The Book of Tea: Illustrated Classic Edition: Amazon.de: Kakuzo Okakura, Liza Dalby: Englische Bücher

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That a nation should construct one of its most resonant national ceremonies round a cup of tea will surely strike a chord of sympathy with at least some readers of this review. To many foreigners, nothing is so quintessentially Japanese as the tea ceremony--more properly, "the way of tea"--with its austerity, its extravagantly minimalist stylisation and its concentration of extreme subtleties of meaning into the simplest of actions. The Book of Tea is something of a curiosity: written in English by a Japanese scholar (and issued here in bilingual form) it was first published in 1906, in the wake of the naval victory over Russia with which Japan asserted its rapidly-acquired status as a world-class military power. It was a peak moment of Westernisation within Japan. Clearly, behind the publication was an agenda, or at least a mission to explain. Around its account of the ceremony The Book of Tea folds an explication of the philosophy, first Taoist, later Zen Buddhist, that informs its oblique celebration of simplicity and directness--what Okakura calls, in a telling phrase, "moral geometry". And the ceremony itself? Its greatest practitioners have always been philosophers, but also artists, connoisseurs, collectors, gardeners, calligraphers, gourmets, flower-arrangers. The greatest of them, Sen Rikyu, left a teasingly, maddeningly simple set of rules: "Make a delicious bowl of tea; lay the charcoal so that it heats the water; arrange the flowers as they are in the field; in summer suggest coolness; in winter, warmth; do everything ahead of time; prepare for rain; and give those with whom you find yourself every consideration." A disciple remarked that this seemed elementary. Rikyu replied, "Then if you can host a tea gathering without deviating from any of the rules I have just stated, I will become your disciple." A Zen reply. Fascinating. --Robin Davidson -- Dieser Text bezieht sich auf eine vergriffene oder nicht verf�gbare Ausgabe dieses Titels.

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Make a delicious bowl of tea; lay the charcoal so that it heats the water; arrange the flowers as they are in the field; in summer suggest coolness; in winter, warmth; do everything ahead of time; prepare for rain; and give those with whom you find yourself every consideration.

A disciple remarked that this seemed elementary. Rikyu replied, "Then if you can host a tea gathering without deviating from any of the rules I have just stated, I will become your disciple." A Zen reply. Fascinating. --Robin Davidson, Amazon.co.uk -- Dieser Text bezieht sich auf eine vergriffene oder nicht verf�gbare Ausgabe dieses Titels.

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The Tempest in Tea Cup 28. Juli 2000

Von "eido"

Format:Taschenbuch

I haphazardly discovered this book when I had undertaken the task of better acquainting myself with tea. Totally ignorant, I opened the book half expecting to find dry writing on types of tea leaves. Instead I discovered something deeply beautiful. This book does indeed teach the history of tea and its preparation, but it also provides an eloquent introduction to Teaism and other aspects of Japanese culture. Okakura wavers most delicately between prose and poetry, between the educational and the spiritual. The words linger with you long after you have finished, and tea, once an ordinary beverage, acquires a soul-- a source of peace.

"Teaism is a cult founded on the adoration of the beautiful among the sordid facts of everyday existence. It inculcates purity and harmony, the mystery of mutual charity, the romanticism of the social order. It is essentially a worship of the Imperfect, as it is a tender attempt to accomplish something possible in this impossible thing we know as life."

(Chapter One, The Cup of Humanity)

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A work of art 12. Juli 2000

Von Mary Clement Hill

Format:Gebundene Ausgabe

A more beautiful tribute to tea as a way of life there never was. I highly recommend the hard back version from 1956 for the elegance and beauty. I was enthralled with his description of the tea ceremony and of the real joy of flowers. A great book to return to periodically to refresh your beliefs in the beauty of the world and tea.

The real thing 8. M�rz 1999

Von Ein Kunde

This classic exploration of Japanese culture, done at a time when there was great Oriental interest among cultured westerners, outshines all the trendy "let's have tea" books of today, in that it exposes the wonderful relationship between "Teaism" and Taoism, among other cultural traditions. Woodcut illustrations help set a peaceful mood. I urge people to get the nice hardcover edition if available, that has endpapers the color of real green tea.