Historical comparison of tea culture in China, Britain, and Japan between the sixteenth and nineteenth centuries: a performative approach to ritual theory

Abstract

Tea culture was transmitted from China, the country of origin, first to Japan and then to Britain. The former is a tradition steeped in Japanese history, while the latter is more recent and a function of colonialism and global commerce. While tea (Camellia sinensis) consumption was a part of everyday life in all three countries, the tea ceremony was also prominent and played indispensable roles in Chinese, Japanese, and British imperial and colonial national cultures. This historical comparison of tea cultures in China, Japan, and Britain dating from the sixteenth to nineteenth centuries first describes the diffusion of tea and the utensils used to consume it. It then systematically describes and compares the tea ceremonies that developed in these three nations using ritual theory with a performative approach. The previous research literature generally only focused on two-country comparisons or on the interpretation of contemporary distinctions in diverse tea cultures found around the world. The research approach used here derives from the author’s unique background living in China and Canada, as well as learning in Japan. This enables a more comprehensive comparison grounded in a historical and cultural context. Simultaneously, the researcher employs a performative analytic approach using Tambiah’s ritual definition and characteristics to explore the symbolic transformation of the tea ceremony as it spread from the host country of China to the recipient countries of Japan and Britain between the sixteenth to nineteenth centuries.