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The Book of Tea
Now available in a gorgeous hardcover slipcase edition, this "object d'art" will be sure to add grace and elegance to tea shelves, coffee tables and bookshelves. A keepsake enjoyed by tea lovers for over a hundred years, The Book of Tea Classic Edition will enhance your enjoyment and understanding of the seemingly simple act of making and drinking tea.
In 1906 in turn-of-the-century Boston, a small, esoteric book about tea was written with the intention of being read aloud in the famous salon of Isabella Gardner, Boston's most notorious socialite. It was authored by Okakura Kakuzo, a Japanese philosopher, art expert, and curator. Little known at the time, Kakuzo would emerge as one of the great thinkers of the early 20th century, a genius who was insightful, witty—and greatly responsible for bridging Western and Eastern cultures. Okakura had been taught at a young age to speak English and was more than capable of expressing to Westerners the nuances of tea and the Japanese Tea Ceremony.
In The Book of Tea Classic Edition, he discusses such topics as Zen and Taoism, but also the secular aspects of tea and Japanese life. The book emphasizes how Teaism taught the Japanese many things; most importantly, simplicity. Kakuzo argues that tea-induced simplicity affected the culture, art and architecture of Japan.
Nearly a century later, Kakuzo's The Book of Tea Classic Edition is still beloved the world over, making it an essential part of any tea enthusiast's collection. Interwoven with a rich history of Japanese tea and its place in Japanese society is a poignant commentary on Asian culture and our ongoing fascination with it, as well as illuminating essays on art, spirituality, poetry, and more. The Book of Tea Classic Edition is a delightful cup of enlightenment from a man far ahead of his time.
In 1906 in turn-of-the-century Boston, a small, esoteric book about tea was written with the intention of being read aloud in the famous salon of Isabella Gardner, Boston's most notorious socialite. It was authored by Okakura Kakuzo, a Japanese philosopher, art expert, and curator. Little known at the time, Kakuzo would emerge as one of the great thinkers of the early 20th century, a genius who was insightful, witty—and greatly responsible for bridging Western and Eastern cultures. Okakura had been taught at a young age to speak English and was more than capable of expressing to Westerners the nuances of tea and the Japanese Tea Ceremony.
In The Book of Tea Classic Edition, he discusses such topics as Zen and Taoism, but also the secular aspects of tea and Japanese life. The book emphasizes how Teaism taught the Japanese many things; most importantly, simplicity. Kakuzo argues that tea-induced simplicity affected the culture, art and architecture of Japan.
Nearly a century later, Kakuzo's The Book of Tea Classic Edition is still beloved the world over, making it an essential part of any tea enthusiast's collection. Interwoven with a rich history of Japanese tea and its place in Japanese society is a poignant commentary on Asian culture and our ongoing fascination with it, as well as illuminating essays on art, spirituality, poetry, and more. The Book of Tea Classic Edition is a delightful cup of enlightenment from a man far ahead of his time.
133 pages, Hardcover
First published January 1, 1906
About the author
Kakuzō Okakura
83 books226 followersOkakura Kakuzō (岡倉覚三), also known as Okakura Tenshin (岡倉 天心), was a Japanese scholar who contributed the development of arts in Japan. Outside Japan, he is chiefly remembered today as the author of
The Book of Tea
.
Born in Yokohama to parents originally from Fukui, Okakura learned English while attending a school operated by Christian missionary, Dr. Curtis Hepburn. At 15, he entered Tokyo Imperial University, where he first met and studied under Harvard-educated professor Ernest Fenollosa. In 1889, Okakura co-founded the periodical Kokka. A year later he was one of the principal founders of the first Japanese fine-arts academy, the Tokyo School of Fine Arts (東京美術学校 Tōkyō Bijutsu Gakkō), and a year later became its head, although he was later ousted from the school in an administrative struggle. Later, he also founded the Japan Art Institute with Hashimoto Gahō and Yokoyama Taikan. He was invited by William Sturgis Bigelow to the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston in 1904 and became the first head of the Asian art division in 1910.
Okakura was a high-profile urbanite who had an international sense of self. In the Meiji period he was the first dean of the Tokyo Fine Arts School (later merged with the Tokyo Music School to form the current Tokyo University of the Arts). He wrote all of his main works in English. Okakura researched Japan's traditional art and traveled to Europe, the United States, China and India. He emphasised the importance to the modern world of Asian culture, attempting to bring its influence to realms of art and literature that, in his day, were largely dominated by Western culture.
His book, The Ideals of the East (1904), published on the eve of the Russo-Japanese War, is famous for its opening line, "Asia is one." He argued that Asia is "one" in its humiliation, of falling behind in achieving modernization, and thus being colonized by the Western powers. This was an early expression of Pan-Asianism. Later Okakura felt compelled to protest against a Japan that tried to catch up with the Western powers, but by sacrificing other Asian countries in the Russo-Japanese War.
In Japan, Okakura, along with Fenollosa, is credited with "saving" Nihonga, or painting done with traditional Japanese technique, as it was threatened with replacement by Western-style painting, or "Yōga", whose chief advocate was artist Kuroda Seiki. In fact this role, most assiduously pressed after Okakura's death by his followers, is not taken seriously by art scholars today, nor is the idea that oil painting posed any serious "threat" to traditional Japanese painting. Yet Okakura was certainly instrumental in modernizing Japanese aesthetics, having recognized the need to preserve Japan's cultural heritage, and thus was one of the major reformers during Japan's period of modernization beginning with the Meiji Restoration.
Outside of Japan, Okakura had an impact on a number of important figures, directly or indirectly, who include philosopher Martin Heidegger, poet Ezra Pound, and especially poet Rabindranath Tagore and heiress Isabella Stewart Gardner, who were close personal friends of his.
Born in Yokohama to parents originally from Fukui, Okakura learned English while attending a school operated by Christian missionary, Dr. Curtis Hepburn. At 15, he entered Tokyo Imperial University, where he first met and studied under Harvard-educated professor Ernest Fenollosa. In 1889, Okakura co-founded the periodical Kokka. A year later he was one of the principal founders of the first Japanese fine-arts academy, the Tokyo School of Fine Arts (東京美術学校 Tōkyō Bijutsu Gakkō), and a year later became its head, although he was later ousted from the school in an administrative struggle. Later, he also founded the Japan Art Institute with Hashimoto Gahō and Yokoyama Taikan. He was invited by William Sturgis Bigelow to the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston in 1904 and became the first head of the Asian art division in 1910.
Okakura was a high-profile urbanite who had an international sense of self. In the Meiji period he was the first dean of the Tokyo Fine Arts School (later merged with the Tokyo Music School to form the current Tokyo University of the Arts). He wrote all of his main works in English. Okakura researched Japan's traditional art and traveled to Europe, the United States, China and India. He emphasised the importance to the modern world of Asian culture, attempting to bring its influence to realms of art and literature that, in his day, were largely dominated by Western culture.
His book, The Ideals of the East (1904), published on the eve of the Russo-Japanese War, is famous for its opening line, "Asia is one." He argued that Asia is "one" in its humiliation, of falling behind in achieving modernization, and thus being colonized by the Western powers. This was an early expression of Pan-Asianism. Later Okakura felt compelled to protest against a Japan that tried to catch up with the Western powers, but by sacrificing other Asian countries in the Russo-Japanese War.
In Japan, Okakura, along with Fenollosa, is credited with "saving" Nihonga, or painting done with traditional Japanese technique, as it was threatened with replacement by Western-style painting, or "Yōga", whose chief advocate was artist Kuroda Seiki. In fact this role, most assiduously pressed after Okakura's death by his followers, is not taken seriously by art scholars today, nor is the idea that oil painting posed any serious "threat" to traditional Japanese painting. Yet Okakura was certainly instrumental in modernizing Japanese aesthetics, having recognized the need to preserve Japan's cultural heritage, and thus was one of the major reformers during Japan's period of modernization beginning with the Meiji Restoration.
