, lit. 'dewy ground', is the

Japan Japan is an island country in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean off the northeast coast of the Asia, Asian mainland, it is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan and extends from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea ...

ese term used for the

garden A garden is a planned space, usually outdoors, set aside for the cultivation, display, and enjoyment of plants and other forms of nature. The single feature identifying even the wildest wild garden is ''control''. The garden can incorporate bot ...

through which one passes to the ''

chashitsu ''Chashitsu'' (, "tea room") in Japanese tradition is an architectural space designed to be used for Japanese tea ceremony, tea ceremony (''chanoyu'') gatherings. The architectural style that developed for ''chashitsu'' is referred to as the '' ...

'' for the

tea ceremony Tea ceremony is a ritualized practice of making and serving tea (茶 ''cha'') in East Asia practiced in the Sinosphere. The original term from China (), literally translated as either "''way of tea''", "''etiquette for tea or tea rite''",Heiss, M ...

. The ''roji'' acts as a transitional space leading from the entry gate to the teahouse, and generally cultivates an air of

simplicity Simplicity is the state or quality of being wikt:simple, simple. Something easy to understand or explain seems simple, in contrast to something complicated. Alternatively, as Herbert A. Simon suggests, something is simple or Complexity, complex ...

and purification.

Development

The ''roji'' developed during the Momoyama era (1573–1603) as the

established itself in Japan.

Sen no Rikyū , also known simply as Rikyū, was a Japanese tea master considered the most important influence on the ''chanoyu'', the Japanese "Way of Tea", particularly the tradition of '' wabi-cha''. He was also the first to emphasize several key aspect ...

was important in the development of the ''roji''. At his tea house Tai-an, the 'sleeve-brushing pine' gained its name from the garden's diminutive size. For his tea house at

Sakai is a city located in Osaka Prefecture, Japan. It has been one of the largest and most important seaports of Japan since the medieval era. Sakai is known for its '' kofun'', keyhole-shaped burial mounds dating from the fifth century. The ''kofun ...

, he planted hedges to obscure the view over the

Inland Sea An inland sea (also known as an epeiric sea or an epicontinental sea) is a continental body of water which is very large in area and is either completely surrounded by dry land (landlocked), or connected to an ocean by a river, strait or " arm of ...

, and only when a guest bent over the ''

tsukubai In Japan, a is a washbasin provided at the entrance to a holy place for visitors to purify themselves by the ritual washing of hands and rinsing of the mouth. This type of ritual cleansing is the custom for guests attending a tea ceremony ...

'' would they see the view. Rikyū explained his design by quoting a verse by

Sōgi Iio Sōgi, (or Inō Sōgi) generally known as , was a Japanese people, Japanese poet. He came from a humble family from the province of Kii Province, Kii or Ōmi Province, Ōmi, and died in Hakone, Kanagawa, Hakone on September 1, 1502. Sōgi wa ...

: "A glimpse of the sea through the trees, and the flash of the stream at my feet."

Kobori Enshū was a Japanese aristocrat, garden designer, painter, poet, and tea master during the reign of Tokugawa Ieyasu. Biography His personal name was Masakazu (政一). In 1604, he received as inheritance a 12,000-''koku'' fief in Ōmi Province at K ...

was also a leading practitioner. Tea House and Roji at the Adachi Museum of Art

Features

The ''roji'' is usually divided into an outer and inner garden, with a ''machiai'' (waiting arbour). Use of stone as both a decorative and a functional feature is characteristic of the ''roji''. Typical features include the ''tsukubai'' (ablution basin), ''

tōrō are a type of traditional East Asian lantern made of stone, wood, or metal. Originating in China, stone lanterns spread to Japan, Korea and Vietnam, though they are most commonly found in both China – extant in Buddhist temples and traditional ...

'' (lantern), '' tobi ishi'' (stepping stones), and

wicket gate A wicket gate, or simply a wicket, is a pedestrian door or gate, particularly one built into a larger door or into a wall or fence. Use in fortifications Wickets are typically small, narrow doors either alongside or within a larger castle or ...

. Ostentatious plantings are generally avoided in preference for

moss Mosses are small, non-vascular plant, non-vascular flowerless plants in the taxonomic phylum, division Bryophyta (, ) ''sensu stricto''. Bryophyta (''sensu lato'', Wilhelm Philippe Schimper, Schimp. 1879) may also refer to the parent group bryo ...

fern The ferns (Polypodiopsida or Polypodiophyta) are a group of vascular plants (plants with xylem and phloem) that reproduce via spores and have neither seeds nor flowers. They differ from mosses by being vascular, i.e., having specialized tissue ...

s, and

evergreen In botany, an evergreen is a plant which has Leaf, foliage that remains green and functional throughout the year. This contrasts with deciduous plants, which lose their foliage completely during the winter or dry season. Consisting of many diffe ...

s, although

ume ''Prunus mume'', the Chinese plum or Japanese apricot, is a tree species in the family Rosaceae. Along with bamboo, the plant is intimately associated with art, literature, and everyday life in China, from where it was then introduced to Kor ...

and

Japanese maple ''Acer palmatum'', commonly known as Japanese maple, palmate maple, or smooth Japanese maple (Korean: ''danpungnamu'' []; Japanese: ''irohamomiji'' [] or ''momiji'' []), is a species of woody plant native to Korea, Japan, China, eastern Mongol ...

can be used.

Role in Tea Ceremony

The garden acts as a transitional space between the outside world and the ritual seclusion of the ceremony. Guests leave behind the outside world and prepare themselves for the aesthetic and spiritual dimension of the ceremony as they pass through the garden. The ''roji'' also provides an opportunity for participants to purify themselves before entering the tea house by washing their hands and mouths with water at the ''tsukubai''. The host carefully cleans the garden before the ceremony begins. The host's preparations for the ceremony are thus an extension of the ritual of the ceremony. Preparing the garden is meant to clean and order the host's mind. During the tea gathering, the ''roji'' is sprinkled with water three times as a form of repeated purification: once before the guests arrive, once during the ''nakadachi'' (a break in the ceremony), and once before the guests leave the teahouse.

Influence

Sadler argues that the ''roji'', with its small size, harmonious proportions, and 'simple suggestiveness' served as a model for domestic Japanese courtyard gardens. ''Tobi ishi'', originally placed to protect the garden's moss, eventually took on an aesthetic nature. The stones were placed to slow down the visitors on their way to the tea house and encourage contemplation of the everyday, an enduring feature of Japanese gardens. Additionally, ''tōrō'', originally used to light the path for ceremonies held at night, were soon adopted as decorations for other types of gardens, a practice that continues.

''Burakumin''

In the works of Japanese writer Nakagami Kenji, ''roji'', in the sense of "alley", can also be understood as a euphemism for the ''buraku'' ghettos, where ''

burakumin The are a social grouping of Japanese people descended from members of the feudal class associated with , mainly those with occupations related to death such as executioners, gravediggers, slaughterhouse workers, butchers, and tanners. Bura ...

'' people used to live.

References

External links

* {{Authority control Chadō