The Book of Tea by Kakuzo Okakura
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Book Reviews of The Book of Tea
Book Review: The Tempest in Tea Cup
Summary: 5 Stars
I haphazardly discovered this book when I had undertaken the task of better acquainting myself with tea. Totally ignorant, I opened the book half expecting to find dry writing on types of tea leaves. Instead I discovered something deeply beautiful. This book does indeed teach the history of tea and its preparation, but it also provides an eloquent introduction to Teaism and other aspects of Japanese culture. Okakura wavers most delicately between prose and poetry, between the educational and the spiritual. The words linger with you long after you have finished, and tea, once an ordinary beverage, acquires a soul-- a source of peace."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."
(Chapter One, The Cup of Humanity)
Book Review: Yonde Sono Hon.
Summary: 5 Stars
Back in the sixties (which happened in the seventies) this book was a cult classic. Everyone in Berkeley had a brick & board book case with Steal This Book, and Kahlil Gibran, and Mao, and Ferlingetti, and the Tuttle edition of this book.
Tuttle bound it in hand made washi, and slid it into a special little box-cover. It had the look and the feel of a special precious gift. The book itself was art.
It is still a special precious gift. It is the gift of insight into Japan, and esthetics, and Tea, and Art, and Xenophobia, and most of all into yourself. This cheap little book has the power to shine a light into a blind spot within your mind. It will change your prospective, and it will teach you that prospective is everything.
In this most egocentric, self-referential, radio talk-show, don't-think-tank, time in our history,it would be well for us to read this book again. Give it to someone you love. Read it for someone you don't yet love.
Book Review: So much more than tea
Summary: 5 Stars
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.
Book Review: Elegance
Summary: 5 Stars
Okakura words calmly and compassionately float from the past with a warmth and elegance that (unfortunately) seem rare today. He wonderfully appreciates the beauty of life and shares this emotion with us in The Book of Tea. His words will make you smile, pause, and appreciate much more than tea.
Here is a taste: "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." Enjoy....
Book Review: Wonderful Classic
Summary: 5 Stars
.This is a book I will never forget, and probably because I keep reading it again!
Discussions like the story of Rikyu and leaving the single flower in face of possible dire circumstance, which in the end was a foretelling of his later forced suicide.
The author didn't simply tell you about wabi-cha he weaves it his own poetic story about tea culture in Japan.
If brevity is the art of expression, this is a masterpiece!
It has already stood the test of time, and you would find few tea advocates that haven't admired it.