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THE BOOK OF TEA

BY
OKAKURA-KAKUZO


NEW YORK
DUFFIELD & COMPANY 1919
COPYRIGHT 1906, BY
FOX, DUFFIELD & COMPANY


To
JOHN LAFARGE
Sensei



CONTENTS

CHAPTER I. THE CUP OF HUMANITY
Tea ennobled into Teaism, a religion of ecstheticism, 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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.