南浦绍明和日本茶道文化

On Nanbosyomyo and Japanese Tea Ceremony

南浦绍明是日本镰仓时代的禅林高僧,为日本禅宗发展做出了重要贡献。他从余杭径山寺带回茶台子和7部茶典等跟茶道有关的故事,散见于18～19世纪,甚至更晚的日本文献,因距南浦生活的时代太过久远而被理解为没有可靠史料支撑的传说。但这些传说的形成和传播,一方面反映了径山禅茶文化在日本的影响力和南浦绍明在日本禅茶界的崇高威望,同时也是抹茶和煎茶这两种文化在日本社会相互碰撞、争斗的产物。

Nanbosyomyo was a Buddhist monk in Kamakura Period (1185-1333) in Japan, who made significant contributions to the development of Japanese Zen. He brought back the tea table and seven tea canons and other stories related to the tea ceremony from Yuhang Jingshan Temple, which can be seen from the Japanese literature from the 18th to 19th century or even later and were regarded as legends without reliable historical data because of the remote time when Nanbosyomyo was alive. However, the origin and spreading of these legends on the one hand reflected the influence of Jingshan Zen tea culture in Japan and the high prestige of Nanbosyomyo in Japanese Zen tea circle, and on the other hand it resulted from collision and struggle between the two cultures of matcha tea and fried tea in Japanese society.