Takashi Ichikawa
Tools for an Imaginary People
The Liberation of Tea

The “Tea wheel” was created to bring the world of tea outdoors. My solo exhibition at the Center for COSMIC WONDER began with an exhibition of the tea wheel. Later, as I began to develop the tools of the “tea place”, I turned my attention to the “human use of plants” with a focus on tea. I began to make tea from the leaves or stems of plants other than the tea tree, wild plant tea, medicinal herb tea, mountain tea, bancha, and the teas of ethnic minorities. From drying, rubbing, and frying plants to roasting, baking, frying, steaming, fermenting, boiling, and mixing, I have studied these processes and have developed containers, utensils and tools for feeling, experimenting, and playing with the power of plants. You could say that these are playful tea utensils. In addition to receiving the power of plants through the mouth, we can also receive it through our eyes, ears, nose, and skin. Please enjoy working with these tools, from earthenware bottles to pots and utensils for roasting and boiling tea, distilling vessels, and wood-fired kilns.

Takashi Ichikawa

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We are pleased to present Takashi Ichikawa’s exhibition, “Tools for an Imaginary People: The Liberation of Tea”, at the Center for COSMIC WONDER. This exhibition, the eighth in a series, will bring together all of the tea utensils he has exhibited to date, as well as new works born from his experiences in Guizhou, China, where he visited this past June. Ichikawa has long been experimenting with tea and, at the same time, contemplating the concept of tea itself. On the first and second days of the exhibition, he will hold a wild-grass tea ceremony in collaboration with yasousora, an organization that promotes the infinite power of wild grass. We look forward to your visit.

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Exhibition period:

September 20 – September 24, 2024

* Fri, 20th – Sat, 21st: by appointment only and only workshop participants are allowed to visit the Center for COSMIC WONDER. (Visitors are always welcome to come to the Center for COSMIC WONDER to view the garments.)

*Numbered tickets will be distributed at the entrance of the venue from 10:30 a.m. on the day of your visit on Sunday, the 22nd. 12 people per hour will be allotted. Please note that if the number of visitors reaches the limit on the day of the workshop, admission will be denied even if you stand in line.

*From Monday, 23rd (national holiday), visitors can freely come to the Center for COSMIC WONDER without reservations. Please note that admission will be restricted during busy times.

Venue:

Center for COSMIC WONDER

5-18-10 Minami-aoyama, Minato-ku, Tokyo

1. +81 (0)3 5774 6866

Open noon – 6pm

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 Full Booked, Thank you.

Opening Event:

yasousora with Takashi Ichikawa “nono tea ceremony”

This will be our first collaborative tea ceremony.

Message from yasousora

Wildflowers, full of life energy, are right under our feet.

Through light, water, and fire, we take in the wildflowers as drops of life energy.

Demonstration of the process of making sora-tea and stories about wildflowers.

Using Takashi Ichikawa’s furnace and tea utensils, each person will make a cup of nono-tea.(wildflower tea)

Message from Takashi Ichikawa

I will prepare something that I would like you to drink at this time, something that I feel is interesting. I intend to work with ethnic minority teas and various materials and utensils

Friday, September 20

noon – 1:30 pm

Friday, September 20

3 pm – 5:30 pm

Saturday, September 21

noon – 1:30 pm

Saturday, September 21

3 pm – 5:30 pm

yasousora / Gendou Sawamura and Hina Sawamura

Learning from grasses about how people and grasses can thrive together.

Based in Fukuoka, Japan, they are active in communicating the life energy of wild grasses through wild teas.

Top of photo : Lotus tea and white tea in peach blossoms floating in an earthenware lotus pond

Bottom of photo : Ichikawa roasting yasousora‘s tea in an earthenware pot

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