Brewing Tea in the Shade of Trees 1820s Aoki Mokubei In an absolute tour de force of brushwork, rendered in various tones of ink and light colors, the Literati artist Aoki Mokubei has captured an imaginary landscape with dense foliage in the foreground and a craggy mountaintop dominating the upper right of the composition, while the eye is drawn to the serene peaks in the distance brushes in pale blue washes. In this breathtaking mountain setting, a group of men in Chinese-style scholar robes and caps partake of tea outdoors, as a servant tends to the ceramic stove (ryro ) upon which sits a ceramic kettle for heating water. These accoutrements were used for preparing sencha (Chinese-style steeped tea), as popularized by émigré baku Zen monks who traveled from China to set up temples in Nagasaki and the Kyoto area, and eventually throughout Japan.The poetic Japanese title for this work “Brewing Tea in the Shade of Trees” (Ryokuin senme i), derives not from the artist, but f