ABSTRACT

 This paper will explore the question of the role of leisure activities, particularly those that are identified as traditionally Japanese, on women's perception of their roles of wife, mother and person; attitudes toward male/female and family relationships; perceptions of their status in Japanese society, and pursuit of personal growth.  This paper argues that the traditional arts, such as chado , which are popular ways women chose to spend their leisure time, are chosen because they affirm and support traditional views of women as nurturing and supporting of others in society.  They furnish a sense of fulfillment to traditional roles but also opportunities for self-expression, personal development of artistic styles, and managerial skill development.  The traditional arts also support the attainment of personal goals which might be defined as selfish and opposed to community norms of sacrifice and self-abnegation for women, thereby making them acceptable.
 The acceptance of certain activities as appropriate in public versus private spheres is also a major factor in the way Japanese women are taught to see their lives and interests.  These are felt to be part of the private role  of family which should not be open to public scrutiny and criticism.  Participation in chado  allows for both acceptable public activity related to the art and private personal activity in the areas of cultural learning.

 TRADITIONAL ARTS

I.  INTRODUCTION

 This paper will explore the question of the role of leisure activities, particularly those that are identified as traditionally Japanese, on women's perception of their roles of wife, mother and person; attitudes toward male/female and family relationships; perceptions of their status in Japanese society, and pursuit of personal growth.  This paper argues that the traditional arts, such as chado , which are popular ways women chose to spend their leisure time, are chosen because they affirm and support traditional views of women as nurturing and supporting of others in society.  They furnish a sense of fulfillment to traditional roles but also opportunities for self-expression, personal development of artistic styles, and managerial skill development.  The traditional arts also support the attainment of personal goals which might be defined as selfish and opposed to community norms of sacrifice and self-abnegation for women, thereby making them acceptable.
 The acceptance of certain activities as appropriate in public versus private spheres is also a major factor in the way Japanese women are taught to see their lives and interests.  These are felt to be part of the private role  of family which should not be open to public scrutiny and criticism.  Participation in chado  allows for both acceptable public activity related to the art and private personal activity in the areas of cultural learning.

 II.  LEISURE

 Noting the universality of non-work related activities, sociologists have identified these activities as creating culture, socializing the individual into social roles and the "arena where the intimate bonds are established and maintained." (Cheek and Burch 1976 p. 91)  As the activities which constitute leisure may overlap with work activities, the difference between the two types lies in the kinds of social organization involved, not in a specific activity or person.  "Leisure activities serve as an expression of social solidarity and norms to reaffirm the larger social order through display of artifacts that give physical shape to collective representation of myths."(Cheek and Burch 1976 p. 156)  Participation in particular leisure activities arises out of an individuals "taste", which is defined as a "preference exercised in response to normative pressures." (Cheek and Burch 1976 p. 130)  This use of leisure as culture creator and maintainer indicates the importance of activities such as chado  in the life of a society.
 Since Urasenke is the largest school of chado in Japan, estimated 70% of all people who study chado, (Castile 1976, Sadler 1962) it was chosen as a case study.   Students and teachers  were interviewed either in their homes or where they study and teach.  (Mori, 1988, 1991).

III.  AVAILABILITY OF LEISURE TIME

 In Japan since the 1960's, there has been an increasing interest and participation in a variety of leisure activities by women, especially in the traditional arts of flower arrangement and chado, especially among urban housewives.  This is due to a number of factors including growing affluence, nostalgia for "things Japanese" and the availability of time for such pursuits.  Changes in family composition and size, nature and amount of household duties and definition of the role of housewife have encouraged women to look to the traditional arts, among other activities, as areas for personal growth an enjoyment.  The urban housewife lives in a small apartment and purchases rather than makes or grows most of the food and items she uses.  Actual cleaning chores are eased by the use of machines and her job has shifted to competent manager  and wise buyer.  The family is also more likely to be a nuclear family with two children and no in-laws to care for, at least for a number of years.  Thus there are periods of time in her life when she will have "fun" and "leisure" time without heavy housework or dependent duties.  However, the definition of good wife and mother (Lebra 1985)   still requires some sense of sacrifice or devotion to duty and this affects the type of activities she will choose to fill this leisure time.  As one student noted, "I did flower arrangement, crochet.  Why I chose ocha  was that there is no limit in exploring ocha."
 The traditional arts have an appeal especially for middle class women in that they advertise themselves as providing self-improvement and educational opportunities which augment the roles of wife, mother and host.  Women are encouraged to take these up in order to learn Japanese cultural practices to pass on to their daughters, to improve their knowledge of the arts, home decoration, food preparation and service, and formal etiquette (Elias 1978) which help them to be better wives and hosts.  They also exert a personal appeal as providing opportunities to meet cultured people (teachers and fellow students) for friendships while pursuing activities that are socially sanctioned a erudite.  Chado  creates opportunities to enhance and display personal creative abilities, and social class status.  The Urasenke school of chado  directs its appeal to these interests and includes a meditative, semi-religious component (Kondo 1985, Anderson 1990).

