The Tea Ceremony: Explore The Ancient Art Of Tea (Hardcover)

~ Okakura Kakuzo (Author)

Editorial Reviews

Product Description

With its emphasis on ritual and aesthetics, the ceremonial presentation of tea provides a fascinating introduction to many aspects of Japanese culture. In the popular classic The Book of Tea, Japanese scholar Okakura Kakuzo seeks to explain "the way of tea" to westerners, in the hope that they will understand this insightful ritual as far more than the offering of a mere brewed beverage. His profound, poetic work explores the history of tea as well as the subtler Zen spirituality behind the centuries-old ceremony. This beautifully designed kit contains Kakuzo's Book of Tea plus utensils to use in recreating the tea ceremony at home: a traditional bowl and split bamboo whisk. It's a wonderful way to get in touch with life's pure and simple pleasures and to learn to savor a bowl of tea in the most eloquent way.

About the Author

Kauzo Okakuro (1862 - 1913) was a Japanese art and cultural critic who later served as an advisor and a curator of the Department of Japanese and Chinese Art at the Museumn of Fine Arts, Boston from 1903 - 1913.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 80 pages
• Publisher: Running Press; Book and Access edition (March 20, 2002)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0762412348
• ISBN-13: 978-0762412341
• Product Dimensions: 10.6 x 6.7 x 4.1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 2.1 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 2.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #1,867,864 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

29 of 31 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars horribly disappointing, December 28, 2004

By	K. E. Bechtold (USA) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

My Japanese tea ceremony instructor bought this kit at the <a href="http://www.asia.si.edu/">Freer Gallery</a>`s gift shop to see what kind of quality would be available from a national museum specializing in Asian art. The answer: horribly disappointing. The only thing decent about it is the included book. The tea bowl is wrong, the incense is wrong, the whisk is quite wrong, and the fukusa is hideously, hideously wrong. The kit seems to be targeted toward clueless hippies.

The tea bowl was the item on which I was least clear what was wrong. It was too heavy for one thing, and it also didn't have glaze on the bottom.

The tines of the chasen, as you may be able to see from the product picture, are waaaaay too thick. The incense is in a stick form, which isn't right. (We haven't yet learned anything about incense or its role in chado, so I didn't know that.)

My instructor didn't even recognize the included piece of cloth as a fukusa. It was a white satin type of material, single thickness, with frayed edges. It wasn't folded right. This piece of cloth was the low point, the rock bottom, the pièce de crapitance, of the set.

You could arguably criticize the set for lacking a chashaku and natsume and matcha itself (IIRC); it can't claim to have everything you'd need for a tea ceremony. Now that I think about it, tea people could probably debate exactly what elements would constitute "everything you'd need for a tea ceremony," but I can't imagine those wouldn't include a chashaku and natsume.

The $18.90 price should probably be a giveaway. Not that "more expensive" = "higher quality", but it would just be impossible to provide any authenticity in a set that costs that little.

4.0 out of 5 stars Worth the money, October 6, 2009

By	usabear "eclectic one" (California) - See all my reviews

While I gave a more detailed critique of the 1 star review in reply to a comment, I would add here that this is, indeed, a very good introductory set for beginners. It is, of course, commercial, but well worth the $30 or less that it costs.

One point that deserves to be emphasized, though, is that the vast majority of chawan are unglazed on the foot, and I have never seen a temmoku bowl (the type in the set) which had a glazed foot. Any review that criticizes a bowl on this account reveals a lack of knowledge on the part of the reviewer.

If you're just becoming interested in cha-no-yu, this set can be a reasonable tool in your education.