What to wear to a Japanese tea ceremony
Updated By Mio.KShare
You do not need a kimono to go to a tea ceremony. For a visitor experience or a large public tea gathering, clean, quiet everyday clothes are right. What matters more than the clothes themselves is a handful of small things: what you take off before you go in, what you bring, and whether you can kneel and bow comfortably in what you are wearing.
The short answer: wear something plain and neat that lets you kneel, with a skirt long enough to cover your knees when you sit. Take off rings, your watch and bracelets so they cannot knock the tea bowl. Skip perfume. Bring a pair of clean white socks and put them on just before you enter the tea room.
I study tea in Tokyo, in the Urasenke school, and this is the list I would give a friend on their first visit. Most of it comes down to one idea: everything in the room is there to be handled gently, including you.
The checklist
| What | Do | Why |
|---|---|---|
| Clothes | Plain, neat, not flashy; nothing very revealing | The room and the utensils are meant to be the thing you notice |
| Skirt or trousers | Either. A skirt should cover your knees when you kneel | Most of the time you will be sitting on your heels on tatami |
| Top | One that does not gape when you bow | You will bow several times, low |
| Rings, watch, bracelets, necklaces, cufflinks | Take them off before you go in | The bowls and utensils are handled closely and scratch easily |
| Nails | Short; no nail art or polish if you can | Long or decorated nails catch on lacquer and silk |
| Hair | Tie long hair back; skip hair ornaments | So it does not fall forward when you bow, and nothing drops onto the utensils |
| Make-up | Light, especially lipstick | Lipstick on the rim of a tea bowl is hard to remove |
| Perfume | None | Tea is tasted with the nose as well, and there may be incense |
| Feet | Bring clean white socks and change into them before entering | Socks you walked in are not the socks you bring onto tatami |
The white socks
This is the one thing visitors most often miss. In Western clothes, white socks take the place of the white tabi worn with kimono, and the point is not the color so much as the cleanliness. You carry them with you and change into them just before you go in, so that the socks on the tatami are not the ones you walked through the city in. If you arrive in white socks, bring a second pair anyway.
Why the jewelry comes off
In the tea room you hold the bowl in both hands, turn it, set it down on the tatami and lean over it. A ring or a watch strap is right where it can knock the rim or scrape the glaze, and some of the bowls in use are old and irreplaceable. So the habit is to take everything off your hands and wrists before you go in, and the same goes for long necklaces that swing forward when you bow. Put it all in your bag.
Why no perfume
Tea is enjoyed with all the senses, and smell is a large part of it: the aroma of the tea itself, and often a little incense in the room. A strong scent from one guest reaches everyone sitting near them. If you usually wear perfume, leave it off for the day.
Do you have to wear kimono?
No. Kimono is the formal dress for tea, and at a formal gathering among people who study, guests come in kimono, men with hakama. But at a large public tea gathering, an ōyose, Western clothes are perfectly normal, and visitor experiences expect them. Some experiences offer kimono dressing as an extra, which is a pleasure if you want it, though it adds time; is a tea ceremony in Japan worth it compares the options.
What to bring
For a visitor experience, the white socks are usually all you need. If you go to a real tea gathering, guests also carry a small packet of paper, kaishi, for taking the sweet, and a folding fan, sensu, which is placed in front of you rather than used. I set out what a beginner buys, and what it costs, in how to learn the tea ceremony. For what to say once you are inside, see what to say at a tea ceremony.
In the Urasenke school, guests at a gathering also bring a silk cloth called a fukusa: what is a fukusa.
Questions I get asked
What should I wear to a Japanese tea ceremony as a tourist?
Clean, plain everyday clothes that let you kneel. A skirt should cover your knees when you sit. Take off rings and your watch, skip perfume, and bring white socks to change into before you enter.
Do I have to wear a kimono?
No. Kimono is formal tea dress, but Western clothes are normal at public tea gatherings and visitor experiences.
Can I wear jewelry to a tea ceremony?
Take off rings, watches, bracelets and long necklaces before you go in. They can knock or scratch the tea bowls and utensils.
Why do I need white socks?
White socks stand in for the white tabi worn with kimono. You change into a clean pair just before entering, so the socks on the tatami are not the ones you walked in.
Can I wear perfume?
It is better not to. The aroma of the tea, and of any incense in the room, is part of the experience for everyone there.
Where this fits
If the visit leaves you wanting to make a bowl at home, the tools are fewer than you might think: a bamboo whisk, a bowl wide enough to whisk in and a scoop. The method is in how to make matcha.
Written by Mio.K, who chooses everything in this shop by hand in Japan.