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The Book of Tea

Kakuzō Okakura,

Elise Grilli (Foreword )

3.84 · Rating details · 8,885 ratings · 905 reviews

Now available in a gorgeous hardcover slipcase edition, this "object d'art" will be sure to add grace and elegance to tea shelves, coffee tables and bookshelves. A keepsake enjoyed by tea lovers for over a hundred years, The Book of Tea Classic Edition will enhance your enjoyment and understanding of the seemingly simple act of making and drinking tea.

In 1906 in ...more

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Hardcover Slipcased , Classic Edition, 133 pages

Published 1989 by Tuttle (first published 1906)

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Aug 05, 2012 Paquita Maria Sanchez rated it really liked it

Shelves: japan, actuals-n-factuals

Just a few things:

* If you find yourself moving 13 times across 4 cities in 3 states over a period of less than 3 years, you'll notice that your bedroom looks more and more like a Japanese tea room each time.

* Monzaemon Chikamatsu is referred to in this text as the "Japanese Shakespeare." Will I be seeking this man's work out as soon as possible? Damn right! Pfft...don't threaten me with a good time.

* "We have an old saying in Japan that a woman cannot love a man who is truly vain, for there is Just a few things:

* If you find yourself moving 13 times across 4 cities in 3 states over a period of less than 3 years, you'll notice that your bedroom looks more and more like a Japanese tea room each time.

* Monzaemon Chikamatsu is referred to in this text as the "Japanese Shakespeare." Will I be seeking this man's work out as soon as possible? Damn right! Pfft...don't threaten me with a good time.

* "We have an old saying in Japan that a woman cannot love a man who is truly vain, for there is no crevice in his heart for love to enter and fill up. In art vanity is equally fatal to sympathetic feeling, whether on the part of the artist or the public." Where does this philosophy of art and ego leave someone like, say, Salvador Dali or James Brown? Yes, I just used those two names together for the same illustrative purpose.

* You know that Churchill quote about being a liberal at twenty and a conservative at forty? Screw that quote. This one's better: "Man at ten is an animal, at twenty a lunatic, at thirty a failure, at forty a fraud, and at fifty a criminal."

* This book is about art, architecture, philosophy, comparative Eastern spirituality, interior design (yep), meditation, simplicity, life, death, love, hate, desire, debauchery, flower gardening, Eastern/Western relations and perceptions, and, uh...what else? Oh yeah, tea.

* Dear children of the world: "Tell me, gentle flowers, teardrops of the stars, standing in the garden, nodding your heads to the bees as they sing of the dews and sunbeams, are you aware of the fearful doom that awaits you? Dream on, sway and frolic while you may in the gentle breeze of summer. To-morrow a ruthless hand will close around your throats. You will be wrenched, torn asunder limb by limb, and borne away from your quiet homes. The wretch, she may be passing fair. She may say how lovely you are while her fingers are still moist with your blood...It may even be your lot to be confined in some narrow vessel with only stagnant water to quench the maddening thirst that warns of ebbing life." How lovely is that?

* This is a beautiful and informative work. What else do ya need, huh? ...more

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Dec 12, 2016 Sidharth Vardhan rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Shelves: bestest, non-fiction, philosphy, myth-religion, asia

In the trembling grey of a spring dawn, when the birds were whispering in mysterious cadence among the trees, have you not felt that they were talking to their mates about the flowers?"

Wow!

"True beauty could be discovered only by one who mentally complete the incomplete.”

Just wow!

"Rikiu loved to quote an old poem which says: "To those who long only for flowers, fain would I show the full-blown spring which abides in the toiling buds of snow-covered hills."

More wow!

"The tea-master,

In the trembling grey of a spring dawn, when the birds were whispering in mysterious cadence among the trees, have you not felt that they were talking to their mates about the flowers?"

Wow!

"True beauty could be discovered only by one who mentally complete the incomplete.”

Just wow!

"Rikiu loved to quote an old poem which says: "To those who long only for flowers, fain would I show the full-blown spring which abides in the toiling buds of snow-covered hills."

More wow!

"The tea-master, Kobori-Enshiu, himself a daimyo, has left to us these memorable words: "Approach a great painting as thou wouldst approach a great prince." In order to understand a masterpiece, you must lay yourself low before it and await with bated breath its least utterance."

Wow ad infinitum!

Proper review:

"Meanwhile, let us have a sip of tea. The afternoon glow is brightening the bamboos, the fountains are bubbling with delight, the soughing of the pines is heard in our kettle. Let us dream of evanescence, and linger in the beautiful foolishness of things."

Beautiful writing all around. In terms of prose, it has to be the best Japanese book I have read. Okakura's purpose is to show west the depth of thought that is contained in simplicity of Eastern culture, Teaism in particular. Teaism is a culture/life style in Japan which values things like modesty, simplicity etc - in many ways very opposite of consumerism that plagues present day world. Besides general history of tea and Teaism, the author discusses a bunch of other subjects - such as need of a dialogue between West and East, religions (Taoism, Budhism, Jainism etc), flowers, poetry, translation, philosophy, art, aesthetics, architecture etc within a very short space and without ever discarding his beautiful prose.

About Taoism:

"The ancient sages never put their teachings in systematic form. They spoke in paradoxes, for they were afraid of uttering half-truths. They began by talking like fools and ended by making their hearers wise. Laotse himself, with his quaint humour, says, "If people of inferior intelligence hear of the Tao, they laugh immensely. It would not be the Tao unless they laughed at it."

About Translations:

"Translation is always a treason, and as a Ming author observes, can at its best be only the reverse side of a brocade- all the threads are there, but not the subtlety of colour or design.”