Outside of Japan, Okakura had an impact on a number of important figures, directly or indirectly, who include philosopher Martin Heidegger, poet Ezra Pound, and especially poet Rabindranath Tagore and heiress Isabella Stewart Gardner, who were close personal friends of his.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 1,805 reviews
June 6, 2013
This book was just wonderful. It discusses the history of teaism in Asia (mainly Japan but also China). It’s written in a very poetic and philosophical manner. Not only does the book talk about tea, it also talks about how tea has influenced Japanese culture, especially Japanese cuisine, clothing, literature and art.
I learned some quite surprising facts. For example, onions were added to tea in some places, and tea-drinking was considered to be an occupation of depraved people!
The book also goes into detail about the Japanese tea ceremony and how Japanese tea houses are built in a specific way for atmosphere. Everything is exact : the decor, the utensils, the clothing of the participants, the asymmetric nature, the seemingly fragile architecture...It’s quite amazing the amount of detail that goes into conducting a tea ceremony.
There are also many myths and legends added anecdotally. Also, some information on Buddhism and Taoism and Confucianism was included, as well as poetry. As a lover of flowers, I enjoyed the ode to flowers.
One of favourite quotes is "But I am not to be a polite Teaist. So much harm has been done already by the mutual misunderstanding of the New World and the Old, that one need not apologize for contributing his tithe to the furtherance of a better understanding." I wholeheartedly agree with this! Additionally, "we have developed along different lines, but there is no reason why one should not supplement the other." Hear, hear!
Okakura is definitely very patriotic. ( Side note : one of my Japanese co-workers told me that Okakura was forced to commit seppuku (Samurai ritualistic suicide) as he was heavily involved in politics. ) On one hand, he bemoans how the West supposedly looks down on Japan and then he displays ethnocentric qualities himself, especially when he noted that Western homes have a "vulgar display of riches." Hmm.... That was my only gripe with this book. I will definitely be re-reading it.
I learned some quite surprising facts. For example, onions were added to tea in some places, and tea-drinking was considered to be an occupation of depraved people!
The book also goes into detail about the Japanese tea ceremony and how Japanese tea houses are built in a specific way for atmosphere. Everything is exact : the decor, the utensils, the clothing of the participants, the asymmetric nature, the seemingly fragile architecture...It’s quite amazing the amount of detail that goes into conducting a tea ceremony.
There are also many myths and legends added anecdotally. Also, some information on Buddhism and Taoism and Confucianism was included, as well as poetry. As a lover of flowers, I enjoyed the ode to flowers.
One of favourite quotes is "But I am not to be a polite Teaist. So much harm has been done already by the mutual misunderstanding of the New World and the Old, that one need not apologize for contributing his tithe to the furtherance of a better understanding." I wholeheartedly agree with this! Additionally, "we have developed along different lines, but there is no reason why one should not supplement the other." Hear, hear!
Okakura is definitely very patriotic. ( Side note : one of my Japanese co-workers told me that Okakura was forced to commit seppuku (Samurai ritualistic suicide) as he was heavily involved in politics. ) On one hand, he bemoans how the West supposedly looks down on Japan and then he displays ethnocentric qualities himself, especially when he noted that Western homes have a "vulgar display of riches." Hmm.... That was my only gripe with this book. I will definitely be re-reading it.
December 15, 2016
Wow!
In the trembling grey of a spring dawn, when the birds were whispering in mysterious cadence among the trees, have you not felt that they were talking to their mates about the flowers?"
"True beauty could be discovered only by one who mentally complete the incomplete.”
Just wow!
"Rikiu loved to quote an old poem which says: "To those who long only for flowers, fain would I show the full-blown spring which abides in the toiling buds of snow-covered hills."
More wow!
"The tea-master, Kobori-Enshiu, himself a daimyo, has left to us these memorable words: "Approach a great painting as thou wouldst approach a great prince." In order to understand a masterpiece, you must lay yourself low before it and await with bated breath its least utterance."
Wow ad infinitum!
Proper review:
"Meanwhile, let us have a sip of tea. The afternoon glow is brightening the bamboos, the fountains are bubbling with delight, the soughing of the pines is heard in our kettle. Let us dream of evanescence, and linger in the beautiful foolishness of things."
Beautiful writing all around. In terms of prose, it has to be the best Japanese book I have read. Okakura's purpose is to show west the depth of thought that is contained in simplicity of Eastern culture, Teaism in particular. Teaism is a culture/life style in Japan which values things like modesty, simplicity etc - in many ways very opposite of consumerism that plagues present day world. Besides general history of tea and Teaism, the author discusses a bunch of other subjects - such as need of a dialogue between West and East, religions (Taoism, Budhism, Jainism etc), flowers, poetry, translation, philosophy, art, aesthetics, architecture etc within a very short space and without ever discarding his beautiful prose.
About Taoism:
"The ancient sages never put their teachings in systematic form. They spoke in paradoxes, for they were afraid of uttering half-truths. They began by talking like fools and ended by making their hearers wise. Laotse himself, with his quaint humour, says, "If people of inferior intelligence hear of the Tao, they laugh immensely. It would not be the Tao unless they laughed at it."
About Translations:
"Translation is always a treason, and as a Ming author observes, can at its best be only the reverse side of a brocade- all the threads are there, but not the subtlety of colour or design.”
Philosophy:
"One day Soshi was walking on the bank of a river with a friend. 'How delightfully the fishes are enjoying themselves in the water!' exclaimed Soshi. His friend spake to him thus: 'You are not a fish; how do you know that the fishes are enjoying themselves?' 'You are not myself', returned Soshi; 'how do you know that I do not know that the fishes are enjoying themselves?'"
Art criticism:
An eminent Sung critic once made a charming confession. Said he: "In my young days I praised the master whose pictures I liked, but as my judgement matured I praised myself for liking what the masters had chosen to have me like."
More quotes:
"The primeval man in offering the first garland to his maiden thereby transcended the brute. He became human in thus rising above the crude necessities of nature. He entered the realm of art when he perceived the subtle use of the useless."
"Man at ten is an animal, at twenty a lunatic, at thirty a failure, at forty a fraud, and at fifty a criminal."
"Tell me, gentle flowers, teardrops of the stars, standing in the garden, nodding your heads to the bees as they sing of the dews and sunbeams, are you aware of the fearful doom that awaits you? Dream on, sway and frolic while you may in the gentle breeze of summer. To-morrow a ruthless hand will close around your throats. You will be wrenched, torn asunder limb by limb, and borne away from your quiet homes. The wretch, she may be passing fair. She may say how lovely you are while her fingers are still moist with your blood...It may even be your lot to be confined in some narrow vessel with only stagnant water to quench the maddening thirst that warns of ebbing life."
October 10, 2021
Interesting musings on the importance of tea in Japanese society, if sometimes rather more elaborate on the then current state of affairs than on details of the ceremony itself
Those who cannot feel the littleness of great things in themselves are apt to overlook the greatness of little things in others.
In The Book of Tea, from 1906, the author follows the cultural impact of the beverage on the culture of Japan. From history, being a Chinese invention, moving from cakes of ground leaves, to be heated with ginger, lemon and even onion at first to what we now would call Matcha (powdered tea, curiously boiled with salt) towards the leaves we boil nowadays, there is a lot of interest. Still I would have liked a bit more on the actual mechanics, as opposed to the feel and idea behind the tea ceremony. The illustrations give you a feel, but I missed something nonetheless.
The contrast between West and East, with the linkage to both Zen Buddhism and Taoism, is interesting. Also Shinto decreeing that houses exist for people and should be broken down after death of the dweller is a very interesting explanation for the wooden architecture and cyclical rebuilding of temples.
We classify too much and enjoy too little the author says at the end, before a section on Ikebana that feels almost The Little Prince like in feel, and I feel he is right despite that I find this brief book more admirable than loveable. Still a very interesting cultural document and ideal for a read with some nice cups of sencha.
Those who cannot feel the littleness of great things in themselves are apt to overlook the greatness of little things in others.
In The Book of Tea, from 1906, the author follows the cultural impact of the beverage on the culture of Japan. From history, being a Chinese invention, moving from cakes of ground leaves, to be heated with ginger, lemon and even onion at first to what we now would call Matcha (powdered tea, curiously boiled with salt) towards the leaves we boil nowadays, there is a lot of interest. Still I would have liked a bit more on the actual mechanics, as opposed to the feel and idea behind the tea ceremony. The illustrations give you a feel, but I missed something nonetheless.
