The Book of Tea

Product Description The original 1906 edition of The Book of Tea is one of the classic texts found on the desks of artists, poets, teaists and Zen Buddhists around the world.  The book has been re-designed and expanded for a contemporary audience. You will discover the fascinating character of Okakura Kakuzo and the story of how he came to write one of the twentieth century’s most influential books on art, beauty, and simplicity—all steeped in the world’s communal cup of tea. His incredible journey took him from Yokohama to New York, Paris, Bombay, and Boston, where his life intertwined with such luminaries as Rabindranath Tagore, John Singer Sargent, Henry James, John La Farge, Isabella Stewart Gardner, Ezra Pound, and Henri Matisse. His writings influenced the work of such notable artists as Frank Lloyd Wright and Georgia O'Keeffe. American tea writer Bruce Richardson includes many historical photographs and illustrations in this updated edition of Okakura’s classic text, along with unique insight into how Okakura's philosophy continues to inspire today’s tea culture. Plus, Richardson includes an all-new chapter on America's thirst for Japanese tea during the late 1800s, illustrated with archival photographs. Review For those of us who, for years, have loved and been influenced by Okakura's prose and philosophy, this new edition brings fresh insight and clarity to the work. With sensitivity, admiration and profound appreciation for Okakura, Bruce Richardson unravels the complex and intriguing story that lies behind the original Book of Tea. All tea lovers will treasure this beautiful and valuable work. --Jane Pettigrew, London author Georgia O'Keeffe loved The Book of Tea. The similarities between her own life and the Japanese tea ceremony were obvious- her constant manner, her humility, her exactness, her utterly respectful exactness. --Christine Patten, author of Miss O'Keeffe Georgia O'Keeffe loved The Book of Tea. The similarities between her own life and the Japanese tea ceremony were obvious- her constant manner, her humility, her exactness, her utterly respectful exactness. --Christine Patten, author of Miss O'Keeffe Okakura was such a charismatic genius he is called by the Japanese tensin which means teacher; which he certainly was. But they have no word for bridge person, any more than we do in English, yet this describes the essence of Okakura's life work. He bridged cultures that seemed worlds apart, interpreting Japan and Asian ways to the West and in Japan itself finally achieving the honored status of tensin. The Book of Tea is only the best known of his monuments. What a life story is now revealed to us! Bruce Richardson resurrects Okakura's life and times by means of exquisitely chosen and reproduced illustrations. It is rare for writing as exquisite as Okakura's to be illustrated just as exquisitely and this Benjamin Press Edition of The Book of Tea is in its own right a landmark in the art of bookmaking. We look through Mr. Richarson's educated eye at period photos and portraits from the time Okakura at 24 sailed from Yohohama to San Francisco in 1886. Already an enfant terrible in the Japanese art world, he was eager to discover new worlds - America and Europe - where his impact was to prove scarcely less epochal than it had been on his abandoned native soil. Richardson also shows us how Okakura inspired and influenced several generations of American genius--very much including Frank Lloyd Wright and Georgia O'Keeffe--through The Book of Tea. Why has all this been kept secret up til now? This new edition represents a work of generosity and love on the part of Bruce Richardson: It is a beautiful work of art in tribute to a beautiful work of art. --James Norwood Pratt's review in TeaTime magazine From the Author Okakura Kakuzo was born in Yokohama in 1862, just as Japan was opening its doors to the West. As a teen, he became a student at the newly-organized Tokyo University where he served as