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Artworks

Description

In late medieval Japan, teahouses emerged, catering to travelers and pilgrims by initially offering tea made upon request on makeshift tables. Eventually, they diversified, providing sweets and meals, evolving into various teahouse forms.

Outdoor tea ceremonies known as ‘Nodate’ began in the 16 century when Japanese military commanders on hunting and war expeditions drank tea with their lunch. Renowned tea master Sen no Rikyu later refined the practice, which continues to be enjoyed today by those who appreciate casually drinking outdoors while observing nature.

Description

Traditionally, ‘Tea Ceremony’ and ‘Knives’ did not coexist, and ‘swords’ were not allowed inside the tea room. Therefore, outside the tea room, there was a stone known as the “sword-hanging stone,” which served as a place to put the sword and was believed to have a protective boundary. For ‘samurai’ of that time, a sword was something they should carry with them at all times, and parting with it must have been quite unsettling.

Now, for people who cannot part with their digital devices such as smartphones, it serves a similar purpose. It's something they should carry with them at all times, and its absence can lead to a sense of unease. In this “Zen meditation & Tea Smoking Ceremony” event, we introduced the “Digital Device-Hanging Stone” as a contemporary equivalent of the “sword-hanging stone,” a protective boundary where you release digital devices and let them rest.

Description

At a media reception held in Kyoto to commemorate the new brand “AUGER” from the longstanding knife manufacturer KAI Corporation, which has a history of over 110 years, we conducted a unique event called the “Zen meditation & Tea Smoking Ceremony” with Vice Abbot Ito Toryo of the Ryosoku-in at the Kenninji Temple in Kyoto.

As this event focused on ‘Tea Smoking’ rather than drinking matcha, we provided “Getsuro,” a special ”Drinkable Japanese Sweets,” created in collaboration with Kyoto Masahiro Kanaya.

‘Digital Device-Hanging Stone’ / ‘Raku-San Jyaku’ / ‘Gyokuro Tachibana’ / ‘Getsuro’

Description

What's within?
What's happening?
Don't rush to know, don't interpret.
If you step in, be prepared.
There's no truth, only yourself.

‘Uzu-Moguri’ / ‘Rakugaki’ / ‘Chiku-Sui’

Description

There are moments when we reach for a cigarette, longing to fix our gaze on a solitary wisp of smoke. Just as the gentle flicker of a bonfire or a candle brings tranquility, might people have always found some measure of healing in the dance of smoke? Rises, falls, is breathed in and out; the meanings we assign to smoke shift with each person's perspective, reflecting our inner hearts.

This is an effort to re-envision the act of making smoke, recasting it as an experience. This metaphorically captures the purification ritual of washing hands and mouth before visiting the gods, concretized as “Purification Smoke.”

Description

In the past, “Amazake” was written as “Kosake,” and it is recorded in the “Nihon Shoki” that it was offered to Emperor Ōjin.

From “Amazake Spillage” to ward off epidemics, to prayers for the safety and prosperity of sake brewing, and thanksgiving for bountiful harvests, Amazake has continued to exist as a drink offered to the gods. In the Edo period, it was frequently consumed in the summer when appetites were low, and in the world of “Haikai,” it is counted as a summer season word. And we pray by “Amazake Smoking.” (Using Japanese sake lees from Matsui Sake Brewery in Kyoto)

Description

The Contemporary Tea Ceremony, a Nicotine-free smoking using only tea leaves.
Ambient space, Experimental Teahouse. There is Natural psychedelics, likely Zen mindfulness...

Beyond the Noren (Entrance to Japanology), a narrow Japanese garden alleyway continues, and inside the building, the walls are fully covered with Washi (Japanese Paper Craft). The floor is made of cypress, and a dark space is created with tatami mats made from natural materials.
In the Tokonoma (alcove), light is installed in a window-like frame, continuously reproducing the view from sunrise to sunset as the day progresses. The water-flowing vessel uses works by famous Japanese artists, and it is designed to constantly overflow with water, creating a visual effect as if time has stopped.

Description

At “Dōunan” in Gyokurin-in, a Temple of Daitoku-ji in Kyoto, Soryo Iwamoto hosted a Tea Ceremony where “Tea Smoking” was featured. Tea spoons whittled from tea trees freshly picked from the tea plantation were used, and earthenware was chosen for the tea bowls.

From the tea bowls and other elements, one can sense the aroma of the soil, the temperature, and humidity of the tea, similar to what you can feel in the tea plantation. Along with the tea utensils made from items found in nature, the smoke of the “Tea Smoking" expresses the morning dew of the tea plantation. We also presented ‘Raku-San Jyaku’ (落散 - 若) as a new ‘Kemiru-Kojoku’ (煙小卓：a wooden smoking table).

Description

At the Gotenyama Sakura Tea Party held at the private TeaRoom "Ujian," designed by architect Arata Isozaki, located in the Gotenyama Trust City where Tokyo Marriott Hotel is situated, we hosted a “Tea Smoking Ceremony.”

We received over 100 applications just a few days after recruitment started for the 12 available spots, and we would like to express our sincere gratitude to all who participated in the event and applied for it.
We introduced a new “Tea Smoking” blended with cherry blossom leaves and presented ‘Kei-Hou Muji’ (呇朴 - 無時) as a new ‘Kemiru-Kojoku’ (煙小卓：a wooden smoking table).

Description

The Japanese new meditative experience “Listen to the Tobacco” announced at the 100-year-old historical concert hall in Maruyama Park, the oldest park in Kyoto. It is a smoking experience based on the tea ceremony, where you can enjoy the fragrance of tobacco leaves without inhaling them.

It is a smoking experience based on the tea ceremony, where you can enjoy the fragrance of tobacco leaves without inhaling them.
“Fukuryu-Ann” (福龍庵) as a new smoking room and tearoom in a historical building and created it in the space. We overturned people's preconceptions about smoking and sublimated it into a new meditative experience. On that day, everyone from non-smokers to children enjoyed the fragrance of burning tobacco leaves.

Description

The world’s first Hookah (Shisha) product based on the traditional Japanese tea ceremony. The new culturally inspired experience unites two social customs centered on social gathering and sharing shisha smoking and tea ceremonies to invent a new organic smoking product that replaces smoking tobacco leaves with tea leaves.

“Kemuri-Kojoku” (煙小卓 : small table for smoke) is Hookah(Shisha) products based on the tea ceremony, developed to smoke tea. The first artwork “Kei-Hou” (呇朴) was presented at the “Shoseien” of the temple “Higashi Honganji” in Kyoto.