The contrast between West and East, with the linkage to both Zen Buddhism and Taoism, is interesting. Also Shinto decreeing that houses exist for people and should be broken down after death of the dweller is a very interesting explanation for the wooden architecture and cyclical rebuilding of temples.
We classify too much and enjoy too little the author says at the end, before a section on Ikebana that feels almost The Little Prince like in feel, and I feel he is right despite that I find this brief book more admirable than loveable. Still a very interesting cultural document and ideal for a read with some nice cups of sencha.
May 1, 2024
Uma viagem inesperada aos cerimoniais do chá no Japão ou à aristocracia do gosto.
Já em 1711, dizia o Spectator que o chá não tinha a arrogância do vinho, a autoconsciência do café, nem a inocência simplória do cacau.
O chaísmo é a habilidade de ocultar a beleza, permitindo que a descubramos, e de sugerir o que não revelamos. O chá tem os seus períodos,as suas escolas e os vários os métodos de o apreciar indicativos do espírito da época. Era o elixir da imortalidade para os taoístas e os budistas usavam-no para evitar a sonolência durante as suas longas horas de meditação.Wang Yu-Cheng elogiou o chá como o travo de um bom conselho.
Ao ler este livro organizado em sete capítulos entrei num ambiente zen, ritual que acabou por se desenvolver na cerimónia do chá japonesa no século XV.
O chá é uma religião da arte da vida, a felicidade do mundano e do espiritual, a apreciação da arte, um hábito, uma cerimónia, uma estética, um impulso poético, um influenciador da arquitectura.
Para mim que ando sempre numa fona numa época egocêntrica foi maravilhoso parar e ler este livro pelos conhecimentos que transmite e os caminhos que me apontou. Classifico muito, desfruto pouco, atendo ao gosto da maioria e ainda não tinha realizado quanta serenidade, pureza e poesia há numa chávena de chá.
Já em 1711, dizia o Spectator que o chá não tinha a arrogância do vinho, a autoconsciência do café, nem a inocência simplória do cacau.
O chaísmo é a habilidade de ocultar a beleza, permitindo que a descubramos, e de sugerir o que não revelamos. O chá tem os seus períodos,as suas escolas e os vários os métodos de o apreciar indicativos do espírito da época. Era o elixir da imortalidade para os taoístas e os budistas usavam-no para evitar a sonolência durante as suas longas horas de meditação.Wang Yu-Cheng elogiou o chá como o travo de um bom conselho.
Ao ler este livro organizado em sete capítulos entrei num ambiente zen, ritual que acabou por se desenvolver na cerimónia do chá japonesa no século XV.
O chá é uma religião da arte da vida, a felicidade do mundano e do espiritual, a apreciação da arte, um hábito, uma cerimónia, uma estética, um impulso poético, um influenciador da arquitectura.
Para mim que ando sempre numa fona numa época egocêntrica foi maravilhoso parar e ler este livro pelos conhecimentos que transmite e os caminhos que me apontou. Classifico muito, desfruto pouco, atendo ao gosto da maioria e ainda não tinha realizado quanta serenidade, pureza e poesia há numa chávena de chá.
June 11, 2019
This book is about so much more than tea. This is about how something as seemingly simple as a beverage can define a culture’s history, philosophy and aesthetics. When it was originally published in 1906, the East was just opening to the West, and they had few cultural bridges to use to form bonds and begin to understand each other. But both hemispheres shared a love of tea, and a certain ritualization of its consumption. Through the history of the preparation of tea, and how the beverage travelled all over the world, Okakura sought to explain his culture to Westerners and dispel their misunderstandings about the East in general, and Japan, in particular.
The spiritual aspect of the tea ceremony truly is about an appreciation of beauty, in its smallest details, and it’s a way to create a moment of peaceful serenity that has an almost meditative quality. Okakura ties the links between the tea ceremony and Zen practice and Taoist philosophy, and shows that the beverage has influenced every aspect of his culture in the most subtle yet remarkable ways.
Okakura’s writing is beautiful, and I can only assume his words were chosen with as much care as he devotes to detailed information he lovingly packaged in this small book. I have been discovering Japanese writers over the last couple of years, and something about the ethereal beauty of their writing, even translated, leaves me breathless (he describes a bowl of matcha as the "froth of the liquid jade"). To be read slowly over a bowl of matcha, or while nibbling on cucumber sandwiches washed down with the very best Earl Grey.
The spiritual aspect of the tea ceremony truly is about an appreciation of beauty, in its smallest details, and it’s a way to create a moment of peaceful serenity that has an almost meditative quality. Okakura ties the links between the tea ceremony and Zen practice and Taoist philosophy, and shows that the beverage has influenced every aspect of his culture in the most subtle yet remarkable ways.
Okakura’s writing is beautiful, and I can only assume his words were chosen with as much care as he devotes to detailed information he lovingly packaged in this small book. I have been discovering Japanese writers over the last couple of years, and something about the ethereal beauty of their writing, even translated, leaves me breathless (he describes a bowl of matcha as the "froth of the liquid jade"). To be read slowly over a bowl of matcha, or while nibbling on cucumber sandwiches washed down with the very best Earl Grey.
December 17, 2015
Meanwhile, let us have a sip of tea. The afternoon glow is brightening the bamboos, the fountains are bubbling with delight, the soughing of the pines is heard in our kettle. Let us dream of evanescence, and linger in the beautiful foolishness of things.4.5/5
The last time I felt what this book conjured up in me, I was in Medieval Art, transcribing the parts of cathedrals in relation to aspects of religion, art, and space. Approaching the choir on high through the humbling nave, raising the eyes up to regard icons and murals as the voices lifts up in Kýrie, eléison, the intersection of westeast aisle and northsouth transept ensuring that should the images not be there, you will still be embodied in the Stations of the Cross. I've forgotten most of the terminology, but the essence is still there: that contextual crossroads where seemingly disparate pieces of your life come together, granting you a glimpse of all the myriad backbones of history converging onto a single point, nothing more than a moment and an insight and you.
I may have much more of the Occidental than Oriental in the marrow of my bones, but the little I've picked up of the Japanese culture so far was enough to set the appreciative tone regarding this particular work. It is a peculiar one in the way of Memórias póstumas de Brás Cubas, the writing in no way implying the publication date of 1905 and a position betwixt the earlier House of Mirth and the later White Fang. The title is also misleading, or rather the tricky type that lures your assumptions in and laughs as they run. This is indeed a book of tea, but tea in terms of history, in terms of movements both religious and aesthetic, in terms of a life of culture entire in the word chanoyu, the way of tea grounded in the fundamentals of philosophy, art, and the lifeline of Japan. Those of the so called West, be prepared to bear for once the scrutinizing eye, and with patient thoughtfulness you will be guaranteed to learn.
However, with every facing off between Japan and the all too encroaching powers of the author's day, there is a bevy of insightful knowledge and beauteous states of mind, ranging from discussion of the architecture of tea-rooms to essays on the meaning of flowers in relation to the tea ceremony and all manner of schools in between, all of which concern themselves as heavily with thought as they do with tea. Taoism and Zennism are here, both explained and expanded upon from China to Japan until finally, Teaism itself develops. For such a small packet of papers, this book packs quite the punch.
The whole ideal of Teaism is a result of this Zen conception of greatness in the smallest incidents of life. Taoism furnished the basis for aesthetic ideals, Zennism made them practical.If I said much more, I would have to delve into summary, so I will leave it to you readers to discover this small, yet potent, piece of literature. Chances are you will never look at anything the same way again, and will simply have to mull a while in order to regain your bearings. Over a cup of tea, perhaps?
For a moment [cherry blossoms] hover like bejeweled clouds and dance above the crystal streams; then, as they sail away on the laughing waters they seem to say: "Farewell, O Spring! We are on to Eternity."
March 5, 2017
That ending. Wow.
