The Book of Tea' is a philosophical treatise written by Kakuzo Okakura, a Japanese scholar, art critic, and curator, first published in 1906. This influential work explores the aesthetics, cultural significance, and philosophy behind the Japanese tea ceremony. The author discusses the principles of simplicity, harmony, and reverence that are central to the tea ceremony, highlighting its ability to foster a deeper connection with nature, oneself, and others. Okakura explores the contrast between Eastern and Western cultures, examining how the appreciation of tea reflects differing approaches to beauty, spirituality, and the pursuit of knowledge. He emphasizes the importance of preserving traditional values and aesthetics in the face of modernization. It provides readers with a profound understanding of the philosophy and artistry underlying the tea ceremony, making it a cherished text for those interested in Japanese culture, aesthetics, and the pursuit of a mindful existence.
Transcending the narrow confines of its title, presents a unified concept of life, art and nature. Along the way exploring topics related to tea appreciation, including Zen, flower arranging and Taoism. An early cultural activist, Okakura's mission was to preserve Japanese art and aesthetic practices from an extinction that seemed imminent." --The Japan Times Now in paperback with a new foreword and new photographs! This classic work by Okakura Kakuzo has inspired many generations of readers by illuminating the underlying spirit and message of the venerable Japanese tea masters. The Book of Tea doesn't focus on the tea ceremony itself, but rather on the Zen Buddhist philosophy behind it. Kakuzo teaches us to cultivate an everyday awareness of the beauty in all the common things around us. His powerful message is even more relevant today than when he wrote this book, and it serves as a wonderful introduction to the aesthetics of Japanese culture. This edition has a new foreword by Andrew Juniper, who runs the Wabi-Sabi Art Gallery in West Sussex, England, and an introduction by Liza Dalby, the first American woman to be fully trained as a geisha in Japan in the 1970's. In 1906, in turn-of-the-century Boston, a small, esoteric book about tea was written with the intention of being read aloud in the famous salon of Isabella Stewart Gardner--Boston's most notorious socialite. It was authored by Okakura Kakuzo, a Japanese philosopher, art expert, and curator. Little known at the time, Kakuzo would emerge as one of the great thinkers of the early 20th century, a genius who was insightful, witty, and greatly responsible for bridging Western and Eastern cultures. Okakura had been taught at a young age to speak English, and was more than capable of expressing to Westerners the nuances of tea and the Japanese Tea Ceremony. Nearly a century later, Kakuzo's The Book of Tea is still beloved the world over, making it an essential part of any tea enthusiast's collection. Interwoven with a rich history of Japanese tea and its place in Japanese society is a poignant commentary on Asian culture and our ongoing fascination with it, as well as illuminating essays on art, spirituality, poetry, and more. The Book of Tea is a delightful cup of enlightenment from a man far ahead of his time.
This exploration of the Japanese tea ceremony is “a fascinating exposition of Japanese culture and the country’s relationship to the west” (The Guardian). Written in 1906 by “a pivotal figure in trying to make sense out of the clash between Western innovation in Japan and Oriental tradition . . . [The Book of Tea] “presents a unified concept of life, art and nature [and explores] topics related to tea appreciation, including Zen, flower arranging and Taoism” (The Japan Times). The Book of Tea captivated poets including T. S. Eliot and Ezra Pound, and illustrates how the philosophy of Teaism raises tea above the status of mere beverage to cultural touchstone, melding ethics and religion, simplicity and egalitarianism, nature and humanity. It is a way of life and a path toward enlightenment that has stood the test of time over centuries.
Okakura Kakuzo (1863-1913), also known as Okakura Tenshin, was a Japanese scholar who contributed to the development of arts in Japan. Outside Japan, he is chiefly remembered today as the author of The Book of Tea (1906) in which he introduces the term "Teaism" and how tea has affected nearly every aspect of Japanese culture, thought, and life. He attended Tokyo Imperial University, where he first met and studied under Ernest Fenollosa. In 1890, Okakura was one of the principal founders of the first Japanese fine-arts academy, Tokyo bijutsu gakko (Tokyo School of Fine Arts). Later, he also founded Nihon Bijutsuin (Japan Institute of Fine Arts). He wrote all of his main works in English. Okakura researched Japan's traditional art and travelled to Europe, the United States, China and India. He gave the world an image of Japan as a member of the East, in the face of a massive onslaught of Western culture. His other works include The Ideals of the East (1903) and The Awakening of Japan (1904).
The Book of Tea: Illustrated, by Okakura Kakuzo (1919). A Japanese Harmony of Art Culture & The Simple Life. - Containing many illustrations in colour and in black and white. This little book is illuminating in its revelation of the old world of Japanese thought and culture, with its reaction on Japanese daily life. It is not a translation, but was written in English. The author, the late Okakura Kakuzo, was one of theleaders in the movement which a generation ago set itself to stem the western invasion, spreading like a malaria over every field of intellectual activity and threatening to submerge entirely the ancient beautiful Japanese civilisation. The illustrations are chosen from our own National collections, and in the appendix will be found further details as to the Tea Ceremony and its various accessories.
The 1904 book that famously declared “Asia is one” was among the first studies in English to reference Zen as it explored the roots of Japanese beauty. Like the author’s The Book of Tea, this volume emphasized the spiritual ideals of Asian, and especially Japanese, art. Kakuzo Okakura (1863–1913) was an administrator and scholar whose writings helped shape the West’s early views of Japan and Asia.
Okakura Kakuzo's The Book of Tea (茶の本) is an essay linking the role of tea (Teaism) to the aesthetic and cultural aspects of Japanese life. Though Kakuzo was born and raised Japanese it was written in English and is one of the great English Tea classics. In The Book of Tea he discusses Zen and Taoism, but also the secular aspects of tea and Japanese life. The book emphasizes how Teaism taught the Japanese many things; most importantly, simplicity. He ends the book with a chapter on Tea Masters, and spends some time talking about Sen no Rikyū and his contribution to the Japanese Tea Ceremony. Okakura was a Japanese scholar who contributed to the development of arts in Japan. Outside of Japan, he is chiefly remembered today as the author of The Book of Tea.
Reproduction of the original. The publishing house Megali specialises in reproducing historical works in large print to make reading easier for people with impaired vision.
Written by the foremost authority of the era on Oriental archeology and art, this extremely influential book offers a brief but concise introduction to Asian art. First published in 1883, it responded to a vogue in Western culture for a growing awareness and appreciation of Japanese artistic expressions of beauty and philosophy — a perspective that remains fresh and valid. Author Kakuzo Okakura (1862–1913) was a co-founder of the Tokyo Fine Art School (now known as Tokyo National University of Fine Arts and Music) and a curator of Oriental art at Boston’s Museum of Fine Arts. He also wrote The Book of Tea, and together with this volume, his writings rank among the most widely read English-language works about Japan. Ideals of the East wrought profound effects on the Western understanding of the internal consistencies and strengths of East Asian aesthetic traditions. One of its major themes, the connections between spirituality and the evolution of Asian art, provided English-speaking people with the earliest lucid account of Zen Buddhism and its relation to the arts.
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