THE OLD TEASELLERS

The letter reveals how close Baisaõ's[1675-1763] relationship was with high-ranking members of the Nabeshima clan...

Norman Waddell: The Old Teaseller(2008), page 20.

There are old men

who are poor teasellers

out of necessity,

a life forced upon them;

and then there are men

of influence and wide connections,

who choose to play the role,

pretending poverty,

while exchanging letters

with high aristocracy,

and negotiating with abbots

abodes for elite nuns.

To them teaselling

is a performance close to art,

and one day they just

burn their exquisite set.

The tea furnishings Baisaõ used at his shop, including elegant teacups, teapots, braziers, and other utensils, many of them Chinese manufacture, were new to most Japanese... Among them were articles of great rarity...

Norman Waddell: The Old Teaseller(2008), page 28.

28.-29.03.2022

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