Philosophy:

"One day Soshi was walking on the bank of a river with a friend. 'How delightfully the fishes are enjoying themselves in the water!' exclaimed Soshi. His friend spake to him thus: 'You are not a fish; how do you know that the fishes are enjoying themselves?' 'You are not myself', returned Soshi; 'how do you know that I do not know that the fishes are enjoying themselves?'"

Art criticism:

An eminent Sung critic once made a charming confession. Said he: "In my young days I praised the master whose pictures I liked, but as my judgement matured I praised myself for liking what the masters had chosen to have me like."

More quotes:

"The primeval man in offering the first garland to his maiden thereby transcended the brute. He became human in thus rising above the crude necessities of nature. He entered the realm of art when he perceived the subtle use of the useless."

"Man at ten is an animal, at twenty a lunatic, at thirty a failure, at forty a fraud, and at fifty a criminal."

"Tell me, gentle flowers, teardrops of the stars, standing in the garden, nodding your heads to the bees as they sing of the dews and sunbeams, are you aware of the fearful doom that awaits you? Dream on, sway and frolic while you may in the gentle breeze of summer. To-morrow a ruthless hand will close around your throats. You will be wrenched, torn asunder limb by limb, and borne away from your quiet homes. The wretch, she may be passing fair. She may say how lovely you are while her fingers are still moist with your blood...It may even be your lot to be confined in some narrow vessel with only stagnant water to quench the maddening thirst that warns of ebbing life."

...more

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Dec 26, 2012 Rowena rated it it was amazing

Recommends it for: Tea lovers and Japanophiles

Shelves: asia, japanese-lit, philosophy, ebook

This book was just wonderful. It discusses the history of teaism in Asia (mainly Japan but also China). It’s written in a very poetic and philosophical manner. Not only does the book talk about tea, it also talks about how tea has influenced Japanese culture, especially Japanese cuisine, clothing, literature and art.

I learned some quite surprising facts. For example, onions were added to tea in some places, and tea-drinking was considered to be an occupation of depraved people!

The book also ...more

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Mar 13, 2011 Aubrey rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: reviewed, r-goodreads, antidote-think-twice-read, r-2014, non-fiction, antidote-think-twice-all, person-of-everything, 4-star, shorty-short

Meanwhile, let us have a sip of tea. The afternoon glow is brightening the bamboos, the fountains are bubbling with delight, the soughing of the pines is heard in our kettle. Let us dream of evanescence, and linger in the beautiful foolishness of things.

4.5/5

The last time I felt what this book conjured up in me, I was in Medieval Art, transcribing the parts of cathedrals in relation to aspects of religion, art, and space. Approaching the choir on high through the humbling nave, raising the eyes up to regard icons and murals as the voices lifts up in Kýrie, eléison, the intersection of westeast aisle and northsouth transept ensuring that should the images not be there, you will still be embodied in the Stations of the Cross. I've forgotten most of the terminology, but the essence is still there: that contextual crossroads where seemingly disparate pieces of your life come together, granting you a glimpse of all the myriad backbones of history converging onto a single point, nothing more than a moment and an insight and you.

I may have much more of the Occidental than Oriental in the marrow of my bones, but the little I've picked up of the Japanese culture so far was enough to set the appreciative tone regarding this particular work. It is a peculiar one in the way of Memórias póstumas de Brás Cubas, the writing in no way implying the publication date of 1905 and a position betwixt the earlier House of Mirth and the later White Fang. The title is also misleading, or rather the tricky type that lures your assumptions in and laughs as they run. This is indeed a book of tea, but tea in terms of history, in terms of movements both religious and aesthetic, in terms of a life of culture entire in the word chanoyu, the way of tea grounded in the fundamentals of philosophy, art, and the lifeline of Japan. Those of the so called West, be prepared to bear for once the scrutinizing eye, and with patient thoughtfulness you will be guaranteed to learn.

However, with every facing off between Japan and the all too encroaching powers of the author's day, there is a bevy of insightful knowledge and beauteous states of mind, ranging from discussion of the architecture of tea-rooms to essays on the meaning of flowers in relation to the tea ceremony and all manner of schools in between, all of which concern themselves as heavily with thought as they do with tea. Taoism and Zennism are here, both explained and expanded upon from China to Japan until finally, Teaism itself develops. For such a small packet of papers, this book packs quite the punch.

The whole ideal of Teaism is a result of this Zen conception of greatness in the smallest incidents of life. Taoism furnished the basis for aesthetic ideals, Zennism made them practical.

If I said much more, I would have to delve into summary, so I will leave it to you readers to discover this small, yet potent, piece of literature. Chances are you will never look at anything the same way again, and will simply have to mull a while in order to regain your bearings. Over a cup of tea, perhaps?

For a moment [cherry blossoms] hover like bejeweled clouds and dance above the crystal streams; then, as they sail away on the laughing waters they seem to say: "Farewell, O Spring! We are on to Eternity."

...more

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Jun 10, 2019 Gabrielle rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: asia, own-a-copy, to-read-again, reviewed, read-in-2019, philosophy

This book is about so much more than tea. This is about how something as seemingly simple as a beverage can define a culture’s history, philosophy and aesthetics. When it was originally published in 1906, the East was just opening to the West, and they had few cultural bridges to use to form bonds and begin to understand each other. But both hemispheres shared a love of tea, and a certain ritualization of its consumption. Through the history of the preparation of tea, and how the beverage ...more

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Jul 09, 2016 Carol rated it it was amazing

Shelves: japan, not-united-states, non-fiction

That ending. Wow.

