Music; Tea ceremony; Aesthetics; Japan; Religious music; Shintoism; Traditional music; Ethnomusicology; Elkinton, Jane
摘要
The practice of the Japanese tea ceremony，chanoyu，includes the production and perception of sounds. The delicate sounds of movement，pouring water，and tapping bamboo are perceived in the intimate environment of the tearoom，which is infused with the ongoing sounds of the boiling kettle. The sounds are carefully controlled and organized into clearly discernible patterns. The connection between the sounds of the tea ceremony and Japanese music are traced. Shared aesthetic principles, intense involvement by both sound producer and perceiver，synaesthetic references, high-context forms, and cultural bases influenced by Shintoism and Buddhism are some of the crossover points between the two art forms. Japanese listeners favor the nonintellectualized hearing of sounds, and perceive the humanly produced sounds of the tea ceremony and traditional music as they do the sounds of nature. The study of music and chanoyu indicates a Japanese sound aesthetic based on the importance of timbre and complex sounds, the rich voice of single sounds, the transience of sound，dynamic balance，relatively quiet sounds and slow tempos, richness of context，gesture and flexibility，and setting.
