Monkey Playing with the Moon Reflected on the Water

Tea houses and traditional Japanese houses have a built-in recessed display space, called tokonoma. The tokonoma is usually decorated with a hanging scroll, flower arrangement, and small objects, like dolls or incense burners, according to the season. For a tea ceremony, the host would consider the participants and occasion to create a special collection of objects, called toriawase, to commemorate the event. This assortment includes not only the objects in the tokonoma, but also the utensils and tools used in the ceremony, such as the teabowl, scoop, and freshwater container.