Japanese tea houses, Chiriana dust pit

In front of the Japanese tea houses (chashitsu), right under the roof eaves, you may notice a small, carefully shaped hole in the ground, marked with a large stone placed on one edge (as in today's photo, taken at a chashitsu inside the Sengan-en garden in Kagoshima).

The hole is actually a dust pit called chiriana and, as everything related to tea ceremony, it has a practical role enhanced by a symbolic meaning. The dust pit is used to collect the fallen leaves and the trimmed twigs. However, while preparing the tea house for guests, the host also places inside the chiriana several green twigs. This indicates the care and attention to detail the hosts puts into preparing the tea ceremony...