Interrogating Chanoyu Narratives with Dr. Rebecca Corbett

In this episode of the Specialty Matcha Podcast, hosts Ryan and Zongjun (Sam) talk with with Dr. Rebecca Corbett, a historian specializing the history and practice of Japanese tea culture (chanoyu), and early modern Japanese women’s history. Dr. Corbett shares her personal journey into the world of tea and discusses the complexities of gender roles within tea practices.

The conversation also touches on the influence of the Urasenke school, the secretive nature of knowledge transmission in Chanoyu, and the institutionalized sexism present in Japanese society. Dr. Corbett's book, Cultivating Femininity: Women and Tea Culture in Edo and Meiji Japan, sheds light on the women who were written out of tea history and disproves orthodox narratives perpetuated by the largest and most powerful schools of tea ceremony in the world.

https://libraries.usc.edu/person/rebecca-corbett

https://theconversation.com/green-gruel-pea-soup-what-westerners-thought-of-matcha-when-they-tried-it-for-the-first-time-263014?utm_medium=article_clipboard_share&utm_source=theconversation.com

https://library.oapen.org/handle/20.500.12657/30216

https://globaltea.ucdavis.edu/