Welcome to the Shoseian Teahouse
By Jessa Gardner
Photo by David Rosen/SlickPix Photography
Have you ever experienced a tea ceremony in the Shoseian Teahouse inside the Seattle Japanese Garden? We are delighted to host one of the most robust tea ceremony programs in North America. While it’s possible to visit the Garden without entering the teahouse and its roji (tea garden), attending a tea ceremony here is a unique and memorable experience!
Tea ceremony has been practiced in Japan for centuries. The art of tea ceremony—also called Chado, or The Way of Tea—is centered around four main principles: harmony, respect, purity, and tranquility. Sixteenth-century master Sen no Rikyu refined Chado, and the Wabi-Sabi aesthetic of simplicity and humility he taught had widespread influence, including on the architecture of Japanese gardens.
The Seattle Japanese Garden was built and designed around our teahouse. The original six-tatami mat teahouse was built by the Shimizu Construction Company and donated to Seattle by the citizens of Tokyo in 19589, before the construction of the Garden began. Juki Iida, Kiyoshi Inoshita, and their team created their plan for a garden meant to perfectly complement the teahouse.
In April of 1973, the original teahouse was tragically destroyed by fire. For several years, the Arboretum Foundation sought contributions to rebuild the teahouse using the original plans. Eventually, Hiroshima-born local craftsman Fred Sugita was hired to do an exact reconstruction of the teahouse. Mr. Sugita was able to interpret the plans, which were written in Japanese, and possessed the specialty tools and expertise to do the construction.
Then, according to Ken Sorrels, a longtime garden supporter and advocate: “On a beautiful spring day, 8 March 1981, Dr. Soshitsu Sen, 15th Grand Master of the centuries-old Urasenke Foundation of Japan, bestowed upon it the name, Shoseian, ‘Arbor of the Murmuring Pines’.”
Early development of the tea ceremony program in the Garden was supported by Dr. Sen and the Urasenke Konnichian of Kyoto, one of the three major establishments that has preserved and furthered the cultural tradition of Chado since the 15th century. To this day, tea ceremonies in the Garden are conducted by Urasenke Tankokai Seattle, the local branch of the Urasenke school. It is now joined by two other local tea groups, Chaboshu and Omotesenke.
Kyoko Matsuda, of the Omotesenke tea branch, has been hosting tea ceremonies in the Seattle Japanese Garden since 2015. The Chaboshu tea group is Seattle’s premier men’s tea group, and they have been hosting tea ceremonies in the Garden since 2016. A full schedule of tea ceremonies offered by each group is available on the Seattle Japanese Garden website.
Tea ceremonies are offered every weekend in the garden. Tickets are $10 for adults and $7 for youths, and reservations are required. These tea ceremonies are temporarily postposed due to Covid-19, but we look forward to welcoming you into the teahouse soon.
Bibliography
Mitchel, Bonnie. The Urasenke Chado Tradition.
Sorrels, Ken, and Thyra Sorrels. A History of the Japanese Garden.
“Tea Ceremony” Seattle Japanese Garden, accessed 4/30/2020. https://www.seattlejapanesegarden.org/tea-ceremony