The Tōcha (闘 茶, Tea Race) was a worldly and fun practice in the Japanese aristocratic and wealthy classes in the late Heian Period, spreading in the 13th and 14th centuries. The popularity of this social practice, which consisted in predicting the origin of tasty tea, increased proportionally with the spread of tea drink in the Japanese archipelago. Its origins are Chinese, especially referring to the Song Dynasty (宋朝) when the tea drink began to be commonly classified by color, infusion time, water quality and taste. In Japan, this worldly diversion also represented a form of gambling, called chayoriai (茶 寄 合), which was banned in 1336 by the Kenmu Code (建武). Emperor Hanazono's diary ((花園 天皇, 1297-1348) reports that Japanese aristocrats competed in distinguishing the tea of the Kyoto region, called togano (栂 尾, otherwise called the "true tea" or honcha, 本 茶) from the Toganoo (called hicha, 非 茶). Later, the competitions became more complex and even the most luxurious prizes, coming to popular games such as shishu jippuku cha (四種 十 服 茶, four types of tea and ten cups), rokushokucha (六 色 茶, six colors tea), hyappukucha (百 服 茶, one hundred cups), nanatoko shoubu (七 所 勝負, seven competitors), sanshu meicha (三種 銘 茶, three types of tea), shikicha (四季 茶, tea of four different seasons), and keizucha (系 図 茶, tea of various vintages) The practice of Tōcha gradually declined with the diffusion, from the fifteenth century, of the Japanese tea ceremony (Cha no yu, 茶 の 湯, "hot water for tea" or even Chadō or Sadō, 茶道, Via of tea), tied to the most religious and spiritual values of Buddhism, especially Zen's teachings. Voices correlateemodify wikitesto
wiki
