What is the Japanese tea ceremony called?

In English it is "the tea ceremony." In Japanese there is no single word that means exactly that, and the words that exist are used for slightly different things. If you have seen chanoyu, sadō and chadō and wondered which is right, the answer is that all three are, in their place.

The Japanese tea ceremony is called chanoyu (茶の湯), "hot water for tea," or sadō or chadō (茶道), "the way of tea." Chanoyu is the older word and describes the practice itself; sadō and chadō are two readings of the same characters and describe it as a discipline. Urasenke, the largest school, writes chadō. In everyday speech most people simply say "ocha," tea.

I take a lesson in the Urasenke school once a week in Tokyo. Here is what each word means, and which one you will actually hear.

The words, side by side

Sadō or chadō?

They are the same word, 茶道, read two ways. Both readings of the first character, sa and cha, are borrowed Chinese readings, so the common claim online that one is Japanese and one Chinese is not right. The difference is custom.

Urasenke writes it chadō in English, as in "Chado, the Way of Tea" on its own site. Omotesenke and many other schools are generally said to use sadō, which is also the reading most Japanese people use today. Historically the situation was reversed: before the Edo period chadō was the usual reading, partly because sadō could be confused with the title of the official who served tea in a lord's household. Neither reading is wrong. If you are learning in a particular school, use the one your teacher uses.

Chanoyu came first

The practice was called chanoyu, or simply suki, for its first centuries (where the tea ceremony came from tells that history). The word 茶道, with its sense of a "way" like the ways of the sword or the brush, became common only from the late seventeenth century, when tea had become an established discipline with lineages and rules. Today the two are nearly interchangeable, but they lean differently: chanoyu tends to describe the act of making tea for people, sadō or chadō the path of learning to do it. Urasenke's own Japanese tagline uses chanoyu.

Where "tea ceremony" came from

The English phrase has been in use since the late nineteenth century. Basil Hall Chamberlain's Things Japanese, published in 1890, has an entry for "tea ceremonies," and Okakura Kakuzō's The Book of Tea in 1906 fixed it in English for good. Okakura himself also used a word of his own, Teaism.

People who study tea often find the translation slightly misleading. "Ceremony" suggests a religious rite and an audience watching, when the reality is closer to a host making tea for a few guests, carefully. That is why you will hear practitioners say "tea" or "the way of tea" in English, and why whether the tea ceremony is religious comes up so often.

What you will actually hear in Japan

In conversation, almost nobody says sadō. People say they study ocha, and a lesson is ocha no okeiko, a tea lesson. A visitor who books a session will see "tea ceremony experience" on the English sign. A formal invitation would say chaji. And at a temple or an exhibition you may be offered teicha, a bowl of thin tea and a sweet served informally, which is the easiest way to taste the real thing.

The same "way" suffix appears in two sister arts: kadō, the way of flowers, which is ikebana, and kōdō, the way of incense, in which fragrant wood is warmed rather than burned and its scent is "listened to."

Questions I get asked

What is the Japanese tea ceremony called in Japanese?

Chanoyu (茶の湯), meaning hot water for tea, or sadō or chadō (茶道), meaning the way of tea. In everyday speech people just say ocha.

Is it sado or chado?

Both. They are two readings of the same word, 茶道. Urasenke uses chadō; sadō is the more common reading in Japan today.

What does chanoyu mean?

Literally "hot water for tea." It is the older name for the practice of preparing and serving tea to guests.

What is the difference between a chakai and a chaji?

A chakai is any tea gathering, often a large one. A chaji is the full formal gathering for a few guests, about four hours long, with a meal, thick tea and thin tea.

Why is it called a ceremony in English?

The phrase has been used since the late nineteenth century and was fixed by Okakura's The Book of Tea in 1906. Many practitioners prefer "the way of tea," because "ceremony" suggests a religious rite.

Where this fits

If you would like to see it for yourself, whether a tea ceremony in Japan is worth it covers visitor sessions, and how to learn the Japanese tea ceremony covers lessons. At home, the same thin tea needs only a hand-split Takayama whisk, a bowl and a scoop, which is the starter set. The beginner's guide covers the rest.

Written by Mio.K, who chooses everything in this shop by hand in Japan.