July 29, 2019
Aslında Bolano'nun Vahşi Hafiyelerin'den Çay Kitabı'na nasıl geldiğimi anlatmam lazım sanırım. Okuyanlar bilir; Vahşi Hafiyeler'de edebiyatçılardan bahsettiği kısımlar vardır. Orada daha önce de adına aşina olduğum ve merak da ettiğim Ezra Pound'dan da bahseder. Hafiyelerin peşinde hafiyeliğe özenip Ezra Pound'un peşine düşmüştüm. Hakkında el yordamı biraz araştırma yapıp Pound'un Kakuza Okakura'dan oldukça etkilendiğini öğrendim. Okakura'nın Türkçede bildiğim kadarıyla başka bir kitabı da yok. Okakura aslında bir edebiyatçı değil, kendi ülkesinde ve dışarıda da çok değer verilen bir sanat/bilim insanı diyebilirim. Bu kitabında da herşey aslında Uzakdoğu'da çok önem verilen ama bizim anlamakta zorlandığımız çay seremonilerinin açıklanması ile başlıyor ancak kitaba yoğunlaştıkça anlatılanın sadece çay seremonileri olmadığı ortaya çıkıyor. Bunun bir aşama üstü de Okakura nın kurduğu her cümlede durup uzunu uzun düşünmek... Gerçekten kısacık bir kitap olmakla birlikte her bir cümlenin ne kadar anlam barındırdığını, üzerine saatlerce süren düşüncelere dalınabileceğini ben kitabın sonuna doğru anca fark ettim.
Şimdi bu Çay Kitabı'ndan bir sonraki macerada Erns Jünger'in Cam Arılar'ına nasıl ulaştığımdan bahsedeyim; 1800'lerin sonu 1900 lerin başında gezinmeye devam ediyorum bir hafiye gibi... Kakuzo Okakura yaşadığı dönemde birçok insanı etkilemiş. Sadece edebiyatta da değil üstelik. Okakura etkisine kapılanlardan biri de Martin Heidegger.. Ve Heidegger'in yakın arkadaşlarından, mektuplaşıp onun etkisi ile felsefi metinler de kaleme alan Ernst Jünger nam-ı diğer Cam Arılar'ın yazarı.
Edebiyat sen nelere kadirsin!!, senin peşinden koşmak dünya üzerinde kaybolabilmeyi başarmak gibi....
Şimdi bu Çay Kitabı'ndan bir sonraki macerada Erns Jünger'in Cam Arılar'ına nasıl ulaştığımdan bahsedeyim; 1800'lerin sonu 1900 lerin başında gezinmeye devam ediyorum bir hafiye gibi... Kakuzo Okakura yaşadığı dönemde birçok insanı etkilemiş. Sadece edebiyatta da değil üstelik. Okakura etkisine kapılanlardan biri de Martin Heidegger.. Ve Heidegger'in yakın arkadaşlarından, mektuplaşıp onun etkisi ile felsefi metinler de kaleme alan Ernst Jünger nam-ı diğer Cam Arılar'ın yazarı.
Edebiyat sen nelere kadirsin!!, senin peşinden koşmak dünya üzerinde kaybolabilmeyi başarmak gibi....
October 14, 2021
Interesting little book regarding the importance and influence of tea. Tea is a part of the Japanese culture, rather than just a drink, but we forget the import it has also had for the Western world. Okakura points out that it was tea that first opened the doors between East and West, and that the heavy duties on tea prompted the American Revolution.
Beyond the historical importance of tea is the philosophical and cultural importance of tea, and the discussion here of Taoism and Zennism was fascinating.
Those who cannot feel the littleness of great things in themselves are apt to overlook the greatness of little things in others.
I enjoyed listening to Mike Rosenlof's reading, which surprised me, as I am still not a fan of audiobooks.
Beyond the historical importance of tea is the philosophical and cultural importance of tea, and the discussion here of Taoism and Zennism was fascinating.
Those who cannot feel the littleness of great things in themselves are apt to overlook the greatness of little things in others.
I enjoyed listening to Mike Rosenlof's reading, which surprised me, as I am still not a fan of audiobooks.
December 5, 2018
L'essenza della cerimonia del tè
Per chi ama la letteratura giapponese, questo libro è sicuramente di grande utilità, forse persino necessario.
L'autore, con antenati samurai, visse tra '800 e '900.
In una prosa molto bella, ci aiuta a comprendere i significati profondi della cerimonia del tè, momento fondamentale nella tradizione nipponica.
E' nel rituale zen che che trova origine la cerimonia del tè. Lo Zen aspira ad una visione della "comunicazione profonda delle cose, considerando il loro aspetto esteriore nient'altro che un ostacolo alla chiara percezione della Verità" e mira a far "scoprire nella propria vita il riflesso della luce spirituale".
La 'filosofia del tè' mostra che il benessere va ricercato nelle cose semplici, e ben si coniuga nella cultura zen che porta a "cogliere la grandezza anche nei minimi eventi della vita".
Il sentiero che conduce alla stanza del tè già rappresenta il primo stadio della meditazione e assume la funzione di accompagnare al distacco dai legami col mondo esterno : "nella penombra dei sempreverdi (...) e passando accanto a lanterne (...) ricoperte di muschio" si crea una sensazione di serenità e purezza.
Si entra nella stanza apposita tramite una porta bassa, allo scopo "di inculcare umiltà".
Nel piccolo e disadorno spazio interno, estremamente pulito ed essenziale,al cospetto del Maestro del Tè, "niente turba il silenzio all'infuori dell'acqua che bolle nel bricco", sul cui fondo "sono stati disposti alcuni pezzi di ferro, al fine di produrre una melodia particolare. Vi si può sentire l'eco di un acquazzone smorzata dalle nubi ; un mare in lontananza che va a frangersi contro gli scogli ; (...) oppure il mormorio dei pini sopra una collina lontana". La calma conversazione non deve turbare l'armonia dell'ambiente.
L'estetica ha un ruolo fondamentale ; consiste nella bellezza dell'umiltà e della semplicità : "c'è gioia e bellezza anche nell'ondeggiare dei flutti che avanzano verso l'eternità".
Come la vita stessa, anche la letteratura esprime il fascino di questa cultura, impalpabile e ricca di simbolismo.
Chi ha letto il bellissimo romanzo "Mille gru" (col suo seguito in "Il disegno del piviere") di Kawabata non fatica a collocare l'opera letteraria nel mondo culturale che l'ha generata.
Per chi ama la letteratura giapponese, questo libro è sicuramente di grande utilità, forse persino necessario.
L'autore, con antenati samurai, visse tra '800 e '900.
In una prosa molto bella, ci aiuta a comprendere i significati profondi della cerimonia del tè, momento fondamentale nella tradizione nipponica.
E' nel rituale zen che che trova origine la cerimonia del tè. Lo Zen aspira ad una visione della "comunicazione profonda delle cose, considerando il loro aspetto esteriore nient'altro che un ostacolo alla chiara percezione della Verità" e mira a far "scoprire nella propria vita il riflesso della luce spirituale".
La 'filosofia del tè' mostra che il benessere va ricercato nelle cose semplici, e ben si coniuga nella cultura zen che porta a "cogliere la grandezza anche nei minimi eventi della vita".
Il sentiero che conduce alla stanza del tè già rappresenta il primo stadio della meditazione e assume la funzione di accompagnare al distacco dai legami col mondo esterno : "nella penombra dei sempreverdi (...) e passando accanto a lanterne (...) ricoperte di muschio" si crea una sensazione di serenità e purezza.
Si entra nella stanza apposita tramite una porta bassa, allo scopo "di inculcare umiltà".
Nel piccolo e disadorno spazio interno, estremamente pulito ed essenziale,al cospetto del Maestro del Tè, "niente turba il silenzio all'infuori dell'acqua che bolle nel bricco", sul cui fondo "sono stati disposti alcuni pezzi di ferro, al fine di produrre una melodia particolare. Vi si può sentire l'eco di un acquazzone smorzata dalle nubi ; un mare in lontananza che va a frangersi contro gli scogli ; (...) oppure il mormorio dei pini sopra una collina lontana". La calma conversazione non deve turbare l'armonia dell'ambiente.
