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The Early History of Tea in Asia
Introduction
The history of tea runs deep. Tea history is not one of cold facts. It is the story of prehistory melting into early historic times, and the replacement of the early days into the highly organized societies of recent history and the present. Even calling the history of tea “Tea History” understates tea’s impact and meaning to many Asians, in the same way that calling the Bible “Christian History” understates the meaning of the Bible to Christians. To many Chinese and Japanese people, and many Taoists and Buddhists, tea is completely integrated with what it means to be alive. While tea is associated with poetry and great English literature to many Westerners, tea is deeply ingrained in the Eastern psyche. To many in the East, tea is not a mere prop or an accessory of the good or enlightened life as in the West, but a real part of a meaningful and fulfilled life, and has been for easily over 1,000 years.
Eastern Tea Creation Stories
Both Chinese and Japanese people literally have tea beverage “creation myths” (perhaps I should call them tea beverage “scientifically unproven oral history”) that are on par with the creation stories of any religion, and these tea creation stories are intertwined with both the Taoist and Buddhist religions. By one Chinese account, the first man to till the earth, Shen Nung, gave the gift of tea to man around 2700 B.C. The importance of numerology to ancient Chinese philosophy can be seen by the statement by the legendary Shen Nung that tea is harvested “on the third day of the third month”.
Japanese Zen Buddhists have their own tea creation story. They believe that the man who brought Zen Buddhism to China and Japan (via Eisai, his student), Bodhidharma (also known as Daruma), created tea in a rather gruesome but meaningful way. Daruma planned on meditating nine years staring at a wall in a Chinese cave. Halfway through his staring contest, he fell asleep. When he woke up, he was a little hard on himself and ripped off his eyelids and through them onto the ground. A tea plant grew out of the dirt from where his eyelids hit, he made tea from the leaves of the plant, and was able to finish the other half of his staring contest without falling asleep, or I assume, even blinking. Japanese Zen Buddhists to this day drink tea and meditate, and connect spiritual awakening with the act of drinking tea.
Tea and the drinking of tea is also an integral part of the Taoist religion. Lao Tze, the possibly legendary founder of Taoism, is said to have written in entire Tao Te Ching while drinking tea. A gatekeeper on a mountain pass held him hostage and served him tea while he completed both parts of the Tao Te Ching (both of which have exactly 5,000 words, by the way), and then wandered off, never to be seen from again. Some believe that Lao Tzu came back as Buddha, which adds even more levels of coalescence between tea and the origins of Eastern thought, religion, and culture.
Even the most likely explanation of how the Chinese, the first major culture to drink tea, were first introduced to tea is fascinating and enshrouded in mist. The primitive tribesmen of the area that today is just south of the Chinese border used to make tea from enormous tea trees in primitive pots over campfires deep in the jungle. The Chinese most likely learned how to make tea from these people. And who knows how long these Southeast Asian tribesmen had been making tea from wild tea trees.
The Early History of Tea in China
The Chinese were the first civilized culture to drink tea, cultivate tea, mix tea and philosophy, religion, art, and poetry, and the first to write about tea. They were the first to process green, oolong, and black teas and the first to tax teas and to use tea as money. Although nobody truly knows when tea was introduced to China by primitive tribal people living in the Southeast Asian jungle, the cultivation of tea was written about in a dictionary published in 350 A.D. The Chinese used compressed bricks of tea in lieu of money when trading with Chinese people located away from the centers of the Chinese civilization at around this time as well. At first, tea was consumed for its perceived medicinal value, but by 500 A.D. at the latest it was consumed more for enjoyment than health.
In 780 A.D., a very important thing happened: Lu Yu, an educated eccentric with a colorful history, wrote the Ch’a Ching, which was the first book about tea. The Ch’a Ching captured the cultural zeitgeist of Taoist Chinese at this time, and became a major Taoist religious work as well. It was this book that gave tea a permanent and significant part in the religion of Taoism. This extremely poetic book also began a magnificent Chinese movement of tea poetry, and served as the guidebook of the deep meanings of tea and tea drinking to the next generations, which expanded the concept until it was engrained in Chinese culture.
During the next 400 years, tea and tea culture blossomed in China. New ways of preparing tea were invented. New kinds of tea were discovered and cultivated. New and more beautiful ceramic teapots and teacups were developed. But most significantly, tea became deeply and permanently fused into the hearts and minds of the Chinese people during this time period.
Then, a terrible thing happened. The Mongols invaded, causing not only much destruction of life and property, but also the destruction of Chinese culture, which was in full bloom. After the Mongols left, Chinese culture and the power of tea in it were never the same. As happens almost always when a culture is defeated by a foreign power and then regains control of its country, pragmatism and power became more respected than art, poetry, philosophy, and self-actualization.
The Early History of Tea in Japan
Tea in Japan went through a similar historical process as knowledge did in Europe. Japan, like Europe, had an initial cultural blooming, followed by bloody dark ages, with a final grand triumphant cultural Renaissance which continues along many threads today. The Japanese Tea Ceremony of today is one of the deep cultural gifts of the cultural rebirth, and shows how deep tea flows in both the spirit of the Japanese, and how much the history of tea influences the present Japanese mindset.
The spread of tea in Japan began when Shomu, the Japanese Emperor, gave tea as a gift to 100 Buddhist monks who attended a Buddhist conference at his palace in 729 A.D. The monks then spread to the four winds, planting tea gardens across Japan. Local governments got involved, and tea drinking and cultivation grew across the Empire. Japanese tea culture had many similarities to Chinese tea culture at this time, because the Japanese still partly looked up to the more powerful Chinese for some of their cultural direction.
This growth of tea culture grew until the tenth century, when political and military turmoil became increasingly severe. The Japanese entered a bloody period or wars between groups supporting various nobles and the official Japanese military. As in China, when things became violent, the focus moved from things cultural and beautiful to more practical matters.
Then in 1191, Japan’s tea hero arrived. Eisai, a Buddhist monk, returned to Japan from China. He simultaneously introduced Zen Buddhism to Japan and started a cultural renaissance centered on tea. He wrote the first Japanese book about tea, mixing the Zen Buddhist religion with tea and tea culture. He helped cure an important government official using tea, and gave the official his book about tea. As a result he became the Japanese patron saint of tea, and the Japanese interest in tea grew tremendously, and tea culture was reborn, with a Zen Buddhist and spiritual emphasis.
The most important product of the tea renaissance was the Japanese Tea Ceremony. Developed and perfected in the 1400’s and 1500’s, the Japanese Tea Ceremony is a very simple ritual with subtle, deep layers of meaning rooted in both Zen Buddhism and the Japanese culture and ways of thinking. It basically involves sitting in small, almost empty room with a tiny door that must be crawled through, and drinking tea. All distractions are put aside and the participant has the opportunity for deep reflection and self-actualization.
Tea is so much more than a caffeinated beverage or a pleasant consumable of the good life to the Chinese and Japanese. Tea and the drinking of tea are integral parts of what it means to be alive. The history of tea is inseparable from the histories of China and Japan, and tea and tea drinking played integral parts in the development of Taoism and Buddhism. Tea history flowed from the jungles of Southeast Asia, through China and Japan, and into the Western World, and its effects on our lives today runs deep.
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