and I should be writing the second paper for my Japanese Art class. This week we are looking at the tea ceremony as an art form, and it’s relationship to the politics of the 17th Century. I am still having trouble with the Japanese names and concepts. And I probably should have taken a class in Japanese history before I took this one. If I could only remember all of the Japanese words, it would be much easier.

The tea ceremony promoted a culture that was highly problematic for the ruling elite, as evidenced by the enforced suicide, in 1591, of one of the great tea masters. The tea ceremony emerged from a movement called gekokujo, those below overthrow those above. Obviously suppression of culture has gone on for a long time and under many different forms of government.