One of the most famous sayings in tea, attributed to the great tea master Sen Sotan, is that Tea and Zen have One Taste.
It was a philosophy that appealed to lay people, including the samurai, because it offered them an opportunity for salvation that many traditional schools of Buddhism had reserved to those who left the ordinary life and devoted themselves entirely to monastic practice.
Hereditary lords (daimyo), samurai, merchants, and priests could meet in the tea room and be confident that they shared a common knowledge of the etiquette. It also provided a graceful way to curry favor and grant rewards. The samurai hired merchant tea masters to teach them how to make tea and take care of their utensils. The heads of many of today's "tea schools" are descended from medieval tea masters such as Sen Rikyu.
A number of subsidiary families may be linked to a main house. The main house has the overall obligation to:
1. maintain the family line biologically (or through adoption),
2. perform memorial rites for the ancestors, and
3. ensure the economic survival of the group.
The main house is called the honke or iemoto.
Although the term may have first been applied to schools of ancient court music in Heian (794-1185) times, the iemoto (family lineages specializing in the arts) started awarding certificates in the middle of the eighteenth century. From that time on, the word iemoto has also been applied to the system of licensing the teaching of a Japanese traditional art.
A student's relationship with his or her teacher is, ideally, a lifetime relationship.
In this way of thinking, people in a superior position in the social hierarchy (rulers, teachers, parents, bosses, senior students and employees, older siblings, etc.) are obliged to protect and nurture their juniors. They create on which may be translated as kindness, goodness, favor, mercy, or benefit. Individuals in a junior position (commoners, students, children, workers, younger siblings, etc.) owe their seniors faithful service, loyalty, respect, and gratitude. They feel giri, moral debt. obligation, or duty. The essence of these relationships are that they are reciprocal and morally required. By behaving in certain mutually beneficial ways, people in diverse hierarchal positions create ties which bind the entire social structure together.
The student starts learning tea ritual by practicing individual techniques such as folding the fukusa and bowing.
Studying tea ritual is a lifetime discipline. The body of knowledge related to tea ritual is so vast that no one person can completely master it.
Basic lessons in the preparation of thin tea (usucha) and thick tea (koicha) follow. After receiving a firm foundation in these procedures and many others related to preparing the tea room and laying the fire, the student may assist his or her teacher in inviting guests to a full tea gathering (chaji).