Book of Tea: Beauty, Simplicity and the Zen Aesthetic - Softcover

"In some ways, times haven't changed much in the 99 years since Kakuzo Okakura, the Japanese aesthete, gifted the local elite of Boston with his now-legendary explication of the beauties of the tea ceremony, The Book of Tea." -Elle Decor "Originally written to be read aloud by the author at Isabella Stewart Gardner's famous salon in 1906, the book focuses on the culture that has engendered the mind of tea and on the Masters who embody this spirit." -Gourmet Retailer "Transcending the narrow confines of its title, presents a unified concept of life, art and nature. Along the way exploring topics related to tea appreciation, including Zen, flower arranging and Taoism. An early cultural activist, Okakura's mission was to preserve Japanese art and aesthetic practices from an extinction that seemed imminent." - Stephen Mansfield, The Japan Times "While on the surface, the book is about tea and the way of tea...it is much more than that. It is also about the higher aspects of Japanese culture, like Zen, samurai and history...for those seeking to go deeper into the refinements of Japanese culture, this is a book I would recommend as required reading, whether a person drinks tea or not." -Teas.com.au "Now in paperback with a new foreword and new photographs, The Book of Tea is a classic work by Okakura Kakuzo that has inspired many generations of readers by illuminating the underlying spirit and message of the venerable Japanese tea masters." -Midwest Book Review

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.