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Apr 22, 2010 Matt Riddle rated it liked it

The Book of Tea by Okakura Kakuzō

Too little tea, we learn, was a Japanese expression used in reference to a person too busy to stop and smell the roses. Too much tea, then, refers to a person so busy smelling the roses he has little time for much else. In my humble estimation, Mr. Okakura had a little too much tea in him.

The Book of Tea makes a number of interesting points. I agree with its author that we Occidentals tend to downplay the Orient’s contributions to such fields as philosophy, The Book of Tea by Okakura Kakuzō

Too little tea, we learn, was a Japanese expression used in reference to a person too busy to stop and smell the roses. Too much tea, then, refers to a person so busy smelling the roses he has little time for much else. In my humble estimation, Mr. Okakura had a little too much tea in him.

The Book of Tea makes a number of interesting points. I agree with its author that we Occidentals tend to downplay the Orient’s contributions to such fields as philosophy, religion, art, music, etc. -- although I would guess that’s probably a lot less true today than when the book was published in 1906. I also agree with the author’s contention that Hesperian displays of art and culture tend toward ‘promiscuity’ and could do well to take lessons from the East’s more minimalist traditions.

Okakura loses me, however, when he tries to make of Teaism a religion -- specifically, Taoism in disguise. I have no quarrel with the cultivation of refined aesthetic sensibilities, but I consider such cultivation to be an accomplishment rather than a virtue. This might seem like splitting hairs, but I believe it’s a very important distinction. For me, cultivating refined sensibilities is something akin to working very hard to learn to swim a mean 100M backstroke. Kudos to you if you’ve done it, but it you haven’t it’s a lack of accomplishment on your part rather than a moral or ethical failing.

Okakura’s would-be marriage of refined aesthetic sensibilities with virtue reminds me very much of the Russian concept poshlost. We have no good English translation of poshlost is because it combines characteristics which our English-speaking tradition does not [thank goodness!:] necessarily combine: ethical or spiritual bankruptcy with common lack of taste. Even my main man Anton Pavlovich -- who in The Cherry Orchard pokes great fun at the concept -- falls victim to it in Three Sisters. Natasha’s wearing of colors which clash is undeniable evidence of her poshlost and a dead giveaway that by the end of the play she will become the shameless adulteress and household tyrant she does. How many of you believe that a failure to recognize which colors clash represents an unambiguous signal of turpitude?

I consider myself to have great taste in literature and rather plebeian taste in food and drink. Much as I might like sometimes to pretend to the contrary, I don’t actually believe that my enjoyment of Gogol’ or Twain makes me the moral superior of some other sad schmuck enjoying his Grisham or Crichton or Louis L’Amour. Nor do I believe the tea master’s appreciation of his briskly whisked goodness renders him my spiritual superior as I enjoy my skim milk and peanut butter sandwich.

P.S. It has been kindly brought to my attention that I've neglected to mention Okakura's offer of the tea master's gentle, contemplative Taoist perspective as a native Japanese alternative to the stern, imperialistic Shinto perspective gathering steam in Japan at the time The Book of Tea was written. That's an inexcusable oversight on my part, especially given that I've read The Rape of Nanking by Iris Chang. Okakura's meditative appeal against the strident militarization of his homeland's culture is eerily foreboding of the atrocities shortly to come in his countrymen's near future. I would heartily recommend that anyone with an interest in modern Asian history read The Book of Tea and The Rape of Nanking back to back. ...more

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Jan 20, 2016 Steven Walle rated it really liked it

This was a very good book on the history of tea and it's importance in the eastern cultures. Tea started out as a medicine and grew itself into a beverage. The book also speaks of the religion of Japan of Teaism.
I recommend this book to all.
Enjoy and Be Blessed.
Diamond

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Jan 28, 2019 Kathleen rated it really liked it

Shelves: inspiration, philosophical, 2019-challenges, art, classic, history, essays

It is easy to understand why Joseph Campbell, the much-loved professor of mythology and literature, included this book on his students’ required reading list. It is a profound little masterpiece that sheds light on complex ideas using simple explanations and examples, like Campbell did.

Kakuzo Okakura lived primarily in Japan but travelled widely and wrote in English. He is attempting to provide a kind of bridge between East and West, and with these essays that explore the historical, spiritual ...more

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Sep 15, 2013 Kirstine rated it really liked it

Shelves: 1-men, ebooks, own, reviewed, philosophy

“Teaism is a cult founded on the adoration of the beautiful among the sordid facts of everyday existence. It inculcates purity and harmony, the mystery of mutual charity, the romanticism of the social order. It is essentially a worship of the Imperfect, as it is a tender attempt to accomplish something possible in this impossible thing we know as life.”

It’s not a book about tea, in the sense that it’s not about how to drink your tea, what sorts you can get and what fancy properties they have and ...more

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Mar 01, 2015 Smiley rated it liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: cultural-studies, japan

First published in 1906, this classic work written in English having only seven short chapters is something rare and essential to those interested in Japanese culture. It is rare because few Japanese writers have written in English, even Natsume Soseki who studied in England in 1901-1903 (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Natsume_...) wrote most of his stories and novels in Japanese. Moreover, it is essential since reading this book would broaden our understanding on how and why tea in Japan has long First published in 1906, this classic work written in English having only seven short chapters is something rare and essential to those interested in Japanese culture. It is rare because few Japanese writers have written in English, even Natsume Soseki who studied in England in 1901-1903 (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Natsume_...) wrote most of his stories and novels in Japanese. Moreover, it is essential since reading this book would broaden our understanding on how and why tea in Japan has long been appreciatively admired, consumed and treasured.

