Tea, still probably the world's most popular prepared beverage, was first drunk by Chinese monks to aid meditation and those who valued its medicinal qualities, but it quickly grew in popularity, spreading to other East Asian cultures, especially Japan. An elaborate ceremony for its preparation and consumption developed which sought to foster the appreciation and beauty of life's simple luxuries. In addition, tea drinkers were able to discreetly display their good taste and wealth not only by serving what was a relatively expensive commodity but by reserving their very best porcelain for drinking it.

? ? ? ? ? 茶，可能仍然是世界上最受歡迎的預(yù)制飲料。最初是中國僧侶飲用以幫助冥想，還有那些重視其藥用價(jià)值的人會去飲用茶，但它很快就流行起來，傳播到其他東亞國家，特別是日本。于是一種精心準(zhǔn)備和飲用茶的儀式逐漸發(fā)展起來，旨在促進(jìn)對生活中簡單奢侈品的欣賞和美化。此外，喝茶的人能夠謹(jǐn)慎地展示他們的良好品味與財(cái)富，不僅使用相對昂貴的茶，而且通過保留他們的最好的瓷器來飲用。

With books written by tea experts on how to conduct oneself and appreciate the tea fully, along with poems eulogising the beverage, tea drinking was developed into an art form. The tea ceremony, thus, became a simple way to escape for a moment the tribulations of one's often hectic everyday life, a function drinking tea still has for many people today.

? ? ? ? ? 隨著茶葉專家撰寫的關(guān)于如何進(jìn)行自我管理和充分欣賞茶葉的書籍，以及謳歌飲茶的詩歌的影響，飲茶被發(fā)展成一種藝術(shù)形式。因此，茶道成為一種簡單的方式，讓人暫時從忙碌的日常生活中脫身；今天，喝茶對許多人來說仍有這種幫助。

神話傳說中的茶

In both Chinese and Japanese tradition, the discovery of tea is credited to the Indian sage Bodhidharma (aka Daruma), the founder of Zen Buddhism. Bodhidharma, travelling to spread the word of his new doctrine, founded the Shaolin temple in southern China (Shorinji to the Japanese). There he meditated while sat facing a wall for nine long years. At the end of that period his legs had withered away and, just on the verge of reaching enlightenment, he fell asleep. Enraged at missing this last step, he ripped off his own eyelids and threw them to the ground. From these a bush grew, the tea plant.

? ? ? ? ? 在中國和日本的傳統(tǒng)中，茶的發(fā)現(xiàn)歸功于印度圣人菩提達(dá)摩（又名達(dá)摩），他是禪宗的創(chuàng)始人。菩提達(dá)摩為了傳播他的新學(xué)說，在中國南部建立了少林寺（日本人稱之為Shorinji）。他在那里面壁打坐，長達(dá)九年之久。在這期間結(jié)束時，他的雙腿已經(jīng)麻痹萎縮，就在即將達(dá)到開悟的邊緣，他睡著了。由于錯過了這最后一步，他憤怒地扯下自己的眼瞼，扔到了地上。從這些眼瞼上長出了一棵灌木，即茶樹。

藥用飲料、興奮劑和商品

Tea goes by various names: cha in Chinese and Japanese or chai in Hindi and Urdu. The English name probably derives from the pronunciation of the drink (the) in the province of Fujian, south-east China. The drink is made by adding hot water to the young leaves, leaf tips, and leaf buds of the plant Camellia sinensis which is native to south-west China.

? ? ? ? ? 茶有不同的名字：中文和日文叫cha（茶），印度語和烏爾都語也叫cha（茶）。英文名稱可能來自于中國東南部福建省的飲料（the）的發(fā)音。這種飲料是將熱水加入原產(chǎn)于中國西南部的植物茶樹的嫩葉、葉尖和葉芽中制成的。

The drink was first used by Buddhist monks from around the 2nd century BCE to support them while they meditated and to ward off sleep. Tea was also thought to possess medicinal qualities, curing a hangover being one of them. By the Tang Dynasty (618-907 CE) tea had spread beyond the monasteries and become a popular drink with the gentry who were the only people who could afford such an expensive drink. Tea became an important element of the economy, with large estates in the south-east of the country cultivating the plant and providing the government with valuable tax revenue on its sale. Tea merchants, who were now exporting it to other Asian countries, were amongst the richest businessmen in China.

