The Tea Ceremony (Paperback)

~ Seno Tanaka (Author), Sendo Tanaka (Author), Edwin O. Reischauer (Author) "Tea did not grow in Japan until the first seeds were brought from China during the T'ang dynasty (618-907), when cultural interchange between the two..." (more)
Key Phrases: Record of Yamanoue, Southern Sung, Katsura Imperial Villa (more...)

Editorial Reviews

Product Description

In Japan, serving tea is an art and a spiritual discipline. As an art, the tea ceremony is an occasion to appreciate the clean lines of the tea room's design, the feel of the bowl in the hand, the company of friends, and a simple moment of purity. As a discipline, it has roots in the twelfth century and intimate connections to architecture, landscape gardening, ceramics, painting, flower arrangement, and, of course, Zen Buddhism.
Written by contemporary tea masters, The Tea Ceremony takes a clear and comprehensive look at the sources and inspiration of this ancient discipline. The authors trace the practice from its earliest origins to the present day, considering in detail the individuals who helped it evolve. They discuss all the elements of the ceremony-including art, architecture, incense, flowers, and the influence of Zen-and show how readily the study of tea can serve as a spiritual path to greater insight and calm.
Originally published in 1973, The Tea Ceremony has been revised extensively. Along with a rewritten and updated text, entirely new photographs and line drawings have been selected. Over 75 step-by-step stills of the tea ritual itself, featuring a number of close-up shots, give the reader a fuller visual understanding of the ceremony. Numerous line drawings illuminating the more important elements of the ceremony have been inserted for the first time, and for those readers wishing to delve further into the subject, bilingual charts of tea terms have been appended.
This lavish new edition of The Tea Ceremony adds an important dimension to the literature of tea, capturing the aesthetic spirit that lies at the heart of the ritual.
Includes:
o More than 330 photographs and illustrations of tea houses, gardens, prize tea utensils, and scenes from the ceremony.
o An extensive photographic sequence illustrating the tea ceremony.
o Appendices of famous tea houses, tea terms with their equivalents in English, line drawings of the numerous shapes for tea utensils, and a lengthy glossary.

About the Author

SEN'O TANAKA was born in 1928, the grandchild bf Sensho Tanaka, founder of the Japan Association of the Tea Ceremony (Dai Nihon Chado Gakkai). A graduate of the Tokyo Higher Mercantile Marine School, he studied Chinese literature at Nisho Gakusha University, and did graduate work in Oriental philosophy at Waseda University, where he earned a master's degree. Mr. Tanaka became the president of the Dai Nihon Chado Gakkai in 1961. In 1990, he became the senior executive director of the Santoku-an Foundation, the nonprofit arm of the tea association. He is the publisher of the monthly magazine Chado no Kenkyu (Studitis in the Tea Ceremony) and regularly contributes articles to the journal. He is the author of several books on the tea ceremony, including Chado Nyumon Handobukku.
SENDO TANAKA was born in 1958, the eldest son of Sen'o Tanaka. After receiving a master degree in sociology from the University of Tokyo, he went abroad to study at Universite Laval in Quebec. In 1988, he became vice president of the Dai Nihon Chado Gakkai and the following year became a lecturer at Nihon University. He now teaches the art of tea at the association and lectures at Keio University. He has published several works, including the book Usucha no Temae.

Product Details

• Paperback: 224 pages
• Publisher: Kodansha International; Revised edition (May 1, 2000)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 4770025076
• ISBN-13: 978-4770025074
• Product Dimensions: 10.1 x 7.2 x 0.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.8 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #169,816 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

73 of 78 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Tea Ceremony explains far more than Tea, May 2, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: The Tea Ceremony (Hardcover)

I've found that an understanding of the tea ceremony led to a better understanding of so many Japanese cultural treasures that I now recommend this book to anyone wanting to know more about subjects ranging from gardening to ceramics. Interested in Raku pottery? Study the tea ceremony. Want to know more about Japanese gardens? Study the tea ceremony. A fan of Zen Buddhism? Learn the way of Tea. Want to know more about Japanese architecture? Learn about sukiya style by studying the tea ceremony. Are you interested in Japanese woodworking and joinery? Learn about Tea, you'll know more about what to hide, what to emphasize in your carpentry. This particular books is a very good starting point, don't be surprised if you read this and then become interested in 20 other subjects. You'll keep coming back to this one in order to understand all 20.

9 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars fairly good introduction to tea ceremony, October 20, 2006

By	K. Straley (Kansas) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

This bood is a fairly good intro to the Japanese tea ceremony for the absolute neophyte. Covering history, gardening and a very basic overview of the utensils and ceremony. For anyone wishing to know more about the actual procedures of the ceremony, the book falls short (however, I'm not aware of any books widely available that do a good job of explaining these procedures). As tea ceremony is best learned under the tutalage of an instructor, anyone more serious about tea would do best to seek out a teacher.

2 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Essential preparation for doing business in Japan and with the Japanese, it is more than just sipping tea, June 24, 2008

By	Charles Ashbacher "([e-mail])" (Marion, Iowa United States([e-mail])) - See all my reviews (TOP 50 REVIEWER)

This review is from: Tea Ceremony (Hardcover)

Some aspects of a culture are deep-seated, traditional and can be puzzling to outsiders. Yet, some knowledge of that aspect will provide the foreigner with an enormous advantage as they try to enter that market and expand their business. In Japan, one very important tradition is the tea ceremony, and the ability of a foreigner to appreciate the role it has played in Japanese society can be a key to business success.
This book contains descriptions of the history of the ceremony, the role it has played in Japan and many of the ways in which it is conducted. Learning the basics of the ceremony is not difficult, yet it can be essential knowledge when meeting and interacting with Japanese business executives. It should be required reading for anyone with a need to prepare for meetings and interactions with executives of Japanese companies.