Showing results by author "Kakuzo Okakura" in All Categories

Japanese culture has fascinated the West ever since the country’s doors opened up in the 1800s. In many ways, Japan has remained elusive, and people have travelled from all around the world to see for themselves how unique this nation remains. Another way of exploring this enigmatic culture is through its literature. The English language succeeds surprisingly well in revealing the Japanese sense of life.

Here is a minor classic of the Orient. It is perhaps the most entertaining, most charming explanation and interpretation of traditional Japanese culture in terms of the tea ceremony. First published in 1906, it traces the custom from its roots in Taoism to its role as a Zen meditative discipline.

"Tea began as a medicine and grew into a beverage... 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...

Brought to you by Penguin This Penguin Classic is performed by Japanese actor Sadao Ueda, known for his appearances in Spectre, London has Fallen and What We Did on Our Holiday. For a generation adjusting painfully to the demands of a modern industrial and commercial society, Asia came to...

Preparar el té es más que una acción simple destinada a satisfacer un deseo fútil. Su preparación requiere una atención especial a los detalles, movimientos, aromas y sabores, conjugados en una atmósfera de respeto mutuo, la cual deviene en un efecto estético y un estado espiritual de incomparable belleza. Esta obra de Kakuzo Okakura se ha convertido en un clásico de nuestros tiempos, dándonos acceso al pensamiento oriental a través de la ceremonia del té y la exaltación de la vida.

The Book of Tea (1906) by Okakura Kakuzō is a long essay which examines the role of chadō (Teaism) in the aesthetic and cultural aspects of Japanese life. The author explains Teaism as “a philosophy founded on the adoration of the beautiful among the sordid facts of everyday existence”. Originally written in English for a western audience, the essay deals with the spiritual traditions of Zen and Taoism, as well as the secular side of tea in Japanese life.

The connection of Zennism with tea is proverbial. We have already remarked that the tea-ceremony was a development of the Zen ritual. The name of Laotse, the founder of Taoism, is also intimately associated with the history of tea. It is written in the Chinese school manual concerning the origin of habits and customs that the ceremony of offering tea to a guest began with Kwanyin, a well-known disciple of Laotse, who first at the gate of the Han Pass presented to the "Old Philosopher" a cup of the golden elixir.

À la fois poétique et intelligent, apaisant et vivifiant, "Le livre du thé", destiné aux lecteurs occidentaux, permet de mieux appréhender les subtilités de la culture asiatique. Véritable traité philosophique, il interroge le sens de nos existences et notre rapport à l'environnement. "La philosophie du thé n'est pas une simple esthétique dans l'acception ordinaire du terme, car elle nous aide à exprimer, conjointement avec l'éthique et avec la religion, notre conception intégrale de l'homme et de la nature."

This is the third production of Kotonoha Publications called "Great Book Series that has passed on the Japanese feeling". You have not read it although you are a Japanese! Unbelievable! It is an excellent work. This remark was made by Hector Sierra, who presided the NGO "Artists without Boundaries" who were reciting the English version. When the whole Asia including Japan was looked down upon from the West in the early part of the last century, in order to make the West realize the enthusiasm and magnificence of the East, Kakuzo (Tenshin) Okakura wrote this book in Boston. The original...

The Book of Tea is much more than a book about tea. It's a celebration of the arts and culture of Japan, and a portrait of tea ceremony, the "Way of Tea", as the pinnacle of Japanese spirituality and artistic life. Written in 1906 by Kakuzo Okakura, curator of Chinese and Japanese Art at the Boston Museum of Fine Arts and a noted scholar and art critic, this modern classic traces the history of tea from its early medicinal uses in China, through the development of Chinese tea culture, and finally to the role of tea in Japanese Zen, culture, and politics.

La cerimonia del tè è una delle tradizioni giapponesi che più affascinano l'Occidente. In questa piccola opera deliziosa, scritta originariamente in inglese per un pubblico occidentale, l'autore disvela il rito e il mito, la forma e la sostanza: dalle ricette più antiche all'accoglienza degli ospiti, dall'arredamento della stanza agli aspetti più mistici, rivolgendo uno sguardo d'insieme alla filosofia, alla storia, alla cultura orientale e a com’è stata recepita in Occidente.

The Book of Tea by Okakura Kakuzo is a long essay linking the role of tea (teaism) to the aesthetic and cultural aspects of Japanese life. Addressed to a western audience, it was originally written in English and is one of the great English tea classics. Okakura had been taught at a young age to speak English and was proficient at communicating his thoughts to the Western mind. In his book, he discusses such topics as Zen and Taoism, but also the secular aspects of tea and Japanese life.

In Eusebius History of the Christian Church, Eusebius chronicles the journey of the Church from the age of the apostles to his own time. This compelling narrative explores key themes, including the succession of bishops in major sees, the lives of Christian teachers, the emergence of heresies, the history of the Jewish people, interactions with pagan cultures, and the accounts of martyrdom. (Summary adapted from Wikipedia)