A traditional Japanese chashitsu, just two metres square, has been built in the Ashmolean Museum, Oxford. The tea house is located inside one of two new Japanese galleries that are being installed as part of the Ashmolean¡Çs current redevelopment - a major project that involves the construction of 39 new galleries in a striking new building designed by the architect Rick Mather.

The tea house was designed specially for the gallery by Tokyo-based architect Komoda Isao (of Atelier Komoda), who specializes in traditional Japanese architecture. It was built by master carpenter Amakasu Eiichiro (of Amakasu Komuten), one of Japan¡Çs leading traditional carpentry specialists. The timber framework of the tea house was first constructed at Mr Amakasu¡Çs workshop at Chigasaki, Kanagawa Prefecture, then taken apart and shipped to England, where it was painstakingly reconstructed inside the Japanese gallery by a team of master craftsmen, including a specialist plasterer and paperer.

Separated from the gallery by a tiny ¡Ægarden¡Ç space of beaten earth, and entered by stepping up onto a large stepping stone, the tea house will offer a glimpse of traditional Japan within the white walls and brand new showcases of the new museum building.

Inside the tea house we plan to show a selection of contemporary Japanese tea wares generously donated by Professor Hayashiya Seizo, Director of the Tomo Museum in Tokyo. However, the tea house will not be simply an ¡Æexhibit¡Ç to be viewed from a distance by visitors to the gallery. Sen Soshu, the grand master of the Mushanokoji tea school, will perform the inaugural tea ceremony at the opening of the new Museum building in November 2009. Thereafter we plan to hold regular tea demonstrations, so that Ashmolean visitors can experience drinking Japanese green tea in the peaceful surroundings of a real tea house.