WALLA WALLA, Wash. -- As a possible prelude to a liberal arts teaching career,
Whitman College philosophy major Jon Lambert will travel to Japan later this year to study
the ancient rituals and arts of the Japanese tea ceremony.Lambert, a senior from Vancouver, Wash., and native of Portland, Oregon, will base his studies at the residence of the 13th generation Grand Master of the Yabunouchi School of Tea in Kyoto. With funding from the Thomas J. Watson Fellowship program, Lambert will spend a year in Japan, studying the Japanese language and Buddhist religion as well as the tea ceremony.
The Yabunouchi school is the smallest of four schools of tea in Japan. While it is relatively easy to find a teacher of the Ura Senke, Omoto Senke or Mushanokoji schools of tea in the United States, there are only two teachers of the Yabunouchi school in this country. One of those teachers is Akira Ron Takemoto, an assistant professor of languages & literatures (Japanese) at Whitman College. Takemoto, also a Buddhist priest, has been assisting Lambert with his studies of the tea ceremony and Buddhism for the past two years.
The Yabunouchi school, where Takemoto began his own studies, is run in the "lemoto" system, which means that leadership of the school is passed from father to son. The present Grand Master, SeiSeisai Chikuchu Jochi, is a descendent of Yabunouchi Kenchu, the founder of the school.
"I will be able to study with the Grand Master and with several other teachers in the city of Kyoto," Lambert said. "This will give me the opportunity to devote myself to an intensive study of the tea ceremony in the environment in which it began. . . . I'll have the opportunity to visit some of the many different tea rooms at the Grand Master's residence, including possibly the Ennan Tea House, a registered national treasure."
"It is extremely unusual to study directly with the Grand Master, especially for a Westerner," noted Takemoto, who served several years ago as curator of an exhibit -- "The Art of the Tea Ceremony" -- at the National Gallery of Art in Washington, D.C.
The tea ceremony is a centuries-old event that involves the philosophy, aesthetics and etiquette of serving and drinking a green tea known as "matcha." The ceremony and its intricacies represent a life-long pursuit for many Japanese. Depending on the occasion, a tea ceremony can last from 40 minutes to five hours.
Buddhist monks in 12th-century Japan began practice of the tea ceremony as a way to develop an appreciation of every human activity, elevating the most commonplace event to a spiritual art form. Japan's great feudal lords, or "daimyo," soon took a keen interest in the tea ceremony, believing that great rulers needed to possess spiritual wisdom and aesthetic sensitivity as well as prowess on the battlefield.
The tea ceremony is rich in history. Everything from conversation between host and guest to the choice of decor and utensils is selected according to ancient rules. Understanding the subtleties of the ceremony also requires knowledge of many other Japanese art forms, including the making of sweets and other culinary arts, flower arranging, calligraphy, pottery, traditional architecture, martial arts and the Noh theater.
"To enrich my practice, experience and performance of the ceremony, I plan to explore these other arts," Lambert said. Working through Takemoto, he has contacted a teacher at the Sogetsu School of Flower, a professional sweets maker, a potter and a builder of tea houses.
Working from the "ground up" to gain a better understanding of the tea ceremony, Lambert also plans to visit the Bikoen tea store, tea fields in Kyoto, Uji, Nara and Northern Kyushu, a calligrapher, a maker of tea braziers, bamboo craftsmen, and a lacquerware artist.
During his travels throughout Japan, Lambert will meet with teachers of the Yabunouchi school in Sapporo, Tokyo, Kamakura, Osaka, Hiroshima and Fukuola.
"Each teacher of tea has a slightly different style and emphasizes particular movements; by traveling throughout Japan, practicing with various teachers, and observing both differences and similarities in the way the ceremony is performed, I'll improve my awareness of the particular stylistic choices that I can make," Lambert said. "Because the Yabunouchi school is closely connected with Jodo Shinshu Buddhism, I'll be able to stay at Shinshu temples when I travel."
Lambert also plans to meet and study with several professors in Kyoto, including professors of Indian philosophy and Indian/Chinese Buddhism. "Traditionally, the tea ceremony, like many of the arts of Japan, is thought of as a 'way,' or discipline of Buddhist practice," he said. He also will work at the Ryokoku University Buddhist Translation Center, where scholars are translating Buddhist scriptures.
An added benefit of spending a year in Japan, Lambert noted, is that he can continue his study of the Japanese language, which he describes as "rich with puns, homonyms and multiple word meanings." He plans to attend graduate school in philosophy after returning from Japan, and he believes that "my knowledge of an Asian language will create and lead to some important questions concerning the relationships among language, thinking and being."
Teaching at a liberal arts college is one of the career options Lambert is considering. Religion, art and philosophy are his possible subjects of interest.
"I am interested in the dialogue between the 'East' and the 'West' on almost all levels of cultural interaction, but particularly in the relationships among Christianity, Buddhism and contemporary Continental philosophy," Lambert said.
Regardless of the subject matter he may one day teach, he said, his year in Japan will add a "sense of depth and another level of understanding."
Lambert, who graduated in 1992 from Columbia River High School in Vancouver, Wash., is the son of David and Elizabeth Lambert, Vancouver.