The Book of Tea (1906) by Okakura Kakuzo has long become a classic. Its title notwithstanding, the book is not a manual on tea. Rather it is an essay, better a hymn, to culture, aesthetics and the spirit of tea as a symbol, a paradigm, of the Asian soul. It was created by a passionate Japanese scholar whose life was devoted to renew and spread the values of the East in the same moment in which his own country seemed to deny them in order to embrace Western culture. This new edition has an important apparatus of over 200 notes to explain the contents of the book and supply all the information needed to understand it fully (concepts of Eastern philosophy, history, geography, biographical information), something that so far has never been done. It also contains an important essay by Giancarlo Calza on Okakura and his role to foster intercultural understanding and the development of spirituality through the aesthetics and practice of the tea ceremony as a style of life. Contents: The Cup of Humanity; The Schools of Tea; Taoism and Zennism; The Tea-room; Art Appreciation; Flowers; Tea-masters; Okakura: A Life in Style by Giancarlo Calza

About the Author

Gian Carlo Calza is a leading authority in Japanese art and aesthetics. He was a professor of Asian Art History at Ca' Foscari University of Venice and director of the International Hokusai Research Centre in Milan. His books and catalogues on Japan have been published in various languages. Among the most important of them are: L'incanto sottile del dramma no (1975, 1983), Hokusai Paintings (1994), Tanaka Ikko (Phaidon, 1997), Japan Style (2002, Phaidon 2006) Hokusai 1999, (Phaidon 2003), Ukiyo-e (Phaidon, 2006), Hiroshige (2009); Poem of the Pillow and Other Stories (Phaidon, 2010).

Okakura Kakuzo (1863-1913) was a Japanese art critic and scholar who had a great influence on our understanding of Japanese culture. Together with Ernest Fenollosa, an American professor at Tokyo Imperial University, he was instrumental in defending Japan's traditional art forms which, during the Mejii period, were put in peril by modernisation and the new political structure which severed Buddhist temples from state protection. After setting up a fine arts school based on tradition, and travelling throughout Japan to study its art, he frequently travelled to Asia and the United States. At the turn of the century he became curator of the Oriental Art department of the Boston Museum of Fine Arts. Several of his books were written directly in English: among them The Ideals of the East (1903), The Awakening of Japan (1904), and The Book of Tea (1906).

Book Information
ISBN 9788833670560
Author Okakura Kakuzo
Format Hardback
Page Count 192
Imprint Officina Libraria
Publisher Officina Libraria
Weight(grams) 260g