Читать книгу Stories from a Tearoom Window - Shigernori Chikamatsu - Страница 12

Foreword to the 1804 edition

IN ANGLING, a line with a lure at the end is dropped into the water to catch the fish. Now, in order to allure and entertain a guest, what should be presented by the host? When an important guest is treated so well that he wishes to remain in the house much longer, then the joy of both guest and host is greatest.

Chikamatsu Shigenori, a vassal of the Owari clan, conceived the idea of writing this book. He collected various anecdotes about people who had distinguished themselves in the society of the tea ceremony. These people range from imperial princes down to hermits withdrawn from the world. Chikamatsu finally compiled these stories in three volumes with illustrations inserted here and there. He called the book Stories from a Tearoom Window, and it clearly reveals the true pleasures found in the tea ceremony by those interested in it. Gentlemen attending the tea ceremony generally have felt that idle talk or gossip should be avoided, but Chikamatsu declared that silence is not necessarily a virtue at the tea ceremony. Rather, it is the pleasure of entertaining guests with the utmost hospitality that is indeed beyond description. Chikamatsu’s elaborate work should be sincerely appreciated. The essence of the tea ceremony does not lie merely in the satisfaction of the sense of taste, but in the friendly association of strangers, of those of the lower classes with those of the nobility. In the observance of manners in the severe formalities of the tea ceremony, mutal understanding and friendliness are created. Cannot the casting of a fishing line be compared to the entertainment of happy guests?

When this book was completed, I was asked to write a few words; so here I present my own poor remarks.

-KIMURA TOSHIATS