The Book of Tea

by Okakura Kakuzō

 

THE BOOK OF TEA

BY

OKAKURA-KAKUZO

G. P. PUTNAM'S SONS

London and New York

1906

Copyright 1906 by

Fox Duffield & Company

To
JOHN LAFARGE

Sensei

CONTENTS

	PAGE
Chapter I. The Cup of Humanity
Tea ennobled into Teaism, a religion of æstheticism, the adoration of the beautiful among everyday facts—Teaism developed among both nobles and peasants—The mutual misunderstanding of the New World and the Old—The Worship of Tea in the West—Early records of Tea in European writing—The Taoists' version of the combat between Spirit and Matter—The modern struggle for wealth and power	3
Chapter II. The Schools of Tea
The three stages of the evolution of Tea—The Boiled Tea, the Whipped Tea, and the Steeped Tea, representative of the Tang, the Sung, and the Ming dynasties of China—Luwuh, the first apostle of Tea—The Tea-ideals of the three dynasties—To the latter-day Chinese Tea is a delicious beverage, but not an ideal—In Japan Tea is a religion of the art of life	25
Chapter III. Taoism and Zennism
The connection of Zennism with Tea—Taoism, and its successor Zennism, represent the individualistic trend of the Southern Chinese mind—Taoism accepts the mundane and tries to find beauty in our world of woe and worry—Zennism emphasizes the teachings of Taoism—Through consecrated meditation may be attained supreme self-realisation—Zennism, like Taoism, is the worship of Relativity—Ideal of Teaism a result of the Zen conception of greatness in the smallest incidents of life—Taoism furnished the basis for aesthetic ideals, Zennism made them practical	47
Chapter IV. The Tea-Room
The tea-room does not pretend to be other than a mere cottage—The simplicity and purism of the tea-room—Symbolism in the construction of the tea-room—The system of its decoration—A sanctuary from the vexations of the outer world	73
Chapter V. Art Appreciation
Sympathetic communion of minds necessary for art appreciation—The secret understanding between the master and ourselves—The value of suggestion—Art is of value only to the extent that it speaks to us—No real feeling in much of the apparent enthusiasm to-day—Confusion of art with archaeology—We are destroying art in destroying the beautiful in life	103
Chapter VI. Flowers
Flowers our constant friends—The Master of Flowers—The waste of Flowers among Western communities—The art of floriculture in the East—The Tea-Masters and the Cult of Flowers—The Art of Flower Arrangement—The adoration of the Flower for its own sake—The Flower-Masters—Two main branches of the schools of Flower Arrangement, the Formalistic and the Naturalesque	123
Chapter VII. Tea-Masters
Real appreciation of art only possible to those who make of it a living influence—Contributions of the Tea-Masters to art—Their influence on the conduct of life—The Last Tea of Rikiu	151