? ? ? ? ? 這種飲料最早是由公元前2世紀(jì)左右的佛教僧侶飲用的，以支持他們冥想和抵御睡眠。人們還認(rèn)為茶具有藥用價(jià)值，治療宿醉就是其中之一。到了唐朝（公元618-907年），茶葉已經(jīng)超出了寺院的范圍，成為一種深受豪門貴族歡迎的飲料，他們是唯一能夠負(fù)擔(dān)得起這種昂貴飲料的人。茶葉成為經(jīng)濟(jì)的一個重要組成部分，中國東南部的大型莊園都在種植這種植物，并為政府提供了寶貴的銷售稅收。那些向亞洲其他國家出口茶葉的茶商，是中國最富有的商人之一。

對文化的影響

The trend for tea-drinking also created a boom in the fine ceramics people preferred to use to brew, mix, and drink it from, and the elegant jars they used to store their tea leaves in. One of the most highly-regarded producers of teapots was Yixing in Jiangsu province. In a culture where ostentatious displays of wealth were frowned upon as vulgar, the use of a simple but expensive ceramic tea bowl was all that was needed to show one's prosperity.

? ? ? ? ? 飲茶的趨勢也造就了人們喜歡用來沖泡、混合和飲用的精美陶瓷，以及用來儲存茶葉的優(yōu)雅罐子的繁榮。江蘇省宜興市是最受矚目的茶壺生產(chǎn)地之一。在一個浮夸的財(cái)富展示被視為粗俗的文化中，使用一個簡單但昂貴的陶瓷茶碗就能顯示一個人的富裕。

Tea drinking became such an integral part of the Chinese culture that it began to appear in art and literature. One famous poem by Lu Yu appeared in his 8th-century CE treatise on the forms and conventions which should be applied when drinking tea. The poem is a thank you note after Yu had received a gift of a packet of freshly picked tea.

To honour the tea, I shut my brushwood gate,

Lest common folk intrude,

And donned my gauze cap

To brew and taste it on my own.

The first bowl sleekly moistened throat and lips;

The second banished all my loneliness;

The third expelled the dullness from my mind,

Sharpening inspiration gained from all the books I've read.

The fourth brought forth light perspiration,

Dispersing a lifetime's troubles through my pores.

The fifth bowl cleansed ev'ry atom of my being.

The sixth has made me kin to the Immortals.

The seventh is the utmost I can drink -

A light breeze issues from my armpits.

(in Ebrey, 95)

? ? ? ? ? 飲茶成為中國文化的一個組成部分，開始出現(xiàn)在藝術(shù)和文學(xué)作品中。陸羽有一首著名的詩出現(xiàn)在他公元8世紀(jì)關(guān)于飲茶時應(yīng)采用的形式和慣例的文章中。這首詩是陸羽收到一包新采的茶葉后的感謝信：

為了品嘗這包新茶，我關(guān)閉了我的灌木叢門，

免得俗人闖入，

并戴上我的紗帽，

獨(dú)自沖泡和品嘗。

第一碗光滑地潤澤了我的喉嚨與嘴唇，

第二碗驅(qū)逐了我所有的孤獨(dú)；

第三碗消散了我心中的沉悶；

從我讀過的所有書籍中獲得的靈感變得更加敏銳；

第四次帶來了輕盈的汗水，

通過我的毛孔驅(qū)散一生的煩惱；

第五碗梳洗了我的身心；

第六碗使我宛若神仙；

第七碗是我能喝到的極限。

輕輕的微風(fēng)從我腋下吹拂。

傳? ? ?播

Along with other cultural practices, tea drinking was passed on from China to neighbouring East Asian countries such as the Silla kingdom of Korea but nowhere did it become more popular than in Japan from the 6th or 7th century CE. In Japan, too, it was Buddhist monks who first drank tea, and it did not become fashionable until around 1200 CE. As China cultivated better tea plants than those available in Japan, these too were imported and not just the cut leaves.

? ? ? ? ? 與其他文化習(xí)俗一樣，飲茶也從中國傳到了鄰近的東亞國家，如朝鮮的新羅王國，但從公元6或7世紀(jì)開始，它在日本變得更加流行。在日本，最早喝茶的是佛教僧侶，直到公元1200年左右才成為一種社會時尚。由于中國種植的茶樹比日本更好，這些茶樹也被日本人進(jìn)口，而不僅僅是摘下來的茶葉。

In Japan, tea was usually prepared by pounding the leaves and making a ball with amazura (a sweetener from grapes) or ginger which was then left to brew in hot water. Eventually, again from 1200 CE, specialised tea schools were opened and people reserved their finest porcelain for tea drinking.

? ? ? ? ? 在日本，準(zhǔn)備茶葉的方法通常是將茶葉搗碎，用amazura（一種來自葡萄的甜味劑，平安貴族中流行的甜味劑）或姜制成球，然后放在熱水中沖泡。從公元1200年開始，政府專門開設(shè)了茶葉學(xué)校，人們也把他們最好的瓷器用來喝茶。

茶? ? ?道

Although the ritual and ceremony which developed when serving tea originated in China, it is the Japanese who have made it synonymous with their culture. The Japanese Tea Ceremony is called chanoyu, meaning 'hot water for tea', or chado or sado, meaning 'way of the tea'. Tea parties began as rather rowdy affairs where guests tried to guess the type of tea they were drinking but the 15th-century CE shogun Ashikaga Yoshimasa put a stop to all that and made the whole thing a much more sober and subdued event, offering the ruling class a perfect setting for discrete conversation on sensitive subjects.

