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VOL.5
NEW Suitcase Tea House "Zenan"
A teahouse that travels around the world...
2024 / 10 / 13
The suitcase teahouse "Zen-An" was first unveiled at the 2017 Craftsmanship Festival.
The Festival of Craftsmanship started the previous year in 2016, and in response to a request from the Tokyo Metropolitan Government to build a tea room at the centre of the venue where Japanese craftsmanship could be showcased to the world, a prefabricated tea room called Takumisouan (8 tatami mat hall + 2 tatami mat main room + 2 tatami mat water room) was completed.
It received very positive feedback because four people can assemble an authentic tea room in four hours.
However, the problem was that taking it overseas would be expensive and it couldn't be moved easily.
So Zenan was born with the idea of a tea room that could be easily and casually carried overseas, something that could be carried around in a suitcase when traveling.
The best review I've received in New York
Immediately after the presentation, we received an offer to exhibit at the "Tea of the Way" event at Stony Brook University in New York, where we presented our first Zen Anthology performance overseas.
Zenan can be assembled by one person in 15 minutes, in the time it takes for a single stick of incense, from which it gets its name, to burn out.
In the olden days, people would use incense sticks as a time gauge and practice zazen for about 15 minutes per stick, so the assembly itself is thought to be a reflection of the Zen worldview.
After that, the tea ceremony held in New York's Central Park in November became a hot topic, and in May 2018, we were invited by the United Nations Headquarters event "Pease is ..." to hold a Zen-an tea ceremony in the entrance hall of the United Nations.
This caused further buzz and the trip has since travelled to various countries around the world, including the Eiffel Tower in Paris, Riyadh in Saudi Arabia, China, Taiwan and more.
A curator at the Newark Museum in the United States who witnessed the tea ceremony at the United Nations Headquarters decided to purchase the item for its permanent collection.
The COVID-19 pandemic and continued interest in Zen from around the world
Just as I was looking to travel the world more and more, COVID-19 hit and I was unable to travel abroad for three years.
However, the coronavirus pandemic has finally calmed down, and in 2023, we were able to hold a Zen An performance for the first time in a long time at a Zen painting exhibition at the Houston Museum of Fine Arts in Texas, USA, where we were able to once again feel firsthand the high level of interest in Zen and tea ceremony among people around the world.
The evolving "Zenan" as a new form of cultural dissemination
Zenan's first model was designed to fit into a Globetrotter suitcase, and the second model was designed to fit into a Rimowa suitcase, so they can be carried in any suitcase.
However, the biggest challenge when traveling overseas is the weight.
Although I was told it would be easy to carry around, the first one weighed 35kg, and the second one was over 30kg, so it was quite difficult to move around by myself.
In order to solve this issue, we made comprehensive improvements to the shape of the components and the shape of the mortise and tenon joints.
This improvement was only possible thanks to the traditional craftsmanship of Mr. Masuda Taisuke, the joiner who made the main frame.
First, we changed the shape of the components from a perfect square to a narrower, vertically elongated shape, and made the tenon shape stronger.
At first glance it looks so complicated that you may wonder whether it will fit together, but it has become a tenon of "functional beauty" that is the perfect word to describe it.
The new Zen An was completed with the help of some of the most representative Edo craftsmen, including Kotaro Tanaka for the blind wall, Osamu Maekawa for the washi wall, and Ryoichi Ozone for the tatami mats. The improvements made this time have resulted in a weight reduction of about 10kg.
Zenan will continue to travel the world and promote traditional Japanese culture through the art of Japanese craftsmanship and the tea ceremony. We sincerely hope that in the future, our craftsmen will receive high-quality work that they can be proud of and that will connect to the next generation.
Cape Copanello on the toes of the Italian peninsula.
Here, the Gatti family runs a farm that grows olives in their natural state without using any pesticides or fertilizers. Introducing the rare olive oil that is made by squeezing the early picked olives of this rare Gatti family at low temperature.
Tthe "Hokuso" area has been blessed with the abundant water of Kasumigaura and the Tone River since ancient times.
Rice has been cultivated since the Edo period, and in the olden days, rice was supplied to Edo via the Tone River.
We are reclaiming fallow fields in this area and working to regenerate delicious rice and paddy fields.
The delicious rice grown in the Hokuso region has brought a lot of wealth to the region. The homes of rice farmers in the area are also very valuable from an architectural point of view.
Unfortunately, the Hokuso area is also experiencing population outflow and aging, and as a result, these high-value buildings are also being devastated.
We regenerate these old folk houses with our knowledge and know-how as an architect and provide them as accommodation facilities.
Tsubaki's side project
SIDE PROJECT