When I read Chapter 1 The Cup of Humanity (8 pages), Mr Okakura has impressively amazed me as a well-read writer due to his writing scope concerning Dr Samuel Johnson, the great lexicographer, whose tea consumption was legendarily recorded. A reason is that I know his tea addiction from reading his monumental biography by James Boswell, therefore, it is my delight to read this section:

Samuel Johnson draws his own portrait as ‘a hardened and shameless tea-drinker, who for twenty years diluted his meals with only the infusion of the fascinating plant; who with tea amused the evening, with tea solaced the midnight, and with tea welcomed the morning.’ (p. 15)

Historically, this extract would inform us on this amazing drink preferably hot, it seems to me:

The tea plant, a native of southern China, was known from very early times to Chinese botany and medicine. It is alluded to in the classics under the various names of Tou, Tseh, Chung, Kha, and Ming, and was highly prized for possessing the virtues of relieving fatigue, delighting the soul, strengthening the will, and repairing the eyesight. ... The Taoists claimed it as an important ingredient of the elixir of mortality. The Buddhists used it extensively to prevent drowsiness during their long hours of meditation. (p. 22)

And what would you do with some tea itself nearby after reading this revelation?

… It was of such a beverage that Lotung, a Tang poet, wrote: ‘The first cup moistens my lips and throat, the second cup breaks my loneliness, the third cup searches my barren entrail but to find therein some five thousand volumes of odd ideographs. The fourth cup raises a slight perspiration, -- all the wrong of life passes away through my pores. At the fifth cup I am purified; the sixth cup calls me to the realms of immortals. The seventh cup – ah, but I could take no more! I only feel the breath of cool wind that rises in my sleeves. Where is Horaisan? Let me ride on this sweet breeze and waft away thither.’ (p. 25)
...more

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Dec 02, 2007 Banzai rated it it was amazing

Recommends it for: Artists, Buddhists, Teaists, and any other kind of "ist" that loves beauty.

Okakura Kakuzo writes that he is "not a polite teaist." This is true. In the Book of Tea, he more or less shames the world, in particular his own countrymen, for subscribing to Western aesthetics. He also makes it clear how he feels about said aesthetics and the junk art coming out of the cluttered, cheap and materialistic culture of 19th century Europe and America. That said, I didn't like this book because I'm a self-deprecating whitey.

I liked this book first and foremost because it's pretty! Okakura Kakuzo writes that he is "not a polite teaist." This is true. In the Book of Tea, he more or less shames the world, in particular his own countrymen, for subscribing to Western aesthetics. He also makes it clear how he feels about said aesthetics and the junk art coming out of the cluttered, cheap and materialistic culture of 19th century Europe and America. That said, I didn't like this book because I'm a self-deprecating whitey.

I liked this book first and foremost because it's pretty! I might have been ashamed to list that as my number one appeal, but after reading the book I'm quite proud. As far as books go, this one is the perfect size, looking lovely on my bedside table whether open, closed, or in the romantic cardboard sleeve it came in.

Second, for the inky portrait of Okakura Kakuzo in the front. He's looking off to the distance, lifting a cigarette to his jaw like some Confucian Marlboro man. The portrait says in eight thousand ways what an introduction couldn't about the opium-induced ire I'm about to launch into.

Third, (because any aestheticist does things in threes or fives) for passages such as these, where he is so irritated at the violent, soul-less populace for leaving the minimalist ritual of his romanticized East, he forgoes talking to the reader entirely and chooses to address the flowers instead:

"Tell me, gentle flowers, teardrops of the stars, standing in the garden, nodding your heads to the bees as they sing of the dews and the sunbeams, are you aware of the fearful doom that awaits you?"

In all seriousness, the book is an important historical record of a time when many of Asia's ancient art and treasures were in danger of being lost forever due to being considered "unfashionable." Kakuzo and a band of artists and intelligistas from several countries formed the Kanga-kai to preserve Japanese art technique and tradition. And yes, you do learn about tea. Take it from me and don't try to wrap your brain around dates and key figures in Asiatic history. Choose, instead, to transcend the words and embrace the lyrical nature of the lesson intended. ...more

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Jan 18, 2019 Anne ✨ rated it liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: classics, atw-asia, food-drink

(3.5) Written in 1095 by a Japenese philospher, exploring the history of tea in the east, the Japanese relationship with tea, and comparisons to the notions of tea in western culture.

The book is philosophical in tone, covers not just tea, but a bit of history, culture, and religion. There is beautiful writing and thoughtful passages to be savored slowly, while sipping your tea of course

There are three stages of boiling: the first boil is when the little bubbles like the eye of fishes swim on ...more

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Jun 01, 2013 Antonomasia rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: japan, aesthetes-decadents-and-romantics, philosophy, 2013, history, art, ebooks-kindle, early-20th-century

This is an exquisite little cultural history of Japan centred around the tea ceremony and a philosophy of "teaism" which includes elements of Zen and Taoism.

It's also a work of art and design philosophy which especially falls into place on realising it was written in the wake of the Western aesthetic movement of the late nineteenth century. (The Book of Tea was first published in 1906.) The Japanese perspective described here seems to unite, or else trace a middle way between, the opposition of ...more

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May 30, 2016 Katie Lumsden rated it really liked it · review of another edition

A really fascinating little collection of essays, dealing with Japanese culture at the turn of the twentieth-century, especially the tea ceremony and the culture and philosophy that springs from it. I found this really interesting and readable, although possibly more enjoyable if you have vague background knowledge of Japanese and Chinese history and schools of philosophy.

