Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #31559 in Books
• Published on: 2000-02-01
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 76 pages

Amazon.co.uk Review
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 stylisation 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 Westernisation 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

Synopsis
The meaning and practice of Tea.

Customer Reviews

Beauty ritualized
This little booklet, written in 1906, is still one of the absolute classics on the Japanese tea ceremony. This essay about Japanese culture as it is epitomized in the "way of tea" (chadô) also served as an apology for Eastern traditions at large to the Western world. Okakura was a practitioner, art critic and connoisseur, and a collaborator of Fenellosa and his circle, who introduced Japanese art in the United States. Although detailed technical information about the ceremony is avoided, the latter's historical background as well as its relation to Japanese attitudes, Zen, Tao, art and art appreciation are treated in a suggestive and essayistic vein. The way of tea appears as a "moral geometry" embodying particular values than a particular set of beliefs. There is, thus, a "philosophy of tea", at least in the sense that the practice of tea wholly constitutes a "form of life".
The book was written in a graceful, clear and precise English, which is in itself a remarkable feat.
Amateurs of the way of tea should combine this reading with more detailed studies such as Sadler's, Shositsu Sen's and Horst Hammitzsch's, or the academic and up to date study by Jennifer Anderson.

An inexpensive, high quality edition of a classic.
For anyone interested in Asian, and particularly Japanese, culture, this book is a must. By following the history of tea and its role in the spiritual and cultural development of Japan, this slim volume gives the reader remarkable insight into the Japanese mind. Written with a keen sense of humor, the Book of Tea is very readable and entertaining, while at the same time illustrating the Japanese passion for the simple. This version is a quality translation, and you cannot beat the price. I highly recommend it to anyone interested in Japan, Buddhism, Taoism, or tea.

Anyone for tea?
It's actually quite difficult to place this text. Is it a religious text? A novel? An extended poem? A diatribe? An instruction manual on 'cha no yuu'? Ironically (given the title) it is more of the former and less of the later.

Those seeking a book to 'explain' cha no yuu may well be disappointed, then again they may not. One truth about this book is this, that every person who has an in interest in Japan, Japanese culture and of course cha no yuu should adopt this book. Read it carefully and slowly (no more than a few pages a day). Highlight the important points and keep it as your constant companion.

I also recommend every Japanese national buy a copy to, find out where you started on the path, where you left off and got lost and try to use it as a map to get back to the Way. In that regard it is the Japanese who are dying of thirst and need to drink at the fountain of knowledge to quench their parched throats and fill their empty stomachs, which for so long have echoed hollow with the sound of emptiness.

If there are minus points to this text is it has to be Okakura's constant digressions in the early chapters, his stumblings, mumblings and banal pre-suppositions pertaining to the imperialist notions of 'Occidental' versus 'Oriental', but then what could one seriously expect from a text penned in 1906. Thankfully to correct these errs and bring the reader back to the path, Sen Soshitu XV takes the reins and provides an invaluable 'afterward' steering us back on course.

N.B. I recommend this bi-lingual version over others of the same text, for numerous reasons. The main one being that as a student of Japanese one can quickly clarify 'kanji', pronunciation or indeed any queries pertaining to the translation by simply checking the facing page - you're effectively getting two books for the one price. Besides that, on a minor point - the book contains some superbly atmospheric monochrome plates. Finally, unlike European paperbacks, their Japanese counterparts are printed on quality stock - not that horrible grey pulp.