Attraction
Archaeology has identified large merchant compounds with main houses, courtyards, deep storage buildings, and in some cases tea rooms or stores for tea utensils. Chinese, Korean, Southeast Asian, and Japanese ceramics appear among the finds, alongside objects used in ordinary urban life. This evidence broadens tea history beyond celebrated masters. Chanoyu depended on rooms, water, fuel, food, ceramic supply, storage, repair, and the ability of households to control precious things. City sources also note tea-related ceramics in contexts ranging beyond the wealthiest merchants. The finds do not reveal exactly how every object was used in a specific gathering, but they ground ‘merchant tea culture’ in houses and commodities rather than treating it as an abstract aesthetic born fully formed.
