With a new introduction, this is an exquisitely produced edition of a
classic text made using traditional Chinese bookbinding techniques.
"Tea began as a medicine and grew into a beverage," are the opening
words of Okakura Kakuzō's The Book of Tea, written in English in 1906
for a Western audience. The book is a long essay celebrating the secular
art of the Japanese tea ceremony and linking its importance with Zen
Buddhism and Taoism. It is both about cultural life, aesthetics, and
philosophy, emphasizing how Teaism, a term Kakuzō coined, taught the
Japanese many things--most importantly, simplicity, which can be seen in
Japanese art and architecture. Looking back at the evolution of the
Japanese tea ceremony, Kakuzō argues that Teaism, in itself, is one of
the profound universal remedies that two parties could sit down to.
While the West had scoffed at Eastern religion and morals, it held
Eastern tea ceremonies in high regard.