In the 13th century, it began to be used as a part of Buddhist religious rituals. Over the next 300 years, the tea grew in popularity and the modern day tea ceremony began to emerge. In fact, in the late 1500s, tea was so important to Toyotomi Hideyoshi, a samurai warlord, that he ordered the killing of top tea ceremony specialists over disagreements about how to conduct the ceremony!
The tea ceremony represents many ideals in Japanese Buddhism, such as attention to detail, appreciating simplicity and caring for others. For example, there are many very precise steps the tea-maker has to take, including putting the tea vessels in specific positions and folding the napkins in a specific way. Further, the room, cups, pots and utensils are often simple and plain, but perfectly suited for their role. Lastly, much of the tea ceremony is about the host showing respect to the guest and the guest respecting the host back. Due to all these details, it takes years of training to perform a tea ceremony!
