nana’s green tea LaLaPort EXPOCITY
Osaka, Japan / 2015

“Sotan’s Fushin’an having a one and half tatami mat tearoom”

Nanaha Co., Ltd. is a company that sends the “new form of Japan” to the world through “mattcha”. They provide high quality mattcha in menus that are arranged modernly, such as mattacha latte. The space inside the shop is desired to be a “modern tearoom”, not a “Japanese style tea room”. According to the owner, it is a way of expressing their feeling to make a shop that allows the customers to enjoy the traditional Japanese culture with a modern interpretation.

Sen no Soutan is Rikyu’s grandson and founded the three Sen families, Omotesenke, Urasenke, and Mushanokojisenke.
He lived an austere, refined life based on his belief that the essence of tea ceremony and Zen are the same.

Sen no Rikyu built a one and half tatami mat tearoom in the Juraku residence.
It was the first attempt in Japan and attracted a lot of attention but Toyotomi Hideyoshi disliked it. Then Rikyu changed it into a two tatami mat tearoom with the tokonoma (alcove). Conversely, Sotan built a one and half tatami mat tearoom without the tokonoma and told that it was a tearoom without the need for flowers or hanging scrolls. He called this tearoom Fushin’an and defined as a symbol of the Sen family’s tea.

In nana’s green tea LaLaport EXPOCITY, I present a flexible tearoom that changes from a one and half tatami mat space represented by the Sotan’s Fushin’an to a six tatami mat space typified by the tearoom that Rikyu built before, by placing partitions like Shoji, wooden sliding door with translucent paper on, which can be raised or lowered.

Photos by Keisuke Miyamoto