A Separate World, A Spiritual Shelter
Should one want to make an orthodox tea room, it would be best to refer to a specialized book on the subject for full details. But it may be more meaningful, especially if one is not particularly interested in the tea ceremony, to reconsider the philosophy of the tea room. After all, the physical setting for the partaking of the green tea was designed to be like a tiny cosmos, separated from the daily world, where the mind could become clear, and the harmony between people restored. For people of today as well, with their hectic lifestyles, this kind of spiritual shelter has much to offer. The actual place can be a second home, a cottage next to the house, or simply a room in the house itself. For Americans, a Japanese-style room is already a setting which is removed from their everyday experience. Thus it is not necessary to reproduce a tea ceremony room meticulously.
Above all, it is a question of being able, in the midst of our modern urban existence, to achieve peace of mind by sitting quietly in a tiny room. The need to occasionally retreat even from one's own family might also unintentionally motivate the spirit of today's tea ceremony.
For those who wish to think along more sociable lines, it would be possible to build a tea pavilion outside for garden parties. In this case, it would be better, rather than preserving the closed-in feeling of an orthodox tea room, to use regular-sized shoji and add a veranda to make a more open structure. In the home itself, a small room adjacent to the living room could be used as a tea room for special occasions, and as a recreation or guest room at other times.
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