A lot of bamboo is used in soan tea rooms. With its qualities of lightness and elegance it has been used in architecture since ancient times. As is seen in ordinary houses, bamboo is mostly used in tea rooms for lattice windows, and for the rafters and laths of ceilings.

Apart from this, tea masters have used bamboo as the right material in the right place. By using bamboo it is possible to avoid a feeling of heaviness. But there was also concern that if it was used too much the design of the room would be spoiled. Rikyu hated the use of 'bamboo pillars'.

Bamboo somehow gives a feeling of furyu 'refined elegance', but if it is used too conspicuously, the appearance of the room as a whole can lose its sharpness and stillness.

A lot of bamboo is also used where it cannot be seen, inside walls. Split bamboo is used as part of the walls' inner support. Whether it is sugi (Japan cedar) or bamboo, Kyoto has, from long ago been blessed with high quality materials.