Product Description

This intriguing and enlightening volume discusses the history and meaning of the tea ceremony. A must-read for anyone who is interested in Japanese culture. Newly designed and typeset in a modern 5.5-by-8.5-inch format by Waking Lion Press.

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Product Details

• Published on: 2008-07
• Original language: English
• Binding: Paperback
• 92 pages

From Amazon.com
That a nation should construct one of its most resonant national ceremonies round a cup of tea will surely strike a chord of sympathy with at least some readers of this review. To many foreigners, nothing is so quintessentially Japanese as the tea ceremony--more properly, "the way of tea"--with its austerity, its extravagantly minimalist stylization, and its concentration of extreme subtleties of meaning into the simplest of actions. The Book of Tea is something of a curiosity: written in English by a Japanese scholar (and issued here in bilingual form), it was first published in 1906, in the wake of the naval victory over Russia with which Japan asserted its rapidly acquired status as a world-class military power. It was a peak moment of Westernization within Japan. Clearly, behind the publication was an agenda, or at least a mission to explain. Around its account of the ceremony, The Book of Tea folds an explication of the philosophy, first Taoist, later Zen Buddhist, that informs its oblique celebration of simplicity and directness--what Okakura calls, in a telling phrase, "moral geometry." And the ceremony itself? Its greatest practitioners have always been philosophers, but also artists, connoisseurs, collectors, gardeners, calligraphers, gourmets, flower arrangers. The greatest of them, Sen Rikyu, left a teasingly, maddeningly simple set of rules:

Make a delicious bowl of tea; lay the charcoal so that it heats the water; arrange the flowers as they are in the field; in summer suggest coolness; in winter, warmth; do everything ahead of time; prepare for rain; and give those with whom you find yourself every consideration.

A disciple remarked that this seemed elementary. Rikyu replied, "Then if you can host a tea gathering without deviating from any of the rules I have just stated, I will become your disciple." A Zen reply. Fascinating. --Robin Davidson, Amazon.co.uk

American Herb Association
"More than any other book I have read, this one carries a feeling for the Japanese tea ceremony."

Spirituality & Health
"The Book of Tea presents an elegant glimpse into the culture that engendered the Eastern aesthetic."

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Customer Reviews

a jewel by a giant
i read this book in preparation for participating in a japanese culture class for japanese 6th graders. i had heard of the book, but avoided it for a long time due to my assumptions about the book being just another new age-y trend that exoticizes "eastern culture".

however, when i actually sat down and delved into the book, i was thrilled. this little volume on tea is really a special book, for all the reasons other reviewers give and so much more.
but the book has become detached from its author, which is a shame, because okakura was/is a major figure in a very important period of time.

like today, the meiji period in which okakura lived was a time of extreme westernization in japan. okakura was a giant in the struggle to keep japanese culture alive, primarily through the arts. okakura was also one of the first and biggest presenters of japanese culture to the west. the book of tea is a fantastic example of the way in which cultures that are unfamiliar with one another's practices, mindsets, and histories can have meaningful exchanges without reducing the other side to exotic stereotypes. though okakura was japanese, this book was originally written in english soon after okakura joined the staff at the boston museum of art.

everyone should read this book. okakura's gem is much more a philosophy book along the lines of deleuze and guattari than it is a book about "tea" or "buddhism". this is a book that has no fear in treading into many different realms, and many of its cultural critiques of both "the west" and japan resonate profoundly in the today's world. it has been translated into scores of languages, including japanese. in fact, it is probably the japanese that would benefit most from reading the book of tea.

So much more than tea
On the surface, this is a book about history - the history of tea, and art, and religion. But this is really a book about so much more - it compares the culture and way of thinking of the East and West, the past and the present. It makes the reader think about and reassess what is important in life, what is really beautiful, what is worth keeping or fighting for. What is dignity.

This essay, which wends its way between the discovery of tea, flower arranging, architecture and Taoism along with other enticing subjects, is truly an enlightening and thrilling book, in a quiet and gentle way (is that possible?) Whether you are interested in East Asian culture, Tea, or would just like a compass to help you re-orientate your priorities, you will probably gain something from this ode to the importance and influence of Tea.

Interesting, plus the preface is great
I recommend this book to any Western dilettante who, like myself, is intrigued by anything called "a Japanese tradition" but prefers the comfortably exotic world of the tea ceremony and "Memoirs of a Geisha" to the disorienting and totally unfathomable features of current Japanese pop culture. It's as much a look at the ceremony itself as a portrait of a certain romanticizing interpretation of Japanese culture, written by a scholar who was straddling both worlds and sought to explain one to the other. The introduction is immensely readable, not to mention informative - many amusing turns of phrase in there which I wish I remembered for occasional use (need to reread the thing!). A treat rarely offered at this price, even if you read it only once.