Yoshio Maruyama is a tea-ceremony master. In his view, Japanese cuisine is a comprehensive art form, incorporating everything from ceremonial spaces to the construction of the premises. The famed tea master Sen no Rikyu once counselled that preparation should never be compromised: ‘Set the charcoal so that the water will boil’. The waiting room is cooled with an icicle in summer, in winter warmed with a charcoal brazier. Ikebana are crafted to suggest flowers in a field.