Message in Commemoration of the 50th Anniversary of the Japan Foundation Awards

Over 50 years have passed since the birth of the Japan Foundation as an organization that has strived for human, cultural, and artistic exchange on a global scale. In the course of those activities, the Foundation has achieved tremendous results, both from the activities that have enjoyed public interest as well as those that have been carried out behind the scenes. It goes without saying that the Foundation has played a significant role in the postwar recovery of Japan, economic support, and in the promotion of Japan’s unique traditional culture and arts.

In an effort to introduce and disseminate Japan’s traditional culture of chado, the way of tea, throughout the world, and help as many people as possible deepen their understanding thereof, I have made over 300 visits to 70 countries between 1955 and today in 2023, beginning with the United States in 1951 right after the war, where I raised a bowl of tea in prayer for world peace. The purpose of my life has been to offer “Peacefulness through a Bowl of Tea.”

As a result, the number of people in nations throughout the world who have learned the chado and come to understand it through universities, associations, and religious temples has risen, and the number of universities offer credit for the study of the chado in the United States, including the University of Hawai‘i, as well as in China and Poland. The number of students who begin their research on the chado as a leading example of Japanese culture is also beginning to rise. I myself was honored to receive the Japan Foundation Award in 1995 in recognition of these contributions, for which I am both humbled and honored.

SEN Genshitsu
Grand Master XV
Urasenke Chado Tradition

(Original text in Japanese)

Awards and Special Prizes: Recipients List 1973 - 1995