? ? ? ? ? 雖然奉茶時形成的禮儀和儀式起源于中國，但正是日本人將其作為自己文化的同義詞。日本的茶道被稱為chanoyu，意思是“煮茶”，或chado或sado，意思是“飲茶的方式（茶道）”。茶會開始時是相當(dāng)熱鬧的，客人們試圖猜測他們所喝茶的類型，但公元15世紀(jì)的幕府將軍足利義政制止了這一切，使整個活動變得更加清晰和低調(diào)，為統(tǒng)治階級提供了一個就敏感話題進(jìn)行離散談話的完美環(huán)境。

The ceremony typifies the Japanese aesthetic principle of wabi, which is the value given to the appreciation of beauty and simplicity in everyday things. The application of wabi to the tea ceremony is credited to the 16th-century CE tea master Sen no Rikyu (1522-1591 CE). Rikyu was master of the tea ceremonies of the warlords Oda Nobunaga and Toyotomi Hideyoshi, and he also promoted the use of carefully arranged flowers (ikebana) to create just the right atmosphere of calm when drinking tea. Rikyu's masters did not always listen to him it seems for Hideyoshi famously threw a tea party for 800 guests to celebrate his victory in Kyushu in 1587 CE. Still, the monk had more success with subsequent generations as the tea ceremony gradually became more and more genteel and intimate.

? ? ? ? ? 該儀式是日本審美原則“侘寂”的典型代表，“侘寂”是指對日常事物中的美和簡單性的欣賞?！皝骷拧痹诓璧乐械膽?yīng)用被認(rèn)為是公元16世紀(jì)的茶道大師千利休（公元1522-1591年）的功勞。千利休是軍閥織田信長和豐臣秀吉的茶道大師，他還提倡使用精心布置的鮮花（ikebana）來創(chuàng)造適當(dāng)?shù)娘嫴钑r的平靜氣氛。千利休的主人似乎并不總是聽他的話，因?yàn)樾慵诠?587年為慶祝他在九州的勝利，為800名客人舉辦了一個著名的茶會。不過，隨著茶道逐漸變得越來越有風(fēng)度和親和力，這位僧人在后世取得了更大的成功。 ??

The first thing to do when drinking tea was to put oneself in the right place and for the Japanese that was the dedicated chashitsu or tea room, also known as a sukiya or 'house of the imperfect', alluding to the structure's original simple architecture and basic materials. Roofs were in bamboo and thatch, supporting columns were unworked, and the walls made of earth. This rustic building was quite separate from the main residence (immediately stamping an aristocratic requirement on the ceremony as only those with money could obviously afford such a thing). Thus, the drinker or drinkers were immediately detached from the everyday living space and so, by extension, their everyday lives. Three original tea rooms still exist today and are listed as National Treasures of Japan. They are to be found in the Myoki-an of Yamasaki, within the Shinto shrine of Minase-gu, and at the Saiho-ji monastery in Kyoto.

? ? ? ? ? 喝茶的第一件事就是身處正確的位置上，對日本人來說，喝茶應(yīng)該在專門的茶室，也被稱為sukiya或“不完美的房子”，暗指這種結(jié)構(gòu)的原始簡單建筑和材料。屋頂是竹子和茅草，支撐的柱子沒有經(jīng)過加工，墻壁是用土做的。這座質(zhì)樸的建筑與主宅完全分開（在儀式上打上了貴族要求的烙印，因?yàn)轱@然只有那些有錢的人才能買得起這樣的東西）。飲茶者或飲酒者脫離了日常的生活空間，而飲茶成為他們?nèi)粘Ｉ畹难由臁Ｖ两袢匀淮嬖谌齻€原始的茶室，被列為日本的國寶。它們存在于大山崎町的妙喜庵、大阪府三島郡島本町的水無瀨神宮和京都的西芳寺。

The tea room was small, only three metres square usually; Rikyu is credited with downsizing the previously larger rooms. It had minimal decor and services: a toilet and a tsukubai, which consists of a stone basin (chozu-bachi) outside for cleaning the hands before entering along with several irregular stones placed nearby in an aesthetically pleasing manner. Another feature is a stone, free-standing lantern, also outside. Ideally, the tea room should stand in its own small garden (cha-niwa) which has a stepping stone path (tobi-ishi) leading from the main house. The desired greenery was evergreens rather than flowers, and moss or grass underfoot to begin the calming effect of the ceremony before even entering the tea room.

