The Golden Tea House (tea-ceremony room)
The Japanese tea ceremony is a traditional ritual of serving and drinking powdered green tea called matcha. The ceremony usually takes place in a special room called a ‘tearoom’, which is simple yet elegant. The room often has a calligraphy scroll and seasonal flowers as decoration. The Golden Tea House (tea-ceremony room) was a gold-leaf-covered tea house built by Toyotomi Hideyoshi (the most prominent samurai of ancient Japan) in 1585 during the Azuchi-Momoyama period. This luxury tearoom adorned in Gold was displayed to the emperor, court nobles, feudal lords, missionaries, and foreign envoys on important political and diplomatic occasions. This Golden Tea House was easily transportable and assembled, measuring three tatami mats (approximately 180 centimeters by 270 centimeters), but regrettably it is said to have been lost by fire when Osaka Castle fell in 1615. Recently, several art museums and history museums in Japan have rebuilt golden tea houses and are exhibiting them pe...
