City in a Fluidity Landscape Rethinking the Urban Lao Village on the Mighty Mekong

Abstract

The Japanese Teahouse and tea ceremony are more than a cultural ritual. It has become a spiritual experience of layers of history in beauty, tranquility, and honor. What is it in the space that conveys the authentic Japanese essence? Every Japanese architect, and many others in various fields, has studied the tra-ditional Japanese teahouse and its history. It is because the evolution and changes in teahouse styles are significantly influential in the development of Japanese architecture. Along with the periodical architectural movement, tradi-tional teahouses represent distinctive philosophies of the tea masters and his his-torical, political, and social relationships during the time of his career. The expe-rience of a tea ceremony is also exquisite, and exclusive to Japan. Though small in size, chashitsu, or tearoom, today embraces six hundred years of profound Japanese history. Traditional teahouses are the epitome of Japanese aesthetics. Teahouses and tearooms are ambiguous, yet refined and insightful-simple and sophisticated at the same time. The subtle expressions in the teahouse itself are the true key to the past and present Japanese sense of beauty, state of mind, and conspicuous yet ambiguous soul.