_The Book of Tea_ by Kakuzo Okakura
Since early in my Japan days and the days of Loren, this has been amongst my books to read, but never got to for various reasons. When I saw it was free to download on Kindle ages ago, I got it for that aloof ‘someday’. Well, ‘someday’ arrived this summer when I was nearing the end of my purchased books and I was not yet sure if I should start reading longer books when I have many pages to write and articles to read.
However, after quickly finishing _Stillness Speaks_ and not being overly satisfied, I opened _The Book of Tea_ to see how long it would take to read. Surprisingly, I found it was a very short read. So, I read on.
Okakura talks about the history of tea from China to Japan and how the aesthetics and appreciation of tea used to be founded in the Song and Tang dynasties, but was then lost. When Japan took on the art, it took on religious implications of acquiring a zen spirit as well as added in the appreciation of nature and true aesthetics to the point of it becoming its own religious rite in many ways from the arrival to the tea garden, to the entrance of the tea house, to the accepting of the made tea and appreciation for the maker.
It reminded me of some of the more beautiful aspects of Japanese culture that I had come to understand and really enjoy amidst much that I did not like as much. I am glad that I was finally in the right mental space to enjoy the read and find that it has a deep and poetic meaning for a much under-appreciated art form.
-T π
