An Inquiry Concerning The Influence Of Ming Literati Tea Culture On Japanese Shoin-Tea Culture

The tea culture of Chinese literati originated from the Wei and Jin Dynasty and matured in the Ming Dynasty.It is generally acknowledged that Japan did not have native tea.The arising and development of tea and tea culture in Japan benefited from the development of Sino-Japanese cultural exchange in ancient times.During the Ming dynasty,the tea culture of literati spread throughout Japan with the prevalence of commercial trade between two nations,resulting in the cultivation of Shoin-tea culture in the Muromachi era.This dissertation studies the eastward trajectory of the tea culture of literati in the Ming dynasty.By analyzing the close affinity between Ming literati tea culture and Japanese Shoin-tea culture,this dissertation traces back to the cultural origin of Japanese tea ceremony,revealing the historical evolution of Sino-Japanese cultural exchanges.The introduction part clarifies the basic concept of Ming literati tea culture and Japanese Shoin-tea culture.The first chapter traces the development of the tea culture among Chinese literati.For Ming literati,as their resistance against the commodity economy and the political society,drinking tea was an aesthetic practice of self-cultivation and retreating back to the poetic world.Chapter two probes into the Sino-Japanese exchange of tea culture within the background of China-Japan official and non-governmental exchanges.The tribute trade and Japanese Gozan Zen Monks greatly contributed to the spread of Ming literati tea culture throughout Japan both materially and culturally.Chapter three,mainly focuses on the inherent connection between Ming literati tea culture and Japanese Shoin-tea culture,as well as their nuanced differences,then analyzes the reason behind it.The aesthetic nature of Ming literati tea culture was inherited and internalized as the core of Japanese Shoin-tea culture on the latter’s formation and localization.Chapter four examines the significance of Japanese Shoin-tea culture from the perspectives of historical development and cultural transition,revealing Ming literati tea culture’s aesthetic and spiritual influence on Japanese tea ceremony.Japanese Shoin-tea first borrowed the aesthetic form from Ming literati tea culture,reflected in its interior decoration and artistic space.In its subsequent development,Japanese Shoin-tea gradually absorbed and internalized the philosophical ideas of self-cultivation and seclusion in Ming literati tea culture.With the influence of local Japanese culture and Zen culture,the Japanese teaspirit,presented as harmony,respect,purity and quietness,was finally formed and became Japan’s most representative cultural symbol.