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May 29, 2017 Lubinka Dimitrova rated it liked it

Shelves: male-author, not-my-cup-of-tea, modern-classics, have-books-will-travel, meh, philosophy-religion, audio, general-non-fiction, life-s-too-short-for-novels

Well... I suppose, some books will speak to you, and some won't but in this particular case the author's cringe-worthy comments regarding the Occident's weltanschauung put me off from the very beginning. There were some mildly interesting passages later on, but all in all, this book was not exactly my cup of tea. Too much philosophical and/or poetic digressions, too little information on tea itself. Still searching for a readable book about tea.

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Jan 18, 2008 Nami rated it really liked it · review of another edition

What a beautiful book. It's amazing to see what changes in this world, and also what stays the same. 4/08

I had a moment of epiphany yesterday, when I realized that I wanted to study the tea ceremony (again) while I'm in Japan, and said something to my mom about wanting to find a teacher. Then today by total coincidence one of my students hands me a page she wrote for me about Chado (the tea ceremony) and the end of is says "I hope that this answer will encourage you to open the door to Chado ...more

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Nov 18, 2019 shanghao rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Delicate and profound

A soliloquy on tea and its rituals, primarily the Japanese Zen style, by a scholar whose ardent favour and incisive commentary still shine through in today's modern context.

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Jul 19, 2018 Megha Chakraborty rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

I normally recommend towards the end of my reviews, but this time I recommend to read it in the beginning. Ill say, read it asap, its a small book won't take much time to finish. I have always liked Japanese writing, it has a natural flow and its minimalistic which is the best part. Here the author tells us about Tea, don't get confused by the name it has much more than just tea, it takes a stand on everything. It has so much to give you, life lessons, art lessons, everything you need to know.

...more

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Mar 26, 2019 Jack rated it liked it

Shelves: non-fiction, 20th-century, japan

Okakura asks

'When will the West understand, or try to understand, the East?'

The circumstances in which he asks this question have greatly changed, but the concern remains. Okakura gives a sort of Pan-Asian outline of the aesthetics and philosophy that surround the simple act of tea-drinking, but his lasting achievement - and perhaps this was his intent all along - is to hint at the absolute gulf, the void of knowledge that even a decently culturally-educated person such as myself, if I can be Okakura asks

'When will the West understand, or try to understand, the East?'

The circumstances in which he asks this question have greatly changed, but the concern remains. Okakura gives a sort of Pan-Asian outline of the aesthetics and philosophy that surround the simple act of tea-drinking, but his lasting achievement - and perhaps this was his intent all along - is to hint at the absolute gulf, the void of knowledge that even a decently culturally-educated person such as myself, if I can be so inclined to call myself, having read this essential author and that classic novel, has of Oriental history and culture. Globalised capitalism may have smoothed out some of the differences that encapsulate the East-West divide, but that is an anomaly not even a century old. Difference survives, it still reigns.

Or so I presume. When I move to Japan in just under two months' time, perhaps I will have been so totally acclimatised and receptive of my new environment it will hardly seem different to Ireland at all. Different people, different language, but not remarkably so, once one is past the obvious. Part of me feels unready to go anywhere too different, and hopes settling in is not so difficult; another part seeks out the difference, wishes to embrace it fully, and would be disappointed by what is mundane and ordinary.

Until I move, I can't say do much more than ruminate on the subject. The East, huh. That which is not West. I'm not one to make grandiose sweeping remarks on Western civilisation, perhaps because it is not a very Irish thing to do. Read 19th and early-20th century philosophers and writers and one will think Western civilisation is a very European thing to make grand personal remarks about. Read the dross of political forums or comment spaces online and one will think Western civilisation is a very right-wing American thing to make grand personal remarks about. The West isn't for me, I don't speak for it, unless it's the West of Ireland, for which I have my own troubles with, but is certainly an area of cultural geography I am more equipped to speak authoritatively about. And if I can say little of the West, what then of the East?

Okakura is comfortable and confident in his ability to sketch something definably Eastern from an abridged history of a drink. He's a good writer - I wish I had learnt to write in such a way that I could throw out a word like 'fain' and make it natural. Such a remark could only be ironic now.

The polemical nature of The Book of Tea is something I haven't totally formed an opinion on. Okakura is writing to encourage Westerners to develop an interest in Asian art and philosophy, a request that comes with its own complexities today. Okakura was writing against an implicit prejudice in that which was non-Western. I read him acutely aware of an instinct to romanticise my destination. I want my life to change, significantly. Will I begin studying typical Eastern customs and quickly adopt them as my own? What would I be discarding, to do so? Would it be sincere? Can it be sincere for someone like me to become a Taoist or a Teaist or a Zen Buddhist, to read Genji monogatari in the original, to try writing haiku? Would there not be something essentially shallow and tacky and trivial in doing so?

I'm moving to Japan, and a little cultural conservative inside me says I shouldn't, because I can only be Irish and know Ireland, and reminds me that Americans try to read Ulysses, that so much is lost in translation from English to English. I wonder if I'll be flicking through this book again in a few months' time. I wonder, I wonder. ...more

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Dec 30, 2018 Ivonne Rovira rated it really liked it · review of another edition

The Book of Tea does, of course, deal with what the author, Okakura Kakuzō, calls Teaism and the history of the tea ceremony in Japan; however, this elegiac, philosophical work deals with much more: the influences of Taoism on Zen Buddhism, the unquestioning embrace of everything Western during the Meiji Restoration, the perfection of imperfection and much more.

