roji 露地

Lit. "dewy ground." Commonly known as a tea garden *chaniwa 茶庭, this is a because the special arrangement of stones, plants, and other objects through which guests pass on their way to the house *chashitsu 茶室. Originally roji was written 路次 or 路地 indicating a "path through which one passes" on the way to the chashitsu, and it was usually an empty space - neither planned nor conceived as a garden. According to the Chōandōki 長闇堂記, a collection to anecdotes about tea ceremony *chanoyu 茶の湯, published in 1640, Ishiguro Dōtei 石黒道堤, a disciple of Murata Jukō 村田珠光 (1422-1502), took the first step to filling the space between the gate and chashitsu by placing stepping stones *fumi-ishi 踏石 over the bare earth. In the Momoyama period, roji sometimes included stepping stones set in gravel to avoid mud rather than as objects of aesthetic appreciation. According to the *Nanbōroku 南方録, Sen no Rikyū 千利休 (1522-91) first recognized the roji as possessing positive value, and it is from that time the characters 露地 and 露次 were used. Supposedly these characters were used in a sutra that describes the place where souls are reborn, and thus the roji symbolized the pure ground in which one is spiritually reborn as he passes from the mundane world to the solitude of the rustic tearoom, sōan chashitsu 草庵茶室 (see *sōan 草庵). Reportedly, Rikyū stressed the purity of the roji, filling it with a clump of small bamboo, a path, and a bamboo wicket *sarudo 猿戸 so that it appears as if a hermit lives in a hut in an old thicket. The simple and quiet ideal of Rikyū's wabi style tea wabicha わび茶 (see *wabi わび) was best expressed in a roji that included unpolished stepping stones, a stone lantern and a low water basin set *tsukubai 蹲踞. Leaves should be scattered on the ground like leaves in a forest so the earth is not shown. Moreover, the roji should be watered just before the entrance of guests so as to preserve a fresh and clean appearance.
In Rikyū's time the roji was generally conceived as a single space, even if employing a some kind of middle gate *chūmon 中門. This single tea garden ichijū roji 一重露地 gradually developed into the divided or double tea garden nijū roji 二重露地 consisting of the outer tea garden sotoroji 外露地 and inner tea garden *uchiroji 内露地. Furuta Oribe 古田織部 (1544-1615) is generally credited with developing the more complex and scenic type of roji. In the typical roji of the Edo period, stepping stones and, in some cases, paved paths *nobedan 延段 lead from the *yoritsuki 寄付 (waiting shelter) all the way to the entrance of the chashitsu. Lanterns *tōrō 灯籠 are placed throughout the roji (Rikyū used only one to provide light for tea gatherings, chakai 茶会 held at night, although later roji often employ two or three), as well as a tsukubai, a middle gate of some kind, and trump stones *yaku-ishi 役石 set at key positions. At the symbolic level, the roji suggests the scenery of steep mountains and deep valleys, so natural plants, primarily evergreens, are also planted. Bright flowers are avoided. The tree planted near the path is called the sleeve-brushing tree, sodezuri-no-ki 袖摺の木 and a sleeve-brushing pine sodezuri-no-matsu 袖摺の松 is favored.
The roji may also be called roji-niwa 露地庭, or sukiya-niwa 数寄屋庭.