L'estetica ha un ruolo fondamentale ; consiste nella bellezza dell'umiltà e della semplicità : "c'è gioia e bellezza anche nell'ondeggiare dei flutti che avanzano verso l'eternità".
Come la vita stessa, anche la letteratura esprime il fascino di questa cultura, impalpabile e ricca di simbolismo.
Chi ha letto il bellissimo romanzo "Mille gru" (col suo seguito in "Il disegno del piviere") di Kawabata non fatica a collocare l'opera letteraria nel mondo culturale che l'ha generata.
March 6, 2021
برای من که شیفته سادگی، احترام به بزرگتر، احترام به طبیعت، لذت بردن از چیزهای کوچک و موارد ��سیار دیگری در فرهنگ شرق به ویژه ژاپن هستم فوق العاده جالب بود. توی فیلم ها و سریالهای ژاپنی بارها کلمه مراسم چای رو شنیده بودم و کنجکاو بودم بدونم نوشیدن چای چه مراسمی میتونه داشته باشه !؟ مراسمی که جزییات بسیاری داره و قدمتش به چهارصد سال میرسه! جالبه که بسیاری از آداب و رسوم ژاپنی ها ریشه در آیین دائو و ذن (چین) و شینتو داره. خلاصه جالب بود. این کتاب ۱۱۵ سال پیش نوشته شده و اگر نویسنده بعضی جاها حاشیه نمیرفت خیلی بهتر بود.
November 1, 2022
كتاب خفيف وقصير؛ ننهي به عامنا هذا بطعوم الشاي المختلفة، كما أنهيت معه عدة أكواب من الشاي أثناء قراءته.
الكاتب أستاذ الفلسفة والإقتصاد السياسي، وكتبه في بوسطن بالولايات المتحدة؛ عندما كان يقيم بها في العام 1906 باللغة الإنجليزية وموجه للغرب بالأساس؛ حيث كانت اليابان قبل ذلك منغلقة على نفسها كحضارة للعالم الآخر.
يعتبر من أشهر الكتب حول الشاي بمنظور فلسفي؛ حيث أنه ليس مشروب وحسب ولكن أسلوب حياة وفلسفة شرقية في الصين واليابان، ويتخذ من الشاي انطلاقة فكرية ليشرح للغرب، حضارة الشرق وفلسفته الروحية والدنيوية الغامضة لديهم آنذاك؛ وفلسفة الزن اليابانية، فالشاي ثقافة عيش وفلسفة متكاملة؛ وكان واضح كما أسلف المترجم سامر أبو هواش المبدع في الكتاب؛ ميل الكاتب إلى تجريد الصين من لعب الدور الذي في رأيه لعبته اليابان في تشكيل المعاني الحقيقية لثقافة الشاي.
"الكوب الأول يرطب شفتي وحلقي، والكوب الثاني يكسر وحدتي، والثالث يجوس داخلي المجدب فلا يجد هناك سوى خمسة آلاف مجلد من النقوش الغريبة. الكوب الرابع يتسبب بتعرق بسيط تخرج معه من مسامي جميع مساوئ العيش. وحين أصل إلى الكوب الخامس أكون قد تطهرت؛ والكوب السادس يناديني إلى جنات الخلد. أما الكوب السابع... آه، لا أستطيع تناول المزيد! لا أحس سوى بهبوب النسيم العليل في أكمامي. دعوني أمتطي الخيل في هذا النسيم العذب وأرتحل إلى هناك".
{لو تونج، شاعر صيني قديم من حقبة تانج}
الكاتب أستاذ الفلسفة والإقتصاد السياسي، وكتبه في بوسطن بالولايات المتحدة؛ عندما كان يقيم بها في العام 1906 باللغة الإنجليزية وموجه للغرب بالأساس؛ حيث كانت اليابان قبل ذلك منغلقة على نفسها كحضارة للعالم الآخر.
يعتبر من أشهر الكتب حول الشاي بمنظور فلسفي؛ حيث أنه ليس مشروب وحسب ولكن أسلوب حياة وفلسفة شرقية في الصين واليابان، ويتخذ من الشاي انطلاقة فكرية ليشرح للغرب، حضارة الشرق وفلسفته الروحية والدنيوية الغامضة لديهم آنذاك؛ وفلسفة الزن اليابانية، فالشاي ثقافة عيش وفلسفة متكاملة؛ وكان واضح كما أسلف المترجم سامر أبو هواش المبدع في الكتاب؛ ميل الكاتب إلى تجريد الصين من لعب الدور الذي في رأيه لعبته اليابان في تشكيل المعاني الحقيقية لثقافة الشاي.
"الكوب الأول يرطب شفتي وحلقي، والكوب الثاني يكسر وحدتي، والثالث يجوس داخلي المجدب فلا يجد هناك سوى خمسة آلاف مجلد من النقوش الغريبة. الكوب الرابع يتسبب بتعرق بسيط تخرج معه من مسامي جميع مساوئ العيش. وحين أصل إلى الكوب الخامس أكون قد تطهرت؛ والكوب السادس يناديني إلى جنات الخلد. أما الكوب السابع... آه، لا أستطيع تناول المزيد! لا أحس سوى بهبوب النسيم العليل في أكمامي. دعوني أمتطي الخيل في هذا النسيم العذب وأرتحل إلى هناك".
{لو تونج، شاعر صيني قديم من حقبة تانج}
November 6, 2021
Welcome to the elegance of tea-ism. Weaving beauty with simplicity, I have much to learn from Japanese culture. Everything they do is done with such precision.
I first fell in love with tea ceremony as a child watching "Alice and Wonder Land", then my love was evoked again in high school when I read "Memoirs of A Geisha" by Arthur Golden. (It's still my favorite book of all time, to this date!) I then found other books on reading tea leaves and using herbs to heal from Chronic Lyme Disease naturally, so ya, you could say I'm INTO tea.
In my herbalist certification class, we were told to "sip tea as if it were life itself." And I have ever since. It's similar to the yogic thought process use what you've learned on the mat and live it off the mat, extending it out onto the rest of your life. Same, same but different.
I should mention that this title has NO RECIPES in it. It is more about Eastern (Japanese) culture, a history of tea, explanations of elegance and simplicity within tea ceremony, merging yin and yang, and getting the West and East to understand one another.
Not only did I find the tea tools lost throughout ancient history to be most fascinating, but the part on Flower Masters was not something I was expecting to be included. It was an added grace of decadence and a free feng shui lesson! (Another topic of interest to me.)
A few of my favorite quotes from the text:
"Tea began as a medicine and grew into a beverage."
"Tea was Taoism in disguise."
"Matcha- froth of the liquid jade."
I am thankful to the community of volunteers who published these works after the author's passing. I've added many of his other titles to my list! For other snippets I found interesting, you can see my highlights and notes on Goodreads. I highlighted close to 50-some passages.
I downloaded this e-book while it was free on Amazon. I was under no obligation to write a review, my honest opinion is freely given.
#AmazonAffiliate
I have added the hardback to my Amazon shop: https://www.amazon.com/dp/0804800693?...
OR you can see if the e-book is still free, available for download. Happy reading!
See the top books I've enjoyed @ www.amazon.com/shop/itsblee1234
I first fell in love with tea ceremony as a child watching "Alice and Wonder Land", then my love was evoked again in high school when I read "Memoirs of A Geisha" by Arthur Golden. (It's still my favorite book of all time, to this date!) I then found other books on reading tea leaves and using herbs to heal from Chronic Lyme Disease naturally, so ya, you could say I'm INTO tea.
In my herbalist certification class, we were told to "sip tea as if it were life itself." And I have ever since. It's similar to the yogic thought process use what you've learned on the mat and live it off the mat, extending it out onto the rest of your life. Same, same but different.
I should mention that this title has NO RECIPES in it. It is more about Eastern (Japanese) culture, a history of tea, explanations of elegance and simplicity within tea ceremony, merging yin and yang, and getting the West and East to understand one another.
Not only did I find the tea tools lost throughout ancient history to be most fascinating, but the part on Flower Masters was not something I was expecting to be included. It was an added grace of decadence and a free feng shui lesson! (Another topic of interest to me.)