This short book really made me think about the Western emphasis on the novel and faddish at the expense of the tried and true. ...more

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Feb 27, 2013 Fergus Murray rated it it was amazing

Shelves: tea

Kakuzo Okakura's The Book of Tea is a sixty-five-page classic which is as much about Eastern patterns of thought as it is about the history and traditions of tea drinking. We are introduced to Teaism (chado), the philosophy of life and tea-drinking that emerged in 15th century Japan as a hot-drink-focused variation on (or aspect of) Zen Buddhism, which itself came out of the mingling of Taoism with the teachings of Buddha in southern China. A particular outlook on life is expressed through the Kakuzo Okakura's The Book of Tea is a sixty-five-page classic which is as much about Eastern patterns of thought as it is about the history and traditions of tea drinking. We are introduced to Teaism (chado), the philosophy of life and tea-drinking that emerged in 15th century Japan as a hot-drink-focused variation on (or aspect of) Zen Buddhism, which itself came out of the mingling of Taoism with the teachings of Buddha in southern China. A particular outlook on life is expressed through the peaceful appreciation of a cup of tea, and the careful (ritualised) preparation of the tea and the environment in which it is consumed - both the surroundings themselves, and the atmosphere in which the tea is taken.

The Philosophy of Tea is not mere aestheticism in the ordinary acceptance of the term, for it expresses conjointly with ethics and religion our whole point of view about man and nature. It is hygiene, for it enforces cleanliness; it is economics, for it shows comfort in simplicity rather than in the complex and costly; it is moral geometry, inasmuch as it defines our sense of proportion to the universe. It represents the true spirit of Eastern democracy by making all its votaries aristocrats in taste. (p.1)

Having talked a little about the philosophy of tea and the history of its introduction to the West, Okakura goes on to give quite a detailed history of its evolution in China and Japan - how early teas were made pounded into cakes and then boiled with salt, ginger, garlic and orange peel as a kind of soup; how the Sung Dynasty saw this brick tea fall out of favour, to be replaced by powdered tea while China's tea culture flowered as never before - with dozens of new varieties springing up, many a poet singing the praises of the cuppa, and the first known religious use of tea by the Zen Buddhists. With the invasion of the Mongol hordes at the end of the Sung Dynasty, and then the turmoil of the Ming Dynasty, alas, the old ways of tea were forgotten in China; powdered tea gave way to steeped leaves, and the drink lost its religious significance. Japan, however, fought off the Mongols in 1281, and their traditions of tea drinking were allowed to carry on unhindered - powdered tea, matcha, had been imported in 1191 along with Zen Buddhism, and the Tea Ceremony around it had already started evolving. By the 15th century it had reached something very much like its present form, and stopped being seen as a specifically Buddhist thing, although its character and feeling remained more or less intact.

In the rest of the book the author talks some more about the relation between Taoism and Teaism, then goes on to discuss in engaging detail the history and significance of various integral aspects of the Tea Ceremony: we learn about the roles of the tea-room - which should have an air of refined poverty, and be impeccably clean and tidy but never too symmetrical; of art appreciation, which should be approached humbly and with an open mind; and of flowers - to whose honour we owe it to make the most of their beauty, lest their death be in vain. We learn how each of these came to play the part it does in both the ceremony and in Japanese culture. In the final chapter, we are told of the great Tea-Masters who helped to shape not just the Tea Ceremony but almost every aspect of Japanese cultural life - their art and architecture, gardens and cuisine, customs and clothing.

Throughout the text, Okakura's work is peppered with retold myths and historical anecdotes, and informative - if sometimes invective - asides on European and Asian culture. His style is precise and a little old-fashioned, but informal and eminently readable.

This review first appeared at http://everything2.com/title/The+Book... (where you can also read the text of the book online) ...more

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Jan 21, 2013 Asha Seth rated it liked it · review of another edition

Recommends it for: Anyone who wants to learn about Teaism

Shelves: non-fiction

I started reading this book as I'd read somewhere that this is one of the greatest tea classics of all times, not that I knew what a TEA CLASSIC is.

In the Indian society, it is a cultural norm to offer tea to guests and visitors. It is quite a tradition that is being followed since ages. So when I read about tea culture and Teaism, I was almost certain that I'd read this book someday since its known to cast light on the significance of tea cultures.

This book gives a deep insight on Teaism, a ...more

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Jan 21, 2018 sevdah added it · review of another edition

When will the West understand, or try to understand, the East? We Asiatics are often appalled by the curious web of facts and fancies which has been woven concerning us. We are pictured as living on the perfume of the lotus, if not on mice and cockroaches.

He writes about tea, philosophy, religion, architecture, aesthetics, design, history, and lots more in this attempt to explain the East to Westerners. Absolutely beautiful, an incredible essay.

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Oct 02, 2018 Dalia Mahdy rated it liked it

This book does not only describe tea as the hot drink we know and love, it discusses the rituals of tea drinking in Asia along with some cultural and religious aspects of the Japanese life, and is mainly addressed to western audience.

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Jan 22, 2014 Meghan Fidler rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

