Caitlin Todd

Matcha and the Zen Buddhists

Monk Myoan Eisai was a Japanese buddhist priest who brought matcha green tea powder from China to Japan. The zen buddhists used the matcha to keep awake during long sessions of meditation; this eventually led to the creation of the Japanese tea ceremony. Poets and artists began attending these tea ceremonies and became embodied by zen, waking their senses and becoming aware of the natural world. They then began to incorporate this interest of nature into traditional Japanese art with motifs of Mount Fuji and cherry blossoms.