A few of my favorite quotes from the text:
"Tea began as a medicine and grew into a beverage."
"Tea was Taoism in disguise."
"Matcha- froth of the liquid jade."
I am thankful to the community of volunteers who published these works after the author's passing. I've added many of his other titles to my list! For other snippets I found interesting, you can see my highlights and notes on Goodreads. I highlighted close to 50-some passages.
I downloaded this e-book while it was free on Amazon. I was under no obligation to write a review, my honest opinion is freely given.
#AmazonAffiliate
I have added the hardback to my Amazon shop: https://www.amazon.com/dp/0804800693?...
OR you can see if the e-book is still free, available for download. Happy reading!
See the top books I've enjoyed @ www.amazon.com/shop/itsblee1234
May 27, 2010
The Book of Tea by Okakura Kakuzō
Too little tea, we learn, was a Japanese expression used in reference to a person too busy to stop and smell the roses. Too much tea, then, refers to a person so busy smelling the roses he has little time for much else. In my humble estimation, Mr. Okakura had a little too much tea in him.
The Book of Tea makes a number of interesting points. I agree with its author that we Occidentals tend to downplay the Orient’s contributions to such fields as philosophy, religion, art, music, etc. -- although I would guess that’s probably a lot less true today than when the book was published in 1906. I also agree with the author’s contention that Hesperian displays of art and culture tend toward ‘promiscuity’ and could do well to take lessons from the East’s more minimalist traditions.
Okakura loses me, however, when he tries to make of Teaism a religion -- specifically, Taoism in disguise. I have no quarrel with the cultivation of refined aesthetic sensibilities, but I consider such cultivation to be an accomplishment rather than a virtue. This might seem like splitting hairs, but I believe it’s a very important distinction. For me, cultivating refined sensibilities is something akin to working very hard to learn to swim a mean 100M backstroke. Kudos to you if you’ve done it, but it you haven’t it’s a lack of accomplishment on your part rather than a moral or ethical failing.
Okakura’s would-be marriage of refined aesthetic sensibilities with virtue reminds me very much of the Russian concept poshlost. We have no good English translation of poshlost is because it combines characteristics which our English-speaking tradition does not [thank goodness!:] necessarily combine: ethical or spiritual bankruptcy with common lack of taste. Even my main man Anton Pavlovich -- who in The Cherry Orchard pokes great fun at the concept -- falls victim to it in Three Sisters. Natasha’s wearing of colors which clash is undeniable evidence of her poshlost and a dead giveaway that by the end of the play she will become the shameless adulteress and household tyrant she does. How many of you believe that a failure to recognize which colors clash represents an unambiguous signal of turpitude?
I consider myself to have great taste in literature and rather plebeian taste in food and drink. Much as I might like sometimes to pretend to the contrary, I don’t actually believe that my enjoyment of Gogol’ or Twain makes me the moral superior of some other sad schmuck enjoying his Grisham or Crichton or Louis L’Amour. Nor do I believe the tea master’s appreciation of his briskly whisked goodness renders him my spiritual superior as I enjoy my skim milk and peanut butter sandwich.
P.S. It has been kindly brought to my attention that I've neglected to mention Okakura's offer of the tea master's gentle, contemplative Taoist perspective as a native Japanese alternative to the stern, imperialistic Shinto perspective gathering steam in Japan at the time The Book of Tea was written. That's an inexcusable oversight on my part, especially given that I've read The Rape of Nanking by Iris Chang. Okakura's meditative appeal against the strident militarization of his homeland's culture is eerily foreboding of the atrocities shortly to come in his countrymen's near future. I would heartily recommend that anyone with an interest in modern Asian history read The Book of Tea and The Rape of Nanking back to back.
Too little tea, we learn, was a Japanese expression used in reference to a person too busy to stop and smell the roses. Too much tea, then, refers to a person so busy smelling the roses he has little time for much else. In my humble estimation, Mr. Okakura had a little too much tea in him.
The Book of Tea makes a number of interesting points. I agree with its author that we Occidentals tend to downplay the Orient’s contributions to such fields as philosophy, religion, art, music, etc. -- although I would guess that’s probably a lot less true today than when the book was published in 1906. I also agree with the author’s contention that Hesperian displays of art and culture tend toward ‘promiscuity’ and could do well to take lessons from the East’s more minimalist traditions.
Okakura loses me, however, when he tries to make of Teaism a religion -- specifically, Taoism in disguise. I have no quarrel with the cultivation of refined aesthetic sensibilities, but I consider such cultivation to be an accomplishment rather than a virtue. This might seem like splitting hairs, but I believe it’s a very important distinction. For me, cultivating refined sensibilities is something akin to working very hard to learn to swim a mean 100M backstroke. Kudos to you if you’ve done it, but it you haven’t it’s a lack of accomplishment on your part rather than a moral or ethical failing.
Okakura’s would-be marriage of refined aesthetic sensibilities with virtue reminds me very much of the Russian concept poshlost. We have no good English translation of poshlost is because it combines characteristics which our English-speaking tradition does not [thank goodness!:] necessarily combine: ethical or spiritual bankruptcy with common lack of taste. Even my main man Anton Pavlovich -- who in The Cherry Orchard pokes great fun at the concept -- falls victim to it in Three Sisters. Natasha’s wearing of colors which clash is undeniable evidence of her poshlost and a dead giveaway that by the end of the play she will become the shameless adulteress and household tyrant she does. How many of you believe that a failure to recognize which colors clash represents an unambiguous signal of turpitude?
I consider myself to have great taste in literature and rather plebeian taste in food and drink. Much as I might like sometimes to pretend to the contrary, I don’t actually believe that my enjoyment of Gogol’ or Twain makes me the moral superior of some other sad schmuck enjoying his Grisham or Crichton or Louis L’Amour. Nor do I believe the tea master’s appreciation of his briskly whisked goodness renders him my spiritual superior as I enjoy my skim milk and peanut butter sandwich.
P.S. It has been kindly brought to my attention that I've neglected to mention Okakura's offer of the tea master's gentle, contemplative Taoist perspective as a native Japanese alternative to the stern, imperialistic Shinto perspective gathering steam in Japan at the time The Book of Tea was written. That's an inexcusable oversight on my part, especially given that I've read The Rape of Nanking by Iris Chang. Okakura's meditative appeal against the strident militarization of his homeland's culture is eerily foreboding of the atrocities shortly to come in his countrymen's near future. I would heartily recommend that anyone with an interest in modern Asian history read The Book of Tea and The Rape of Nanking back to back.
December 29, 2018
تنبيه لـ نفسي التي تركنُ للنسيان كثيرًا..
الذكرى التي ارتبطت بقراءتي لـ هذا الكتاب لا يحقّ لي أن أنساها ما حييت.
الذكرى التي ارتبطت بقراءتي لـ هذا الكتاب لا يحقّ لي أن أنساها ما حييت.
January 28, 2019
It is easy to understand why Joseph Campbell, the much-loved professor of mythology and literature, included this book on his students’ required reading list. It is a profound little masterpiece that sheds light on complex ideas using simple explanations and examples, like Campbell did.
Kakuzo Okakura lived primarily in Japan but travelled widely and wrote in English. He is attempting to provide a kind of bridge between East and West, and with these essays that explore the historical, spiritual and cultural aspects of tea drinking, I believe he succeeds.
“With Luwuh in the middle of the eight century we have our first apostle of tea. He was born in an age when Buddhism, Taoism, and Confucianism were seeking mutual synthesis. The pantheistic symbolism of the time was urging one to mirror the Universal in the Particular. Luwuh, a poet, saw in the Tea service the same harmony and order which reigned through all things.”
The universal in the particular. This book expands on that idea, explaining how an appreciation of art, and flowers, and tea, can help us understand how to live.
“Let us dream of evanescence, and linger in the beautiful foolishness of things.”
Kakuzo Okakura lived primarily in Japan but travelled widely and wrote in English. He is attempting to provide a kind of bridge between East and West, and with these essays that explore the historical, spiritual and cultural aspects of tea drinking, I believe he succeeds.
