Kakejiku

When you enter the teahouse, first thing you should see is a scroll painting called "Kakejiku", carefully selected by the host, which reveals the theme of the ceremony. Kakejiku is considered to be the most important item at the tea ceremony. The Buddhist scripture on the scroll by a master or famous Zen priest is called Bokuseki (Calligraphy), and they are always distinguished with other kind of Calligraphy (Shoato). It is known that Syukou Murata, a father of Chanoyu, often hung scroll painting written by famous Zen priest, Ikkyu "園悟克勤" for the tea ceremony. In former times, the formal Buddhism precept such as Hougo was preferred to be used, but now the tendency has changed. "Ichigyoumono" such as Daitokujibutu, a selected simple word from Zen philosophy, poets and bible are more welcomed among the people. The word selected by the host represent the mood of the day, and the theme of the ceremony. Most of the words represent the Zen philosophy, thus has deep meaning inside the simple word. During the tea ceremony, people like to discuss and talk about the meaning of the word, and where the word came from. There is another tendency to hang the word on the scroll which reminds of season such as "flower" for Spring, "Moon" for fall, "Seiryu" (the water flow) for summer.

(Hayao Ono)