The Book of Tea: an Eloquent Introduction to Teaism and Other Aspects of Japanese Culture

"The Book of Tea" by Kakuzo Okakura is a deeply beautiful book does which, in addition to teaching the history of tea and its preparation, provides an eloquent introduction to Teaism and other aspects of Japanese culture. Okakura's words linger long after the reader has finished, and tea, once an ordinary beverage, acquires a soul. Okakura was born in a Japan that had seen Commodore Perry but had not yet renounced the Shogunate. By the end of his life he had seen the Great War and...
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"The Book of Tea" by Kakuzo Okakura is a deeply beautiful book does which, in addition to teaching the history of tea and its preparation, provides an eloquent introduction to Teaism and other aspects of Japanese culture. Okakura's words linger long after the reader has finished, and tea, once an ordinary beverage, acquires a soul. Okakura was born in a Japan that had seen Commodore Perry but had not yet renounced the Shogunate. By the end of his life he had seen the Great War and Japan's first imperialistic military adventures in Korea and Manchuria that would culminate in the tragedy of the Second World War. The scion of Japanese aristocracy, Okakura chose to spend the latter half of his life as an expatriate living in Boston, Massachusetts, where he befriended the Brahmins of that city. "The Book of Tea," which was written in this period, eloquently introduced the American audience to an idealized vision of Japan-- the Japan of cherry blossoms, kakemono, and Chanoyu, the Tea Ceremony. In "The Book of Tea," Kakuzo explains the Japanese tea ceremony to a non-Japanese audience. Laying out the history of tea and the Zen esthetic in which cha-do ("the way of tea") makes sense, Kakuzo describes the place in which the ceremony is held and some of the tools used. In its simplicity and its elegance, the Tea Ceremony is a form of Zen practice. Kakuzo refrains from describing the actual service in "The Book of Tea," saying that it's not the tea that matters-but the effect that the ritual has on the people who perform it.