“With Luwuh in the middle of the eight century we have our first apostle of tea. He was born in an age when Buddhism, Taoism, and Confucianism were seeking mutual synthesis. The pantheistic symbolism of the time was urging one to mirror the Universal in the Particular. Luwuh, a poet, saw in the Tea service the same harmony and order which reigned through all things.”
The universal in the particular. This book expands on that idea, explaining how an appreciation of art, and flowers, and tea, can help us understand how to live.
“Let us dream of evanescence, and linger in the beautiful foolishness of things.”
March 12, 2020
Meanwhile, let us have a sip of tea. The afternoon glow is brightening the bamboos, the fountains are bubbling with delight, the soughing of the pines is heard in our kettle. Let us dream of evanescence and linger in the beautiful foolishness of things.
Jan 19, 20
October 24, 2020
An enchanting encounter with Far Eastern sensibilities. Okakura doesn’t describe tea so much as use its cultural importance to elucidate for Westerners the life perspectives and aesthetics of Japan and China. But also you see here the interconnectedness of all human culture. Invasions, trade, immigration, art, mysticism all have informed the evolution of Tea, and the Tea-masters, and the Tea ceremony. I knew nothing of these things so this book was an inspiring journey. Through this apparently simple beverage Okakura gave me a truly meaningful primer on another lifeview, and threw light on my own.
July 17, 2020
مهمانی چای
مراسمی هست در چین و ژاپن به نام مراسم چای یا مهمانی چای. کم از مراسمی مذهبی ندارد. اتاق خاص خود را دارد، و آداب و باید نبایدهایی. اتاقیست کوچک، تقریباً خالی، به سادهترین شکل. میزبانی هست و حداکثر دو سه میهمان. پیالههای چای است و قل قل نرم دیگ چای. گلی یا تابلویی هست به انتخاب میزبان، که میشود مرکز توجه و گفتوگو. میزبان خود استاد فرهیختهایست: پالودگی اتاق چای، انتخاب اثر هنری و حرکات و سکنات درست، جز از هنرمندی بزرگ برنمیآید.
ما در پیاله عکس رخ یار دیدهایم، ای بی خبر ز لذت شرب مدام ما
این همه آداب دانی و مناسک همه برآمده از نوعی فلسفه، نوعی جهانبینیست. هدف تنها نوشیدن چای نیست. البته که چای ارج و قربی دارد نه کم از امری مقدس. اما مقصود، تجربهی نوعی از بودن است، شکلی از وجود. چای بهانه است. اتاق چای، کمد نارنیاست. دریست به جهانی دیگر. عجیب هم نیست. ریشههای تاریخی مراسم چای به رهبانان ذن برمیگردد.
کتاب چای
نویسندهی کتاب، مهمانی چای را بهانهای کرده برای توضیح فرهنگ، نگاه، هنر، جهانبینی و تاریخ چین و ژاپن. فصلهای کتاب چنین است: این پیالهی انسانی، مکتبهای چای، تائو و ذن، اتاق چای، درک هنری، گل، استادان چای. کتاب چایْ ورق کم دارد، حرف بسیار. بسنده خواهم کرد به اشارههایی در مورد نگاه مکتب چای به هنر و زیبایی.
دو موسیقی را هم زمان نمی توان شنید
اثر هنری را چگونه باید نمایش داد؟ یکبهیک، گاهبهگاه. از این نظر نگاه مکتب چای دقیقاً عکس نگاه غربیست؛ اتاق چای دقیقاً عکس خانهی اروپاییست. در خانهی اروپایی تابلوهای نقاشی دیوار را فرش کردهاند. مکتب چای اما خوشتر دارد که تنها در یک اثر بنگرد: دو موسیقی را همزمان نمیتوان شنید
به علاوه، آثار نقاشی در خانهی اروپایی روز از پی روز مدام بر دیوارند، بیوقفه. چه طور ممکن است تابلویی مدام جلوی چشم باشد، و زیبا بماند؟ دوستی میگفت آواز شجریان هم بعد از دو ساعت از زیبایی میافتد. در عطرفروشیها هم، میان دو عطر، قهوه بو میکنند تا درک بویایی باز گردد. چشم و گوش هم چون بویایی نیازمند چنین وقفهای هستند. این است که در اتاق چای تنها یک اثر هست، و چون خوب تماشا شد، آن را گوشهای دور از دید خواهند گذاشت، تا بعد. از همین یک اثر بیشتر حظ هنری میشود برد تا از سیلی مدام از آثار هنری. اندک بسیار است، بسیار اندک
کمپانی اپل زیباییشناسیاش را از همینجا وام گرفته. فروشگاه اپل فضایی دارد بیتجمل، ساده، بسیار خلوت. در فضایی که مغازه بغلی ده گوشی میچپاند، اپل به یکی کفایت میکند. و این یکی چقدر جلوه میکند. اندک بسیار است، بسیار اندک
زیملِ جامعهشناس هم همین را میگوید. میگوید شلوغی شهر بیاعتنایی میآورد. آنقدر محرکها زیادند که شهرنشین کمکم میآموزد فقط به محرکهای مهم توجه کند، وبه محرکهای کماهمیتتر بیاعتنا بماند، آنها را نبیند. کوندرای نویسنده هم حرف مشابهی دارد. در کتاب آهستگی میگوید آهستگی و تعمق لازم و ملزوماند؛ و سرعت و سطحینگری. آنجا که چندین تابلو در میان است، وقت تنگ میشود، و ناگزیر باید به دیدی سطحی بسنده کرد. اندک بسیار است، بسیار اندک
هر چه در فهم تو آید آن بود مقصود ما
بینندهست که اثر هنری را کامل میکند. اساساً ارزش هنر به این است که مجال خلق به مخاطب بدهد؛ اجازه دهد مخاطب چیزی در اثر بخواند که چه بسا در اصل اثر نبوده. این برآمده از مفهوم تهیا در تائوست. میگوید ارزش خمره به تهیبودگی میانش است، ارزش اتاق به فضای خالی میان دیوارهایش. و ارزش اثر هنری به چیزیست که ناگفته میگذارد، به آنچه که نیست. این را در «کوآن»های ذن میتوان دید. کوآن حکایتیست معماگونه که میشود مبنای تفکر رهبانان. برداشتهای متفاوتی میتوان از آنها داشت، و چه بسا همه درست باشند. هنرمند از تحمیل یک نگاه واحد پرهیز میکند، تا مخاطب نانوشته را بیشتر بخواند
حکایتی هست، میگوید "رهبان مسافری به معبدی آمد. با یکی از رهبانان که از قضا یک چشمش کور بود به گفتگوی خاموش نشست، یعنی بدون کلام، تنها به اشاره. مسافر به انگشت یک را نشان داد، رهبان یک چشم در پاسخ دو انگشت بالا گرفت. مسافر سه انگشت برگرفت. رهبان یک چشم مشتی حوالهاش کرد. مسافر تعظیمی کرد و خارج شد. به نزد باقی رهبانان معبد آمد و گفت حقا که او از من فرهیختهتر است. گفتند چطور؟ بازگو. گفت من یک نشانش دادم، که یعنی دنیا تنها یکیست و آن بوداست. او دو نشانم داد، که دوتاست، بودا و آموزههایش. من سه نشانش دادم، که یعنی سه تاست، بودا و آموزهها و شاگردانش. او مشتی حوالهام کرد، که یعنی احمق، این هرسه یکاند، همچنان که انگشتان دست همه از یک مشتاند. و حق با اوست. از رهبان یکچشم ماجرا پرسیدند. گفت او یک برآورد، به تحقیر من که یک چشم داری. من حرمت کردم، دو برآوردم، یعنی خوشا شما که دو چشم داری. باز او سه برآورد، که ما روی هم سه چشم داریم. برافروختم، مشتی نثارش کردم." مقصود اینکه نگاه زیبای مخاطب، در اینجا مسافر، است که اثر را کامل میکند، به آن ارج میبخشد.