 IV.  REINFORCEMENT OF ROLES

 In Japan, social roles and their obligations are stressed over personal goals and interests.  For women this means that they are expected to fulfill the social roles of wife and mother before turning their efforts to personal interests.  And that when they do, these personal interests must be interpreted in the light of enhancing skills needed in those roles or as activities which stem from commitment to these roles.  Women who engage in activities of a public nature stress they are doing so as "ordinary women" and as "mothers and housewives".
 Professionals in chado  are women who with approval of family and teachers have given up the roles of wife and mother making a total commitment to the art so that they may teach others, women who combine a teaching career with these roles subordinating chado  to family demands (this is difficult so there are fewer women who do this) or women who take up professional work in chado  after completion of duties as mother or wife (after children are grown and out of the house or the husband has died).  Those married women who work professionally while married and raising children are usually those for whom chado  is part of a larger family concern with the art.  They are the wives of tea masters, or artisans or other professionals connected with the culture of chado.
 Amateurs who study chado  do so to pursue a sense of Japanese cultural identity, learn practical skills in cooking and serving guests, gain advice from teachers on social etiquette and proper behavior  and for personal creative enjoyment.  "The more I studied tea, the more I realized that I was Japanese.  When I look around and see people without any knowledge of tea, I wonder whether they have any nationality or not." said one of the women.
 Their study career is usually not an unbroken continuum.  A young woman may start to study chado  because her mother insists she do so as preparation for marriage.  She may pursue this in a desultory fashion for 1-3 years.   Sometimes she will come to enjoy it and continue but many drop out as they marry and their time is taken up with starting a household and raising children.  When the children are all in school, she may be busy with the PTA, taking the children to private lessons, helping them with homework, etc. but she will have more "fun" time than before.  She may also become aware that as part of her role as mother, she is to pass on a sense of Japanese cultural identity and she doesn't know what that is.  This leads her to return to chado  as a way of learning these things and as a familiar activity.
 While interviewing a teacher at her home where she taught, a woman came in and joined the lesson.  She presented her record book (where each preparation she had done was recorded) to the teacher and was told to serve as a guest for the next student doing a preparation.  The teacher said, "You look familiar but I don't remember your name.  When were you here last?"  The woman replied with her name and said it had been twelve years since her last lesson but now that her children were all in school she was free to take up where she had left off, if it was okay with the teacher.
 Her friends will affect this choice as well her husband's attitude toward and willingness to pay for lessons.  It is difficult for a husband to refuse to pay for (or allow her to use household money for) activities which promote her education and identification as a "cultured" person.  This is particularly so if the wives of other respected men are doing this and she explains it as important for teaching the children proper manners and values.  He has even less cause to disapprove if she uses her own funds.
 Others come to take up chado  as an activity in widowhood.  "I have a friend whose husband passed away.  Her daughters persuaded her to study chado.  They said that by doing ocha, she will be well mannered and lead a good life which is calm and composed.  They want their mother to lead a happy life like mine." said an elderly student.  "After my husband's death, I could choose either to remarry or to remain single.  I chose to live on my own.  I started tea seriously since then which is very different from the practice I used to have before my marriage.  I could not go through a day without tea," said one Tokyo teacher.  One woman whose husband was retired and who was studying with friends who were all widowed related that her friends encouraged her to quickly become a widow so that she could join them on their trips to visit famous tea huts and Buddhist temples.
 Chado  has been successful in attracting women to its practice because it has stressed its ability to teach skills useful in fulfilling the role of housewife and is thus seen as an established arena for "bride training."  It also stresses knowledge of Japanese cultural practice and is thus able to teach women practical skills and values to pass on to their children.  Time spent pursuing chado  is seen as enabling women to performs these roles not seduce them away from them.

