On September 25, 2025, a Kōjitsukai was held at the Urasenke Tokyo Dōjō. The thick-tea gathering was hosted by Yoichirō Ushioda, while the thin-tea gathering was hosted by Jōichi Itō.

Nearly 500 guests attended the gathering.

A letter of Happiness 幸福の文

Through the autumn crowd, a lone man darted swiftly and gracefully, a single chrysanthemum dancing in his hand. Back at the castle, he quietly picked up his writing brush.

“On my way back from visiting Kitano Tenmangū at Lord Hideyoshi’s command, I came across this chrysanthemum. I shall name its auspicious form ‘Star of Celebration.’ Might I ask to receive the feather duster you recently showed me? With it, I hope to sweep happiness my way. To Sen no Rikyū　From Sorori Shinzaemon”

Letter of happiness

About four centuries ago, this “Letter of Happiness” was written. Before viewing it as a hanging scroll in the thin-tea room, the guests first encounter its symbol — the feather duster — displayed in the waiting area as a kind of prologue. Only after entering the tearoom do they finally realize the meaning of that feather duster in the waiting area, an interpretation that one would not often see at regular tea ceremonies.

A feather duster and an incense box

At the same time, the feather duster quietly carries another story. It is said that Morikawa Joshun’an (1887–1980), a wealthy tea practitioner of the Taishō and Shōwa eras who had already acquired the famous tea bowls by Hon’ami Kōetsu — Otsugoze and Shigure — later presented this feather duster to Masuda Don’ō（1848-1938), the great industrialist and tea devotee who had taken refuge in Nagoya after the Great Kantō Earthquake of 1923. “Letter of Happiness” too, once belonged to Joshun’an.

Guests, by contemplating the combination of utensils and the lineage of their owners, try to discern the host’s message embedded in the tea gathering.

Beneath this graceful interplay of utensils flows the deep, quiet history that has shaped the tea tradition as it exists today.

Zen in chanoyu

Today, the “Star of Celebration”—the chrysanthemum from the letter—has been arranged in a flower vase made by Sen no Rikyū himself, the very recipient of the letter and the founder of wabi-cha. Its commanding presence overwhelms the surroundings.

Flower vase made by Sen no Rikyū

That same intensity symbolizes the shock Rikyū brought to the world of tea. He brought the rustic material of bamboo into the tearoom, and creating the completely-black tea bowl-“Raku.”

For the main bowl, a celadon from the Southern Song dynasty was chosen. Because it had been cherished by Jukō, the tea master whom Rikyū deeply admired, it came to be called Jukō celadon. Beneath its soft blue glaze runs a free, almost calligraphic design that recalls the letters of Islam.

Jyukō-Seiji

Both the Southern Song era in which this bowl was created, and the age in which Rikyū lived, were times of upheaval. Amid days when even tomorrow’s life was uncertain, a new beauty was born—one that would continue to astonish people for centuries to come.

This idea was given even clearer expression in the thick-tea gathering of Yoichirō Ushioda. In the alcove he hung a Southern Song scroll, and before the guests he placed black Raku bowls spanning sixteen generations, from Chōjirō—whom Rikyū had commissioned to create the first Raku bowls—down to the present. From these bowls, one could sense both the shifting ideals of beauty in the tea tradition and the recognition that while Rikyū and Chōjirō marked a turning point in aesthetics, their works most vividly embodied the Zen spirit at the very source of tea.

On the other hand, Itō displayed Nishida Kitarō（1875-1945)’s calligraphy, “Yūen” (“Distant and Eternal”) in the waiting area. The phrase suggests the vast flow of time and ideas reaching far beyond the present. Nishida is a co-founder of Chiba Institute of Technology, where Ito serves as president. He is also known as the philosopher who articulated a uniquely Japanese thought rooted in Zen and conveyed it to the West, developed his influential idea of “pure experience”: a state before we interpret the world as symbols, and things are encountered exactly as they are.

“Yūen” Kitaro Nishida

Now, Itō seeks to discover and carry forward that spirit within the practice of tea. At Chiba Institute of Technology, where he serves as president, he has been teaching a course called “The Principle of Awareness” for 11 years, since his time at the Media Lab. He teaches it with Tenzin Priyadarshi, a monk, and students practice meditation and read and discuss philosophy, focusing on developing personal awareness. Some people believe that we live in a computer simulation, says Ito. He asks the students, “When you close your eyes here, do feel as though it wouldn’t be strange if you were actually inside a computer simulation.” To these students, he offers the chance to handle utensils made in Rikyū’s time and to drink tea from them, perhaps helping them understand that they are not in a simulation and that they have the ability to perceive pure experience. Such an experience, he believes, will surely find its way—perhaps invisibly—into the technologies they will create in the future.

To advance this vision, he had a tearoom built on campus this spring.

Rikyū’s flower vase, after passing through the hands of several warlords, was once owned by Ii Naosuke, who played a pivotal role in the signing of the Treaty of Amity and Commerce between Japan and the United States (Harris Treaty). Now, in an age of international turbulence, it belongs to Itō, who has spent most of his life in America and has led technological innovation as director of MIT Media Lab and now as president of Chiba Institute of Technology.

What impact will Itō’s practice of tea have from here? And how will people of the future look back on today’s tea gathering?

A quote from Hōunsai

Annotation

Thick-tea gathering (kōicha-seki): A formal tea gathering where thick tea is served. Since the COVID-19 pandemic, the traditional practice of sharing a single bowl has been suspended.

Thin-tea gathering (usucha-seki): A more casual gathering where thin tea is served.

Waiting room (machiai): A room where guests spend time before entering each tearoom. Utensils are also displayed here, allowing the host to delight the guests even before the gathering begins.

Sen no Rikyū (1522–1591) was the most influential master of the Japanese tea ceremony, credited with refining the wabi-cha aesthetic—emphasizing simplicity, natural beauty, and spiritual depth. His ideas and practices continue to shape tea culture to this day.

Chōjirō (d. 1592) was the first generation of the Raku family of potters and the creator of the original black Raku tea bowl at the request of Sen no Rikyū. His work established the Raku tradition, which emphasizes simplicity, natural forms, and the intimate connection between tea, utensils, and the host. This tradition has continued through sixteen generations to the present day.

Morikawa Joshun’an (1887–1980) was born into a wealthy family, he obtained the Kōetsu tea bowl Shigure at the age of 16 by requesting it from his grandfather after seeing it at a tea gathering. Three years later, he also acquired Otogoze. He never worked for a living until his death.

Masuda Don’ō（1848-1938): He played a leading role in early Japanese economic development and supported the Mitsui conglomerate. After the Meiji Restoration, he helped establish the world’s first general trading company, Mitsui & Co., and founded the predecessor of the Nihon Keizai Shimbun, the Chūgai Bukka Shinpō. Renowned as a tea master, he was called “the greatest tea master since Sen no Rikyū.”