The Japanese teahouse

Japanese culture and architecture have always fascinated the Western world. One particular, architecturally complex building type at the intersection of multiple currents of Japanese philoso-phy, art and esthetics is the Japanese teahouse. It is a very private place of meditation, a place where only those may enter who have been invited, in which the host communicates with his or her guests through the medium of tea in the context of the strictly regimented ceremony.