I was, at first, disappointed with this little book, for I had mistaken it as a partial translation of one it's elders: the Classic of Tea (茶经) written by Lu Yu (733-804), for example. The fact that Okakura was an Japanese immigrant living in Boston with rich art patrons for followers seemed like an early 20th century version of Karate Kid sensibilities: a "wisdom of the East" transmitted to rich whites in poorly translated Daoist quips.
This initial impression was much mistaken. The book I was, at first, disappointed with this little book, for I had mistaken it as a partial translation of one it's elders: the Classic of Tea (茶经) written by Lu Yu (733-804), for example. The fact that Okakura was an Japanese immigrant living in Boston with rich art patrons for followers seemed like an early 20th century version of Karate Kid sensibilities: a "wisdom of the East" transmitted to rich whites in poorly translated Daoist quips.
This initial impression was much mistaken. The book contains a concise history of the growth of tea in China through the Tang, Sung, and Ming dynasties, and it's arrival and cultivation in Japan. It provides a terse overview of what the author calls "teaism" through a gloss of both Daoist and Zen philosophies.
In his desire to open the American mind to principles found in Japan, Okakura argues that the love of tea is shared, and thus East and West met "in the tea cup." The following sections are mixed with descriptions of the meanings and architecture surrounding the Japanese tea ceremony and biting pieces of wit and irony aimed at American and European aesthetics and practices. The Western house, for example, are rooms filled with bric-a-brac becoming little more than cluttered museums meant only to display wealth, not design, intellect, or individuality. The treatment of flowers as momentary fancies of monetary display for the dinning room table, to be thrown out the next day, stands in stark contrast to a quiet moment of flower viewing in a garden, or a select few stems carefully displayed in a place of honor in a room. In a clear moment of critique Okakura laments:
"Our standards of morality are begotten of the past needs of society, but is society to remain always the same? The observance of communal traditions involves a constant sacrifice of the individual to the state. Education, in order to keep up a might delusion, encourages a species of ignorance. People are not taught to be really virtuous, but to behave properly. We are wicked because we are frightfully self-conscious. We never forgive others because we know we ourselves are in the wrong. We nurse a conscience because we are afraid to tell the truth to ourselves."
I enjoyed The Book of Tea, with it's careful and early commentary of the West paired with clear descriptions of Japanese tea drinking. The novel is a articulate meditation on culture, imperialism, and the politics of domination and resistance.
My favorite critique is as follows, since it rings so true with the early scroll depictions of Commodore Perry and his men I witnessed during the anniversary of the Black Ships and the forced opening of Japan to western trade at the Hakodate Museum (函館博物館): the men had their hands in their pants to grip their 'swords', giant crooked beak-like noses and bowed knees. I laughed in the museum, just as Okakura made me laugh today: "There would be further merriment if you were to know all that we [Japan] have imagined and written about you [the White Disaster]. ... Our writers in the past--the wise men who knew--informed us that you had bushy tails somewhere hidden in your garments, often dined off a fricassee of new-born babes!" ...more

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Dec 13, 2010 Robert rated it it was amazing

Shelves: spirituality, philosophy

This book isn't just about tea; it's more about Zen and aesthetics. I loved the following story:

Once in the Ravine of Lungmen stood a Kiri tree, a veritable king of the forest. It reared its head to talk to the stars; its roots struck deep into the earth, mingling their bronzed coils with those of the silver dragon that slept beneath. And it came to pass that a mighty wizard made of this tree a wondrous harp, whose stubborn spirit should be tamed but by the greatest musicians. For long the This book isn't just about tea; it's more about Zen and aesthetics. I loved the following story:

Once in the Ravine of Lungmen stood a Kiri tree, a veritable king of the forest. It reared its head to talk to the stars; its roots struck deep into the earth, mingling their bronzed coils with those of the silver dragon that slept beneath. And it came to pass that a mighty wizard made of this tree a wondrous harp, whose stubborn spirit should be tamed but by the greatest musicians. For long the instrument was treasured by the Emperor of China, but all in vain were the efforts of those who in turn tried to draw melody from its strings. The harp refused to recognize a master.

"At last came Peiwoh, the prince of harpists. With tender hand he caressed the harp as one might seek to soothe an unruly horse, and softly touched the chords. He sang of nature and the seasons, of high mountains and flowing waters, and all the memories of the tree awoke! Once more the sweet breath of spring played amidst its branches. The young cataracts, as they danced down the ravine, laughed to the budding flowers, the gentle pattering of rain, the wail of the cuckoo. Hark! A tiger roars, - the valley answers again. It is autumn; in the desert night, sharp like a sword gleams the moon upon the frosted grass. Now winter reigns, and through the snow-filled air swirl flocks of swans and rattling hailstones beat upon the boughs with fierce delight.

Then Peiwoh changed the key and sang of love. The forest swayed like an ardent swain deep lost in thought. On high, like a haughty maiden, swept a cloud bright and fair; but passing, trailed long shadows on the ground, black like despair… In ecstasy the Celestial monarch asked Peiwoh wherein lay the secret of his victory. “Sire,” he replied, “others have failed because they sang but of themselves. I left the harp to choose its theme, and knew not truly whether the harp had been Peiwoh or Peiwoh were the harp.”

Okakura Kakuzo in The Book of Tea uses this story to illustrate the mystery of art appreciation. Peiwoh represents art and humanity is the harp. “At the magic touch of the beautiful” says Kakuzo “the secret chords of our being are awakened, we vibrate and thrill in response to its call. We listen to the unspoken, we gaze upon the unseen. Memories long forgotten all come back to us with a new significance. Hopes stifled by fear, yearnings that we dare not recognize, stand forth in new glory…The art lover transcends himself.”
...more

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Feb 10, 2014 Shari rated it it was amazing

Shelves: classic, non-fiction

Move aside Coffee for here comes Tea with its loaded history.

Never before had I seen a beverage so defended, and so cherished, as in The Book of Tea. Okakura's work explores the history, and impact, of tea in the evolution of the Japanese culture. He went to great lengths to present this objective that he had to use (coin?) the word "Teaism" to point out its singularity. He claims that tea permeated the Japanese way of life in his time, and before. If it was so in the 20th century, so it is now. Move aside Coffee for here comes Tea with its loaded history.

