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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
Tsukubai Design & Construction
- Tea instructor Elliot Mitchnick discusses the design and construction of the Tsukubai arrangement. {{in lang, en Chadō Japanese style of gardening Buddhist rituals Water and religion Ritual purification
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
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 ...
or visiting the grounds of a Buddhist
Buddhism, also known as Buddhadharma and Dharmavinaya, is an Indian religion and List of philosophies, philosophical tradition based on Pre-sectarian Buddhism, teachings attributed to the Buddha, a wandering teacher who lived in the 6th or ...
temple
A temple (from the Latin ) is a place of worship, a building used for spiritual rituals and activities such as prayer and sacrifice. By convention, the specially built places of worship of some religions are commonly called "temples" in Engli ...
. The name originates from the verb ', meaning "to crouch" or "to bow down", an act of humility. Guests attending a tea ceremony crouch and wash their hands in a ' set in the tea garden ( roji) before entering the tearoom.
' are usually of stone, and are often provided with a small ladle, ready for use. A supply of water may be provided via a bamboo pipe called a '.
The famous ' shown here stands in the grounds of the Ryōan-ji temple in Kyoto
Kyoto ( or ; Japanese language, Japanese: , ''Kyōto'' ), officially , is the capital city of Kyoto Prefecture in the Kansai region of Japan's largest and most populous island of Honshu. , the city had a population of 1.46 million, making it t ...
, and was donated by the feudal lord Tokugawa Mitsukuni. The kanji
are logographic Chinese characters, adapted from Chinese family of scripts, Chinese script, used in the writing of Japanese language, Japanese. They were made a major part of the Japanese writing system during the time of Old Japanese and are ...
written on the surface of the stone are without significance when read alone. If each is read in combination with (kuchi), the shape of the central bowl, then the characters become which translates literally as "I only know plenty" ( = ' = I, = ' = only, = ' = plenty, = ' = know). The underlying meaning, variously translated as "what one has is all one needs", or "learn only to be content" reflects the basic anti-materialistic teachings of Buddhism
Buddhism, also known as Buddhadharma and Dharmavinaya, is an Indian religion and List of philosophies, philosophical tradition based on Pre-sectarian Buddhism, teachings attributed to the Buddha, a wandering teacher who lived in the 6th or ...
.
See also
*', a musical cave to drain handwashing water *'' Chōzuya'' (or '), a Shinto water ablution pavilion *Ritual purification
Ritual purification is a ritual prescribed by a religion through which a person is considered to be freed of ''uncleanliness'', especially prior to the worship of a deity, and ritual purity is a state of ritual cleanliness. Ritual purification ...
References
External links
Tsukubai Design & Construction
- Tea instructor Elliot Mitchnick discusses the design and construction of the Tsukubai arrangement. {{in lang, en Chadō Japanese style of gardening Buddhist rituals Water and religion Ritual purification