Search results for ""Author Okakura Kakuzō""

‘Tea began as a medicine and grew into a beverage,’ are the opening words of Okakura Kakuzō’s The Book of Tea, written in English in 1906 for a Western audience. The book is a long essay celebrating the secular art of the Japanese tea ceremony and linking its importance with Zen Buddhism and Taoism. It is both about cultural life, aesthetics and philosophy, emphasising how Teaism – a term Kakuzō coined – taught the Japanese many things; most importantly, simplicity, which can be seen in Japanese art and architecture. Looking back at the evolution of the Japanese tea ceremony, Kakuzō argues that Teaism, in itself, is one of the profound universal remedies that two parties could sit down to. Where the West had scoffed at Eastern religion and morals, it held Eastern tea ceremonies in high regard. With a new introduction, this is an exquisitely produced edition of a classic text made using traditional Chinese bookbinding techniques. Surely it’s time for tea.

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The original 1906 edition of The Book of Tea is one of the classic texts found on the desks of artists, poets, teaists and Zen Buddhists around the world. The book has been re-designed and expanded for a contemporary audience.You will discover the fascinating character of Okakura Kakuzo and the story of how he came to write one of the twentieth century’s most influential books on art, beauty, and simplicity—all steeped in the world’s communal cup of tea. His incredible journey took him from Yokohama to New York, Paris, Bombay, and Boston, where his life intertwined with such luminaries as Rabindranath Tagore, John Singer Sargent, Henry James, John La Farge, Isabella Stewart Gardner, Ezra Pound, and Henri Matisse. His writings influenced the work of such notable artists as Frank Lloyd Wright and Georgia O'Keeffe.American tea writer Bruce Richardson includes many historical photographs and illustrations in this updated edition of Okakura’s classic text, along with unique insight into how Okakura's philosophy continues to inspire today’s tea culture. Plus, Richardson includes an all-new chapter on America's thirst for Japanese tea during the late 1800s, illustrated with archival photographs.

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Written over a century ago when Japan was abandoning its rich traditions to embrace the hysteria of colonization, this classic written by Okakura Kakuzo helped preserve the masterpieces of Japanese art and culture by illuminating the spirit of the Japanese Tea Masters. The Book of Tea doesn't focus on the Tea Ceremony itself, but the Zen Buddhist thought behind it known as the Way of Tea or Chado. Kakuzo teaches us to listen to the language of flowers as well as the language of art. His considerable charm is as apparent today as it was one hundred years ago as he introduces us to the aesthetic and culture of Japan. 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 the 70's.

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The Book of Tea (1906) by Okakura Kakuzō has long become a classic. Its title notwithstanding, the book is not a manual on tea. Rather it is an essay, better a hymn, to culture, aesthetics and the spirit of tea as a symbol, a paradigm, of the Asian soul. It was created by a passionate Japanese scholar whose life was devoted to renew and spread the values of the East in the same moment in which his own country seemed to deny them in order to embrace Western culture. This new edition has an important apparatus of over 200 notes to explain the contents of the book and supply all the information needed to understand it fully (concepts of Eastern philosophy, history, geography, biographical information), something that so far has never been done. It also contains an important essay by Giancarlo Calza on Okakura and his role to foster intercultural understanding and the development of spirituality through the aesthetics and practice of the tea ceremony as a style of life. Contents: The Cup of Humanity; The Schools of Tea; Taoism and Zennism; The Tea-room; Art Appreciation; Flowers; Tea-masters; Okakura: A Life in Style by Giancarlo Calza

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The Book of Tea describes all aspects of the Japanese tea ceremony and explains how its rituals blend seamlessly with traditional Japanese life.Part of the Macmillan Collector’s Library; a series of stunning, clothbound, pocket-sized classics. These beautiful books make perfect gifts or a treat for any book lover. This edition has an afterword by Anna Sherman and delightful illustrations by Sayuri Romei.This short book, written in English by a Japanese scholar and artist, was first published in 1906 at a time when Japan was opening up to Western culture. In response to that, Okakura Kakuzo set out to explain the beauty and simplicity of Japanese daily life which was greatly inspired by teaism. He describes in detail the different aspects of the tea ceremony, how it was founded, the role of the tea masters, the architecture of the tea-room and the stages of making and serving the tea. He then goes on to explain the connection between Taoism and Zennism with tea and he also writes chapters on art appreciation and the art of flower arranging.

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