 VI  CREATIVITY AND PERSONAL DEVELOPMENT

 Creativity is associated in the Western mind predominantly with individual egotistic expression and origination and with criticism of existing social practices and norms.  The product of this process is attributed to one individual who receives social approval and reward (sometimes, sometimes not) for this achievement and is expected to subordinate all other roles and interests to this endeavor.  This is only one aspect of the creative process.  Artistic endeavor may also serve to reinforce social values and practices as well and this aspect is more acknowledged in chado.
 Japanese women who study chado  do not seek to be lone isolated artists working in private studios who periodically emerge to present objects for critical review and acclaim.  Instead they have chosen an interactive art, where creativity is expressed in a group context and through exchange with others.  While there are numerous occasions for public presentation of what is learned in holding gatherings for tea in public (temples, cultural institutes) or semi-public (only invited guests) settings.  This is only one aspect of the activity of learning chado.
 Although one can use tea ritual (temae)  to make a bowl of tea for oneself, the ritual incorporates action by the host and guest and is not intended for that purpose.  The guest is not merely a passive consumer of what is prepared but has an active role to play in the unfolding of the ritual.  Without this participation, the ritual is pointless.  The host rarely makes tea for herself.
 According to Grand Masters Sen Soshitsu and Tanaka Sen-o (Sen 1988, Tanaka 1973) the art of chado  is the experience of a combination of elements - movement, utensils, space, personality and occasion, which is meant to be shared.  When it is accomplished, it is over and done.  Nothing remains except the memory of the experience, the sharedness of feelings.  This cannot be made concrete to be shown to others and analyzed and cannot be separated from the involvement of all who participate.  The individual's talents and abilities are blended with others.  The objects created for chado are meant to be used not enshrined.
 Most of the time spent doing chado  is in the learning situation, often but not always or even mainly with a goal of actual performance.  A person may study for years before ever performing a public or semi-public preparation.  The intimacy between teacher and students and among students is one of the attractions of chado.  Most of the enjoyment of chado  will come from attending the lessons.  As a new teacher said, "It is sort of like a salon.  They talk about their problems and other things, and catch up with the latest news about themselves for the past week.  People who are about the same age discuss their problems and try to solve them together.  Others who work come to relieve their stress at my place."  "I come here not only because of tea, but there is much social interaction with people who are also studying with me, and the personality of the teacher.  All those factors have inspired me to continue tea for 14 years without taking a day off from practice sessions," said an older Tokyo student.
 The product of chado  is not the tea you drink, the bowl you drink it from or the room you drink it in, but the people who drink and make tea.  "The tea master strove to be something more than the artist - - art itself." (Okakura 1964, p. 61)  Art is not a product but a process.  A dance, poem, temae  (tea ritual), painting is not the object of the doing but a by-product and means to achieving personal perfection.  As Kato (1975) notes, the art was developed by tea masters of the past who devoted themselves to art as a total commitment and who developed a philosophy around its practice.  "The concept of perfection, however, was different.  The dynamic nature of their philosophy laid more stress upon the process through which perfection was sought than upon perfection itself." (Okakura 1964, p. 40)
 Students practice chado  as a means of enabling them to become better people.  "Tea is for the purpose of teaching harmony and respect among persons.  They take lessons to become splendid people" observes one teacher.  This perception of the purpose of study was held almost unanimously by all the teachers interviewed.  All responded that the purpose of teaching chado  was not primarily to teach the art form, the rituals, its history or Japanese culture but to teach people etiquette, how to become better people and how to interact smoothly and pleasurably with each other.
 As seen by responses to a UNESCO survey as well as the interviews, this sense of personal development is combined with enjoyment.  The women study chado because it is fun.  "I liked the atmosphere.  Since I tend to be scattered around my daily life, I love the tranquility and calm feeling rising inside of me during temae,"  said one teacher.  "My family says that I look the happiest when I practice tea.   As for myself, it is an enjoyment and also a hardship.  It is part of my life and I cannot think of a life without practice, nor quitting it," responded a widow.

