In Japanese tradition, architectural spaces designed to be used for tea ceremony (chanoyu) gatherings are known as chashitsu (茶室, literally "tea rooms").[1]
The architectural style that developed for chashitsu is referred to as the sukiya style (sukiya-zukuri), and the term sukiya (数奇屋) may be used as a synonym for chashitsu.[2] Related Japanese terms are chaseki (茶席), broadly meaning "place for tea," and implying any sort of space where people are seated to participate in tea ceremony,[3] and chabana, "tea flowers", the style of flower arrangement associated with the tea ceremony.
Typical features of chashitsu are shōji windows and sliding doors made of wooden lattice covered in a translucent Japanese paper; tatami mat floors; a tokonoma alcove; and simple, subdued colours and style.
The ideal floor size of a chashitsu is 4.5 tatami mats.[4]
In Japan, an ochaya (お茶屋, literally "tea house") is an establishment where patrons are entertained by geisha. Ochaya are located in geisha districts (花街 hanamachi), and are today most numerous in Kyoto, though they can be found in geisha districts in other cities, such as Tokyo.
Ochaya, where geisha entertain, should be distinguished from okiya (boarding house), where geisha live
– these may both be loosely translated as "geisha house". Geisha are
attached to a single boarding house (where they do not entertain), and
entertain at various ochaya or other venues from night to night. As
geisha replaced previous courtesans, ochaya (in geisha districts, where
geisha entertained) replaced the previous ageya (in yūkaku "pleasure quarters", where tayū and oiran entertained).
The most notable and famous ochaya is Ichiriki Chaya, in the Gion district of Kyoto, which is considered the height of exclusivity, and features as a major setting in Arthur Golden’s fictional portrayal of a Gion Geisha's life, Memoirs of a Geisha.
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