Customer Reviews

Teahouse Fire

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THE TEAHOUSE FIRE, Ellis Avery, Riverhead, 2006, pp.391

If anyone is truly interested in the history of the teahouse ceremony ' how it was performed and the training process, Avery has written and excellent treatise along with embedding the lives of the Shin family. At first it appears strange that Aurelia is relating the story through her eyes, living with her Jesuit uncle and moving to Kyoto, Japan but this is necessary to spice up what would be rather monotonous. There is also some reference to sexual moves by her uncle whom she does not like but is now her only living relative.
However once in Japan she is truly orphaned but discovered by Yukako of the Shin family who take her in. Aurelia is assigned the task of Yukako's maid . As the 25 years progress, she learns the language and customs of 1860-1912 Japan. As Yukako matures, her 'father' begins to teach her temae: 'Yukako didn't use the words 'make tea' when she talked about the whole choreographed ritual....' p. 48 This would normally have been taught to the son, but he has no other heir. Yukako perfects the way of the tea ceremonies while Aurelia, hiding behind a screen also perfects the art.

A great deal of writing is devoted to tea preparation which is so very precise. Even the tools are very specialized. Under the present Master, Yukako and her sons all learned the highly technical procedures. When he dies, the title is normally passed on to a male heir after a two year study. Yukako has a good business sense and once the Master (her father) dies, she incorporates these ideas as the new Master. Her father had always been opposed to exposing this ancient tradition to outsiders but now she will gladly show foreigners who have a high interest in this unusual ritual ' just to make tea! Plus it affords her a living.

Under the modernization program dictated by the Meiji emperors, temae was abandoned and had to be taught secretly: 'Worse still, the Emperor announced a program of Bunmei Kaika, Civilization and Enlightenment, dismissing tea...better abandoned than subsidized.' (p. 91) However, it is eventually reinstated as valuable, if for no other reason than a tourist delight. Now Yukako prospers churning out students for the emperor and nearby girl's school.

Aurelia's plight and misfortunes are the threads knitting various parts of the story together. The novel would be quite boring without the inclusion of her life and that of others. Avery, who is quite familiar with the temae, describes the ceremony many times. Typically, as in most Japanese novels, history, language and culture is interspersed giving us some insight into late 19th century Japan.

Though I was interested in the cultural stories, in general I was bored. The reason for the title becomes obvious as you read ' I don't want to reveal one of the few exciting events!