? ? ? ? ? 茶室很小，通常只有三平方米；Rikyu被認(rèn)為是縮小了以前較大的房間的規(guī)模。它有最低限度的裝飾和服務(wù)：一個廁所和一個tsukubai，它由一個石盆（chozu-bachi）組成，在外面用于進(jìn)入茶室之前清潔雙手，同時還有幾個不規(guī)則的石頭放在附近，很有美感的樣子。另一個特點(diǎn)是有一個石制的、獨(dú)立的燈籠，也放在外面。理想情況下，茶室應(yīng)該位于小花園（Cha-niwa）里，花園里有一條從主屋通往的階梯石路（tobi-ishi）。所需的綠色植物是常青樹而不是鮮花，道路兩旁是苔蘚或草，以便在進(jìn)入茶室之前就能處于一種平靜的氛圍。

The doorways of tea rooms were usually small, only around 90 cm (3 ft) high, which was meant to show that all were of equal status once inside. Some historians believe the door prevented swords being taken into the tea room in another way to demonstrate rank and occupation were to be abandoned while drinking tea. Windows and paper screens gave plenty of light to the interior.

? ? ? ? ? 茶室的門洞通常很小，只有大約90厘米（3英尺）高，這是為了表明，一旦進(jìn)入茶室，所有人的地位是平等的。一些歷史學(xué)家認(rèn)為，這扇門可以防止將劍帶入茶室，這也是為了表明喝茶時要放棄等級和職業(yè)。窗戶和紙屏風(fēng)為室內(nèi)提供了充足的光線。

The details and etiquette of how the tea was brewed and served using a special ladle or the restrained gestures one should employ all depended on which school of tea ceremony one adhered too, and there were many. Water was usually boiled over charcoal in an iron kettle, and the tea was strong, green and bitter. Common, too, to all ceremonies was the requirement to use the finest porcelain one could, especially the tea bowl or chawan, actually used to drink from.

? ? ? ? ? 泡茶的細(xì)節(jié)和禮節(jié)，以及如何使用特殊的勺子或應(yīng)該采用克制的手勢，都取決于一個人所堅(jiān)持的茶道流派，而且有很多流派。水通常是在鐵壺中用木炭燒開的，茶是濃郁的、呈綠色的和帶苦味的。所有儀式的共同點(diǎn)是要求使用家里最好的瓷器，特別是用來喝茶的茶碗或茶壺。

后來的歷史

Tea was so widely consumed and had become such a big business by the 16th century CE that it eventually interested European traders, notably the Portuguese and Dutch. Tea was introduced to Europe in 1607 CE and, by the 19th century CE, the drink had become so popular in Europe that drinkers could choose from Chinese, Indian, and Ceylon (modern Sri Lanka) tea. Tea from the latter two countries was stronger and so was preferred, especially with the British who had encouraged its cultivation in colonial India. Even so, tea made up 80% of China's total exports to Europe in the early 19th century CE.

? ? ? ? ? 到了公元16世紀(jì)，茶葉被人們廣泛消費(fèi)，并成為一門大生意，最終引起了歐洲商人的興趣，特別是葡萄牙人和荷蘭人。公元1607年，茶葉被引入歐洲，到公元19世紀(jì)，這種飲料在歐洲變得非常流行，飲者可以選擇中國、印度和錫蘭（現(xiàn)代斯里蘭卡）的茶葉。后兩個國家的茶葉味道更濃，所以更受歡迎，特別是英國人鼓勵在印度殖民地種植茶葉。即便如此，在公元19世紀(jì)初，茶葉占中國對歐洲出口總量的80%。

參考書目：

Ashkenazi, M. Handbook of Japanese Mythology. Oxford University Press, 2008.

Beasley, W.G. The Japanese Experience. University of California Press, 2000.

Dawson, R. The Chinese Experience. Phoenix Press - Orion, 2017.

Dillon, M. China. Routledge, 1998.

Henshall, K. Historical Dictionary of Japan to 1945. Scarecrow Press, 2013.

Mason, R.H.P. A History of Japan. Tuttle Publishing, 1997.

P.B.Ebrey. Pre-Modern East Asia. Wadsworth Publishing, 2013.

Tsuda, N. A History of Japanese Art. Tuttle Publishing, 2009.

原文作者：Mark Cartwright

????????? 駐意大利的歷史作家。他的主要興趣包括陶瓷、建筑、世界神話和發(fā)現(xiàn)所有文明的共同思想。他擁有政治哲學(xué)碩士學(xué)位，是《世界歷史百科全書》的出版總監(jiān)。

原文網(wǎng)址：https://www.worldhistory.org/article/1093/tea-in-ancient-china--japan/