Never before had I seen a beverage so defended, and so cherished, as in The Book of Tea. Okakura's work explores the history, and impact, of tea in the evolution of the Japanese culture. He went to great lengths to present this objective that he had to use (coin?) the word "Teaism" to point out its singularity. He claims that tea permeated the Japanese way of life in his time, and before. If it was so in the 20th century, so it is now. Perhaps much more. You cannot stay a few days in Japan and not drink the stuff. Tea is what you instantly get when you go to most restaurants here. For free! (Drink till your tummy bursts and the waiters keep pouring with a smile in their faces. And, you needn't tip them for the trouble.) There isn't a household that hasn't a box, tin, or packet of tea. Supermarkets offer shelves upon shelves of them you'll get dizzy from the selection. And while you can't decide which to buy, the aroma of steeping leaves from a nearby specialty shop tortures you further into indecision. Green? Barley? Rice? Seaweed? Fruit? Flower? Herb? The Japanese love it so much they put it in their soups, sweets, and health supplements. Some schools give green tea to students. Not to drink, but to gargle to ward off cold. Heck, even Starbucks cannot keep it out of their menus.

But that is Tea as a drink. In the Book of Tea, Okakura presents it way beyond its fundamental use. Tea is Teaism. It is a shaper and compounder of history, religion, philosophy, and people. It is a symbol of Asia's stance against the onslaught of occidental-ization and globalization. Teaism is art. In his discourse, Okakura argues this wittily, lyrically, even nostalgically. His narrative explores different avenues, and he presents them with a unique voice that is, understandably, defensive in some parts. From the history of the Chinese dynasties to the use of flowers in a sukiya (tea room), the flow of the narrative touches, humbles and moves. It is so rich and intelligent that it took me a month to read and absorb. And I must say I need to read it again to let it all sink in. ...more

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Aug 03, 2018 Ishtar rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Shelves: favourites, asian-aesthetic, recommendations, nonfiction

'Tis said that Chowmushih slept in a boat so that his dreams might mingle with those of the lotus. It was the same spirit which moved the Empress Komio, one of our most renowned Nara sovereigns, as she sang: "If I pluck thee, my hand will defile thee, O flower! Standing in the meadows as thou art, I offer thee to the Buddhas of the past, of the present, of the future."

I can’t begin to describe how calm and blessed I feel that such a masterpiece exists in my hands. Reading this book helped me ...more

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Jul 09, 2017 Michael Mills rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: philosophy, classics

Part guide, part history of Eastern philosophy, part semiotic analysis, if there's one thing you won't get from this book it's how to make a decent cup of chai.

Taking as his basis the argument that tea was the one Eastern ritual to have been fully assimilated into Western culture (this was written a long time before Pokémon, sushi and hentai), Okakura uses it as a gateway to an explanation of fundamental differences between Eastern and Western philosophies. And he does a very good job of ...more

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About Kakuzō Okakura

Kakuzō Okakura

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Okakura Kakuzō (岡倉覚三), also known as Okakura Tenshin (岡倉天心), was a Japanese scholar who contributed the development of arts in Japan. Outside Japan, he is chiefly remembered today as the author of 'The Book of Tea'.

Born in Yokohama to parents originally from Fukui, Okakura learned English while attending a school operated by Christian missionary, Dr. Curtis Hepburn. At 15, he entered Tokyo Okakura Kakuzō (岡倉覚三), also known as Okakura Tenshin (岡倉天心), was a Japanese scholar who contributed the development of arts in Japan. Outside Japan, he is chiefly remembered today as the author of 'The Book of Tea'.

Born in Yokohama to parents originally from Fukui, Okakura learned English while attending a school operated by Christian missionary, Dr. Curtis Hepburn. At 15, he entered Tokyo Imperial University, where he first met and studied under Harvard-educated professor Ernest Fenollosa. In 1889, Okakura co-founded the periodical Kokka. A year later he was one of the principal founders of the first Japanese fine-arts academy, the Tokyo School of Fine Arts (東京美術学校 Tōkyō Bijutsu Gakkō), and a year later became its head, although he was later ousted from the school in an administrative struggle. Later, he also founded the Japan Art Institute with Hashimoto Gahō and Yokoyama Taikan. He was invited by William Sturgis Bigelow to the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston in 1904 and became the first head of the Asian art division in 1910.

Okakura was a high-profile urbanite who had an international sense of self. In the Meiji period he was the first dean of the Tokyo Fine Arts School (later merged with the Tokyo Music School to form the current Tokyo University of the Arts). He wrote all of his main works in English. Okakura researched Japan's traditional art and traveled to Europe, the United States, China and India. He emphasised the importance to the modern world of Asian culture, attempting to bring its influence to realms of art and literature that, in his day, were largely dominated by Western culture.

His book, 'The Ideals of the East' (1904), published on the eve of the Russo-Japanese War, is famous for its opening line, "Asia is one." He argued that Asia is "one" in its humiliation, of falling behind in achieving modernization, and thus being colonized by the Western powers. This was an early expression of Pan-Asianism. Later Okakura felt compelled to protest against a Japan that tried to catch up with the Western powers, but by sacrificing other Asian countries in the Russo-Japanese War.

In Japan, Okakura, along with Fenollosa, is credited with "saving" Nihonga, or painting done with traditional Japanese technique, as it was threatened with replacement by Western-style painting, or "Yōga", whose chief advocate was artist Kuroda Seiki. In fact this role, most assiduously pressed after Okakura's death by his followers, is not taken seriously by art scholars today, nor is the idea that oil painting posed any serious "threat" to traditional Japanese painting. Yet Okakura was certainly instrumental in modernizing Japanese aesthetics, having recognized the need to preserve Japan's cultural heritage, and thus was one of the major reformers during Japan's period of modernization beginning with the Meiji Restoration.

Outside of Japan, Okakura had an impact on a number of important figures, directly or indirectly, who include philosopher Martin Heidegger, poet Ezra Pound, and especially poet Rabindranath Tagore and heiress Isabella Stewart Gardner, who were close personal friends of his. ...more