Former Kyoto Prefectural Tea House/Viewing window for Uji tea

Yoshiharu Tsukamoto Laboratory (Tokyo Institute of Technology)

08 Jul 2022

A tea ceremony hall in Uji City, Kyoto Prefecture. The building was established for the Kyoto Prefecture Tea Industry Chamber, which is currently used for tea classes as the Uji tea dojo “Takumi no Yakata.” A skylight is provided at the top of an alcove that protrudes from the wall. This window is called the “viewing window” and is used to assess the tea leaves and the color of the tea. To supply a stable source of light, windows face north. In addition, the inside of the alcove was painted black to prevent the diffused reflection of light. To discern the color of the tea leaves and the tea, leaves were placed on a black tray, and black tea was viewed inside a white porcelain bowl, respectively.

Former Kyoto Prefectural Tea House
(Tea leaves/Uji City, Kyoto Prefecture)

This article is an excerpt from “Window Workology,” a joint research project concerning windows and the behaviors around them done in collaboration with Tokyo Institute of Technology’s Yoshiharu Tsukamoto Laboratory.