynasty (, ; zh, t= ), or Tang Empire, was an Dynasties in Chinese history, imperial dynasty of China that ruled from 618 to 907 AD, with an Zhou dynasty (690–705), interregnum between 690 and 705. It was preceded by the Sui dyn ...

, before spreading to Japan in the

Kamakura period The is a period of Japanese history that marks the governance by the Kamakura shogunate, officially established in 1192 in Kamakura by the first ''shōgun'' Minamoto no Yoritomo after the conclusion of the Genpei War, which saw the struggle bet ...

. However, whereas Chinese tea-tastings concentrated on assessing the quality of the various teas offered, ''tōcha'' became a friendly contest in which players would taste a number of cups of tea and attempt to guess the region from which the tea originated. Originally the goal was to distinguish the high-quality tea of from other kinds, but as connoisseurship developed, the goal became the correct identification of the tea's place of origin. The contest eventually attained a standardised formal procedure known as "four kinds and ten cups", in which participants tasted three cups each of three different teas and a single cup of a fourth variety. Prizes, including silks, weapons, gold and jewellery, were awarded for successful guesses, which gave ''tōcha'' participants a reputation for excess and extravagance (''basara''). Large quantities of tea could be consumed at such gatherings (usually ten or fifty cups, hence the alternative names ''juppukucha'' ("ten cups of tea") and ''gojuppukucha'' ("fifty cups of tea") for the contest). Alcohol was often drunk as well. It was held in a room known as a ''kissa-no-tei''. The host of the event was called the ''teishu'', a term which is still in use in modern tea-gatherings. Tea bowls or cups were laid out for the guests with the powdered tea already inside; once the guests were seated an attendant would add hot water and whisk the tea to prepare it. The

kōdō is the art of appreciating Japanese incense, and involves using incense within a structure of codified conduct. ''Kōdō'' includes all aspects of the incense process, from the , to activities such as the incense-comparing games ''kumikō'' () a ...

incense-matching contest was developed from ''tōcha'' by the ''

daimyō were powerful Japanese magnates, feudal lords who, from the 10th century to the early Meiji era, Meiji period in the middle 19th century, ruled most of Japan from their vast, hereditary land holdings. They were subordinate to the shogun and n ...

Sasaki Takauji , also known by his religious name Sasaki Dōyō, was a Japanese poet, warrior, and bureaucrat of the Muromachi period. Born in Ōmi Province, Sasaki Takauji served the regent Hōjō Takatoki briefly, before aiding the ''shōgun'' Ashikaga Takauj ...

, who was noted for his tea-gatherings. ''Tōcha'' also inspired the ''cha kabuki'' form of the

Japanese tea ceremony The Japanese tea ceremony (known as or ) is a Japanese cultural activity involving the ceremonial preparation and presentation of , powdered green tea, the procedure of which is called . While in the West it is known as "tea ceremony", it is se ...

. In some respects, ''tōcha'' can be regarded as the stepping stone between the Zen Buddhist use of tea to prevent drowsiness and the secular tea ceremony, since it first popularised the drinking of tea outside of monasteries. Eventually,

Murata Jukō is known in Japanese cultural history as the founder of the Japanese tea ceremony, in that he was the early developer of the wabi-cha style of tea enjoyment employing native Japanese implements. His name may also be pronounced Murata Shukō. B ...

developed the format of the tea ceremony from the more informal ''tōcha'' gatherings. ''Tōcha'' gatherings could often be rowdy, boisterous affairs, akin to gambling contests. As a result, the activity was banned (with little effect on its popularity) by

Ashikaga Takauji was the founder and first ''shōgun'' of the Ashikaga shogunate."Ashikaga Takauji" in ''The New Encyclopædia Britannica''. Chicago: Encyclopædia Britannica Inc., 15th edn., 1992, Vol. 1, p. 625. His rule began in 1338, beginning the Muromac ...

in the fourteenth century.

References

{{Reflist Japanese culture Japanese games