. . is descended from Chinese court tea tasting parties (similar to our competitive wine tasting parties, but all tasting from the same cup to make sure all tasted the exact same brew).

The samurai rulers of the Kamakura Shogunate distorted this entertainment to the service of their new Zen Buddhist religion. In like manner they distorted many other common daily things, tranforming Japan from "Little China" to what we think of as essentially Japanese today, all in about 200 years.