 VII.  ATTITUDES TOWARD MALE/FEMALE RELATIONS AND PERCEPTIONS OF STATUS

 Chado  reflects the rest of Japanese society, as Smith illustrates (Smith 1987), in that it is male dominated.  For most of its history, it was an exclusively male art form.  Structurally, the top positions are reserved for men (Some of which are inherited).  Since 1894 when women were allowed to become teachers and perform in public, they have come to constitute 80% of the membership.  As the school has moved to take advantage of the interest of women, it has created new organizational structures and activities.  This has provided professional training and leadership positions for women.  Men's dominance of leadership positions is predicated upon the idea that women are not able to devote 100% of their time and talent to chado  because their energies and loyalties belong first to family obligations.  This idea is being challenged by a number of women (usually those who are single and remain so or are widowed) who have demonstrated a commitment and ability similar to men.  Male students interviewed indicated no reluctance to study under female teachers or any difficulties in accepting direction from female students in superior positions.
 Within chado  itself, the act of preparing and serving tea to another, which in other social and work situations in Japan is an expression of deference and dependence and where it is viewed as a dominant symbolic act expressing that asymmetry between the sexes, does not have the same connotation.  The host/guest roles are held by either men or women, and considerations of rank do not determine who takes these roles.  Chado  does not present many situations in which women as status inferiors are required to celebrate men's status superiority through the performance of tea ritual.
 The dichotomy between public and private spheres of activity is an important factor in assessing the activities of women.  The public arena has often been denied to women and reserved for men.  Access to this arena has often become a goal for women and a measure of women's success.  While expanding women's sphere of activity and recognition is considered a sign of the acceptance of women in wider society, it sometimes leaves the impression that men and their activities are still the standard by which women's activities and worth are measured.  This places a greater value on success in the public over that in the private arena.  This view is not necessarily shared by women who identify as drawbacks of public recognition its numerous duties and obligations as well as leaving the individual open to criticism.  When the product of the art is the self not an object that you can psychologically distance yourself from, the scrutiny of the public may be unwelcome.  Many women still prefer to be privately known among friends and acquaintances as artistic and cultured rather than having great public notoriety.

 VIII.  CONCLUSION

 Chado, an interactive art, which develops skills in nurturing and supporting others, developing the self, and creating a tranquil environment, is a popular way for women to spend leisure time because it also offers avenues for creativity and enjoyment.  Women find their roles as wife and mother augmented and supported while providing them with opportunities for socializing with other women in a beautiful setting away from some of the demands of these roles and social recognition in a limited and comfortable sphere for their talents and taste.

 REFERENCES

Anderson, Jennifer. 1991. An Introduction to the Tea Ceremony.

Castile, Rand. 1976. The Way of Tea. Tokyo: Charles Tuttle.

Cheek, Neil H., Jr. and W. R. Burch, Jr. 1976. The Social Orgnaization of Leisure in Human Society. New York: Harper and Row.

Elias, Norbert. 1978. The History of Manners. vol. 2 in The Civilizing Process. trans. Edmund Jephcott, New York: Pantheon Books.

Kato, Shuichi, 1975. "Notes on Tea Ceremony" in Form, Style, Tradition: Reflections on Japanese Art and Society. trans. John Bestor, Tokyo: Kodansha International.

Kondo, Doreen. 1985. "Symbolic Analysis of the 'Way of Tea'" in Man (N.S.) 20, no. 2, pp. 287-306.

Lebra, Takie. 1985. Japanese Women: Constraints and Fulfillments. Honolulu: University of Hawaii Press.

Mori, Barbara Lynne Rowland. "Chado:  A Symbolic Interactionist Analysis of Transmission, Adaptation and Change", unpublished dissertation, University of Hawaii, August 1988.

         "The Tea Ceremony: A Transformed Japanese Ritual"in Gender & Society  vol. 5 No. 1 March 1991 p. 86-97.

Okakura, Kakuzo. 1964. The Book of Tea. New York: Dover Publications.

Sadler, A. L. 1962. Cha-No-Yu: The Japanese Tea Ceremony. Tokyo: Charles Tuttle.

Sen, Soshitsu. no date The Urasenke Traditon of Tea. Kyoto: Urasenke.
 
    ed. 1988. Chanoyu: The Urasenke Tradition of Tea. trans, Alfred Birnbaum, Kyoto: Weatherhill.

Smith, Robert J. 1987. "Gender Inequality in Contemporary Japan", The Journal of Japanese Studies. vol. 13 no.1 winter.

Tanaka, Sen-O. 1973. The Tea Ceremony. Tokyo: Kodansha International.

UNESCO, Asian Cutlural Centre. 1975. The Traditional Forms of Culture in Japan. Tokyo: Taito Printing.
 
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