Directory: Chakin

Purification cloth

Chasen

Cha-no-yu, 茶の湯, tea-’s-hot water, is made with ma-tcha, 抹茶, powdered-tea, that is blended with hot water using a cha-sen, 茶筅, tea-whisk. There are many different sizes and styles of chasen. The standard chasen is made of a single piece of aged ‘white’ take, 竹, bamboo, with a length of the 3 sun kujira-jaku, 鯨尺, whale-span, 11.5 cm. Although the diameter of the bamboo varies, the standard Japanese diameter is approximately .7 sun kane-jaku, 曲尺, bend-span, or .55 sun kujira-jaku, 2.4 cm. It is a bit curious that the chasen is made using the kujira-jaku, because bamboo objects are usually measured with the kane-jaku, 曲尺, bend-span. The length...

Kobukusa

A ko-buku-sa, 古帛紗, old-cloth-gauze, also written with Kanji, 古袱紗, is a small square of fine fabric that is used to display or hold a prized Tea utensil. The fabric is doubled, so that it is hemmed on three sides. It is kept in the front folding of the kimono, futokoro or kai, folded in half like a Japanese book, with the fold on the right, together with a folded fuku-sa, 帛紗, cloth-gauze, and folded pack of kai-shi, 懐紙, heart-paper. Because of its kept location, it is also called a kai-chū ko-buku-sa, 懐中古帛紗, heart-middle old-cloth-gauze. The kobukusa is kept in the futokoro, 懐, heart, the front folding of...

Chasen and the Gorintō

In Cha-no-yu, 茶の湯, tea-’s-hot water, the cha-sen, 茶筅, tea-whisk. The chasen is a length of bamboo that is cut into many tines at one end, and has thread wound around the bamboo to separate the outer ring of tines. By itself alone may represent the Go-rin-tō, 五輪塔, Five-ring-tower. The Go-rin, 五輪, Five-rings or principles, are Chi, 地, Earth, Sui, 水, Water, Ka, 火, Fire, Fū, 風, Wind, Kū, 空, Void. The Kanji for ring, 輪, also means the Indian concept of chakra, points or areas on the human body. The chasen is round to manifest the chakra which is a circle. The word Gorintō is composed of...