Listening to Okuno Seimeido Rikyū Tea

Revered as perhaps the greatest tea master of Japan, Sen Rikyū refined the ritual appreciation of tea into its highest artistic expression. One of the most respected masters of 16th century Sakai, Rikyū served as tea master to Japan’s first two great unifiers, Oda Nobunaga and Toyotomi Hideyoshi. Rikyū embraced the deliberate simplicity of Murata Jukō’s wabi-cha, building upon the appreciation for aged and imperfect patinas, use of Japanese ceramics, and direct ties to nature in the preparation of tea. He wrote extensively about all aspects of environment, etiquette, and technique associated with the tea ceremony. His writings on the refinement of wabi-cha, the “tea of quiet taste,” serves as the basis of Chadō, Japan’s famous tea ceremony, still practiced today over four centuries after his death. In naming their green tea incense after Rikyū, Okuno Seimeido seeks to create a modern ocha incense in the tradition of Rikyū's tea of quiet taste.

Part of Okuno Seimeido's Rikyū Kaori series, described as an expression of wabi natural simplicity portrayed through fragrance, Rikyū Tea highlights the fresh and invigorating nature of green tea - the fragrance of the tea ceremony. A subtle expression of wabi natural simplicity portrayed through fragrance, the Rikyū tea seeks to bring the spirit of of the tea ceremony to Japanese fragrance culture in a reduced smoke incense.

Rikyū Tea's rough unlit stick is a deep forest grassy green flecked with a subtle lighter green like the fresh young green shoots of spring. Its fragrance, like the tea of quiet taste, is subtle, quiet, reserved - barely there. Yet there is a freshness to the stick, like the air clean after a spring rain. With subtle notes of stone, cut grass, and a light "green" tone, the unlit stick is light and refreshing, yet overtly subtle in its approach.

Alight Rikyū Tea begins with a soft bitter note like that of matcha tea. A green grassy note moderates this somewhat, giving the fragrance a distinctive fresh green tea flavor. Presented simply and naturally, its fragrance is light, airy, and open. There is a warmth to Rikyū Tea that is also quickly apparent, yet like its dominant note this remains reserved and quite; more a feeling than a fragrance. 

In time the warm note builds, developing a lovely light ripe sweetness that is both comforting and enjoyable. In this note, Rikyū Tea's wabi nature becomes apparent, even if only in its quiet nature. There is a natural beauty to its subtle fragrance, light and soft, like a spring breeze through swaying sweetgrass. The sweetness is not like the sugary sweetness of the West, but a natural sweetness of warm tea in a rustic bowl with soft vegetative notes. Like the tea of quiet taste, its sweetness is soft, green, natural, and with a subtle beauty to it.

Some incenses are listened to for their overt fragrance - the notes of rare woods and fine aromatics first and foremost in awareness. Yet like many green tea fragrances, Rikyū Tea is more about creating a cleansed space from which all things can emerge rather than a redolent bubble to be contained within. Its fragrance is quiet and easily missed, yet present and aware. It is subtle like the passing of time; barely noted even when actively listening. Yet it is powerfully there creating an environment that feels clean, refreshing, alive. This is a subtle incense akin to the natural environment, creating a space for life to fill. Like a bowl of tea ritually prepared, it asks us to be present in the moment, aware of our surroundings, cleansed of distraction.

As a reduced smoke incense, there is naturally little smoke produced. But there is also little to no astringency from its burning agent. Instead there is only the subtle quiet hint of green tea and the warm sweetness of its green notes; its fragrance quiet, light, often disappearing from awareness like the small amount of smoke emanating from the glowing stick.

Rikyū Tea's after note is as subtle as its presence during the burn. It quickly cools and the green notes fade from awareness. The sweet tones tarry longer, becoming richer with a warm sweeter tone before also evaporating into the space. Yet the soft purity of the environment created lasts far longer than the overt fragrance, leaving the impression of its presence in the space even after the bitter-sweet notes of green tea have faded from memory.

Simple, subtle, and filled with the quiet taste of wabi-cha, Okuno Seimeido's Rikyū Tea is an enjoyable representation of the fragrance of Rikyū’s tea ceremony in a reduced smoke fragrance.

Plump new shoots,
green as the tea that fills my cup
decorate spring branches outside my window.

Rikyū Tea is available in the folllowing size:
200-stick box

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