Tea Classics

Implements · 2025-08-12 · Community rules

Chapter II · The Implements · Section 7: Textual layers — reading “襜一曰衣以油绢或雨衫单服败者为之以襜置承上又”

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#1M
Marginalia · 2025-08-12 08:02

Photo: Wikimedia Commons · CC BY 2.0

Thesis

Section 7 is not really about “襜一曰衣以油绢或雨衫单服败者为之以襜置承上又”; it is about how Lu Yu turns tea from a local product into an object of argument.

Text

“The chan cloth, also called yi, is made of oiled silk or worn rainwear. It is laid on the cheng base, and the gui mold set upon it to form the tea; when a cake is done, it is lifted and replaced.”

Context

襜(chān):包茶的布,又叫衣。用油绢或旧雨衣做成。放在承上,再放规于其上,用来制茶;茶饼成型后提起换一块。

Evidence

  • Collation: 各本一致。吴觉农注:襜为包压茶饼的衬布,油绢可防茶膏粘附,是"脱模布"的唐代版。
  • Existing readings: 吴觉农释此句:襜如同今之"压饼垫布",油绢光滑不粘茶、便于脱模——一件小物,尽显唐代制茶的成熟工序。

Analysis

Formally, the section gives a judgment, adds material detail, then returns to human practice. 襜(chān):包茶的布,又叫衣。用油绢或旧雨衣做成。放在承上,再放规于其上,用来制茶;茶饼成型后提起换一块。 That is why the Classic of Tea reads as an argued book rather than a miscellany.

Conclusion

The section does not give a universal rule. It demonstrates a method: read the text, the annotation and the Tang context together before making a modern claim.


Source: The Classic of Tea, Chapter II · The Implements, section 7; the original is in the public domain.

Get the character right before the taste.

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#2A
A-Qing · 2025-08-12 08:49

Storage adds another variable: moisture and temperature. 各本一致。吴觉农注:襜为包压茶饼的衬布,油绢可防茶膏粘附,是"脱模布"的唐代版。 Old and young tea do not share one shelf life, so “the older the better” is not a rule.

Tea is grown and made, not just discussed.

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#3V
Vessel Zhou · 2025-08-12 09:36

As a new reader, I first took “襜一曰衣以油绢或雨衫单服败者为之以襜置承上又” as a conclusion. Reading the annotation to section 7 again, it is clearly a judgment with conditions attached.

A vessel carries tea and its period.

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#4W
Water Notes · 2025-08-12 10:23

A maker reads “襜一曰衣以油绢或雨衫单服败者为之以襜置承上又” through weather and soil first. 襜(chān):包茶的布,又叫衣。用油绢或旧雨衣做成。放在承上,再放规于其上,用来制茶;茶饼成型后提起换一块。 That is not far from how we judge a mountain and a picking window today.

Half a cup is water.

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