The Glocal Book:"The Book of Tea" by Okakura Kakuzou(Tenshin)-No.25

The Powdered Tea is Entirely Forgotten

「Unfortunately　the sudden outburst of the Mongolian tribes in the thirteenth century, which resulted in the devastation and conquest of China under the barbaric rule of the Yuen Emperors, destroyed all the fruits of Sung culture.
The native dynasty of the Mings which attempted re-nationalisation in the middle of the century was harassed by internal troubles, and China again fell under the alien rule of the Manchus in the seventeenth century. Manners and customs changed to leave no vestige of the former times.
The powdered tea is entirely forgotten. We find a Ming commentator at loss to ｃａｌｌ　ｔｈｅ　shape　ｏｆ　the tea whisk mentioned in one of the Sung classics. Tea is now taken by steeping the leaves in hot water in a bowl or cup. The reasen why the Western world is innocent of the older method of drinking tea is explained by the fact that Europe knew it only at the close of the Ming dynasty.」(From the Book of Tea-the School of Tea, p.30, Charles E. Tuttle Co.,Rutland, Vermont-Tokyou, Japan)
From the cultural aspects,　the history of the China were disastrous. The changes of dynasties mean to result in the almost complete destructions. Fortunately and/or unfortunately, the Sung culture about Tea related powdered tea has remained and developed in our country, Japan.
The utensils for tea drinking were found in Japan. As for example,The Tenmoku-jawan, a kind of tea bowl,which were the beautiful, valuables , are possible to find only in Japan.

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Picture: Blue-Green Glazed Square Platter by Keitoku Kato