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The History of Chanoyu to be Focus of Next Lakeland Lecture
On November 1, 7pm, Dr. Rebecca Corbett will give a talk for LUJ's Lakeland Lecture series. The title of her talk is "From Women to Westerners: Untold Stories in the History of Chanoyu." Dr. Corbett is currently at Waseda University as a Japan Foundation Fellow. Her book, Cultivating Femininity: Women and Tea Culture in Edo and Meiji Japan (University of Hawai'i Press, 2018) illuminates how vital women were in the history of Japanese tea culture. Their stories, until now, thanks to Dr. Corbett, have been either neglected, ignored, or forgotten.
We asked Dr. Corbett a few questions before her talk on Friday.
What would you say are a few misunderstandings that people have about the Japanese tea ceremony?
There’s a widespread assumption that although women make up the majority of tea ceremony practitioners in modern Japan, only men engaged in tea practice prior to the Meiji period. In some cases, people say women were even forbidden from practicing prior to the Meiji period. My book disproves this and shows in fact that women were involved in tea practice historically and that particularly from the mid-1700s many (male) writers were encouraging women to practice.
Have you loved tea all your life? How would you say your tastes in tea have changed over time?
I’ve been a tea drinker since my teens, and I’ve never had a sip of coffee in my life, so I guess the answer is yes! I first drank black tea like English Breakfast and Earl Grey and then I tried matcha when I attended tea ceremony lessons as a high school exchange student living for a year in northern Japan when I was 17-18. I don’t really think my tastes have changed over time, I still mostly drink English Breakfast and Earl Grey as well as matcha. I usually have 6-8 cups of tea a day.
We know you'll be highlighting some untold stories about the history of Chanoyu tea. Is there one story in particular you tend go back to that you feel highlights the ways of Japanese society?
In terms of how women’s involvement in Chanoyu has been overlooked historically, a story I often tell is how while doing my PhD research I was frequently told by senior (male) scholars that I wouldn’t find any sources and that researching women’s involvement in Chanoyu prior to the Meiji period was not a viable topic. In one specific case, I was given permission to look through records of student enrollment for several tea schools in the 1800s but told upfront I would not find any women’s names. Well, I did! What this showed me is that sometimes scholars don’t even see what’s right in front of them because you don’t look for what you’re not expecting to find.
See the poster below for more information on Dr. Corbett's talk. As always, Lakeland Lectures are free to the public. Anyone is welcome to attend.
Read here to learn more about LUJ's course, Chanoyu: The Way of Tea.
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