The book of tea

by Okakura Kakuzo

No cover — Okakura Kakuzo: The book of tea (1980, C.E. Tuttle Co.)

133 pages

English language

Published Sept. 10, 1980 by C.E. Tuttle Co..

ISBN:: 978-0-8048-0069-3
OCLC Number:: 8074030

(16 reviews)

Tea began as a medicine and grew into a beverage. In China, in the eighth century, it entered the realm of poetry as one of the polite amusements. The fifteenth century saw Japan ennoble it into a religion of aestheticism - Teaism. 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.

51 editions

bwaber reviewed The Book of Tea by Okakura Kakuzo

A Classic Introduction of Japanese Aesthetic Philosophy to Westerners

4 stars

Written in 1906 in English to introduce foreigners to Japanese (and more broadly East Asian) aesthetic philosophy, with a few problematic exceptions this short book remains surprisingly modern. Tying historical developments around aesthetic practices in the region to their modern descendants, Okakura provides a rich, thought-provoking philosophical view of beauty and life with strong counterpoints to traditional Western approaches. Highly recommend