اینجاست که پای سلیقه بهمیان میآید. هرکسی اثری را بیشتر د��ست دارد که بهتر با ذهنیت خودش گره بخورد. اثر هنری پازلیست پر از خانههای خالی. هرکه زیباتر پرش کند، زیباترش مییابد. این است که چه بسا اثری کممایه برای من شاهکاری باشد. هنر جوراب فریسایز نیست که یک سایزْ فیتِ همه باشد. چرا برای دیوار خانهام ونگوگ بخرم؟ چه بسا من با اثر زهرا هفت ساله از تربت جام بیشتر ارتباط برقرار کنم، تا با ونگوگ.
حکایتی هست، می گوید "انشیو استاد مکتب چای بود. شاگردانش تحسینش کردند که حقا که استادی! هر اثری که برمی گزینی ما همه را خوش میآید. حال آنکه ریکیو آثاری گردآورده که جز یک در هزار کسی را خوش نمیآید. انشیو غمگین شده و گفت: چه عامی که منم! ریکیو سلیقهاش را پیگرفته، من اما آن را برگزیدم که خلق را خوش آید."
گل شبدر چه کم از لالهی قرمز دارد
مکتب چای، به مانند ذن و تائوئیسم، پیش پا افتاده را زیبا می یابد. کیکاکو، شاگرد باشوی شاعر، هایکویی نوشت، غریب. باشو گفت: ناتوانی تو در این است که میکوشی از چیزی بعید سخن بگویی، تو شعر باشکوه را در چیزهای بس دور میجویی، حال آنکه در چیزهای پیرامون توست.
شبتابها
به کلبهی من میآیند
تو این را اندک میشماری؟
ایسّا
از برای من
کوکو میخواند و کوه
به نوبت
ایسّا
مکتب چای میکوشد در این جهان آشوب و آشفتگی زیبایی بیابد. گویی این زیباییهای کوچک بر تلخی دنیا چیره میشوند
ما در این جهان
بر بام دوزخ گام بر میداریم
خیره به گلها
ایسّا
و زیباییهای کوچک بر تلخی مرگ چیره میشوند
در بستر مرگ
ناخنها زیباست
بر آتشدان
ایِدا داکوتسو
شاعر در سرمای بیماری و زمستان دست بر آتش گرفته تا گرم شود. گرما بر ناخن هم اثر میکند و رنگی صورتی به آن میدهد.
داستانی دارد مارگارت یورسنار که در چین میگذرد، به نام چگونه وانگ فو رهایی یافت. جایی در داستان بر وانگ فوی نقاش حمله میکنند، و تیغ شمشیری بازویش را میشکافد. او اما به حال دیگریست؛ از ارغوانی زیبای لک��ی خون بر کاشیها به وجد آمده.
حکایتی هست، میگوید "رهبانی در جنگل قدم میزد. ببری حمله آورد. رهبان گریخت. به صخرهای رسید. ناگزیر از تاکی آویزان شد. زیر پایش را که نگاه کرد، ببر دیگری دید، دندان تیز کرده. و او معلق در میان. موشی هم آمد و تاک را جویدن گرفت. در این میان رهبان تمشک شیرینی دید. برچید، به دهان گذاشت و از شیرینیاش لذت برد."
فیلم طعم گیلاس کیارستمی هم همین ماجراست. مردی به قصد خودکشی روی درختی رفته. در آخرین لحظه گیلاسی به دهان میگذارد، خورشید هم همزمان بالا میآید. مرد از درخت پایین میآید. منصرف شده.
بیخانمانها
بیستهزار تن
ماه تابستانی
شیکی
زلزله خانهها را ویران کرده، جانها گرفته. مردم آوارهاند. با این حال، ماه تابستانی چه زیباست.
حاجت مشاطه نیست روی دلارام را
مکتب چای، زیبایی را در طبیعی بودن میبیند. عادت ما بر این است که از گل دستهگل بسازیم، هرچه بزرگتر. استاد مکتب چای اما، شاخهگلی را که به نظرش زیبا آمده، تنهای تنهای جلوی چشم میهمانان میگذارد؛ تکشاخهای بدون هیچ تزئینی و اغراق و در بوق و کرنا کردنی. من چنینم که نمودم، دگر ایشان دانند. گلآرایی را نیازی نیست. حکایت پستهی زعفرانیست. پسته خود خوشمزهست، زعفران چرا؟
مکتب چای، از تصنع میگریزد. البته که نظم و تمیزی را دوست دارد، اما نه نظم مهندسی شده و اغراق شده را. حکایتی هست، میگوید استادی از پسرش خواست حیاط را جارو کند. پسرک جارو کرد و بازگشت. استاد گفت خوب جارو نکردی. آنقدر که باید تمیز نیست. برو کاملش کن. پسرک جارو کرد و بازگشت. گفت همه جا را جارو کردم، حتی یک برگ هم بر مسیرها نمانده. استاد گفت زیاده جارو کردی. رفت و تکانی به شاخههای درخت داد تا چند برگ فروافتاد.
باغبان را
می گذارم به خوابی طولانی تر
شکوفه های گیلاس فرو می ریزند
کی کاکو
آنچه در جستن آنی، آنی
پیرو مکتب چای می کوشد خود بدل به هنر شود. اگر گل را زیبا مییابد، میکوشد خود بدل به آرامش گل شود. هدف تنها هنر دیدن نیست، هنر شدن هم هست
چروکها را صاف می کنم
برای رفتن به تماشای برف
ردای کاغذینام
شاعر به تماشای زیبایی پالودهی برف میرود. کهنهجامهای بیش ندارد. همان را تا می تواند مرتب میکند تا در محضر زیبایی زیبا ظاهر شود.
April 8, 2024
” Aquele que não consegue ver a pequenez das grandes coisas em si tende a ignorar a grandeza das pequenas coisas nos outros.”
Requinte, Serenidade, Harmonia, foram algumas das palavras que encontrei amiúde neste texto e que bem caracterizam a cultura asiática.
Com um teor profundamente filosófico, é-nos contada a introdução do chá no Japão, como este ritual influenciou a cultura japonesa, e como se têm esforçado por o elevar cada vez mais. Como os Ocidentais o receberam e o tratam é visto com algum descaso do ponto de vista dos Orientais, com quem tenho de concordar se compararmos toda a envolvência requintada da cerimónia, com o nosso hábito aligeirado de deitar água fervente em cima de uma saqueta.
Como entusiasta de um bom chá e oriunda da boa terra dos aromas, devo dizer que as minhas chávenas desta bebida se assemelham a uma sopa de tantas que são as aromáticas que por lá andam a boiar. Como tal, este pequeno/grande livro foi desgostado com deleite e a única falha encontrada foi saber a pouco.
Requinte, Serenidade, Harmonia, foram algumas das palavras que encontrei amiúde neste texto e que bem caracterizam a cultura asiática.
Com um teor profundamente filosófico, é-nos contada a introdução do chá no Japão, como este ritual influenciou a cultura japonesa, e como se têm esforçado por o elevar cada vez mais. Como os Ocidentais o receberam e o tratam é visto com algum descaso do ponto de vista dos Orientais, com quem tenho de concordar se compararmos toda a envolvência requintada da cerimónia, com o nosso hábito aligeirado de deitar água fervente em cima de uma saqueta.
Como entusiasta de um bom chá e oriunda da boa terra dos aromas, devo dizer que as minhas chávenas desta bebida se assemelham a uma sopa de tantas que são as aromáticas que por lá andam a boiar. Como tal, este pequeno/grande livro foi desgostado com deleite e a única falha encontrada foi saber a pouco.
December 27, 2022
Всяка дума е като чаша чай в здрача на росна лятна утрин. “Книга за чая” е една от настолните книги по хуманност и естетика. Тя говори направо с душата, толкова ясно, че не може да бъде изразено с думи - те само ще изкривят смисъла.
Написана е през далечната 1906 г. от потомък на самурайско семейство, получил западно образование, и е издадена на английски език в Бостън. Толкова изумителна е в семплото си изящество и безмилостна красота и искреност, че - мисля си - ако всеки един от войниците на Хирохито я беше прочел и осмислил през втората световна война, ролята на Япония в нея щеше да е съвсем различна. А ако повече западняци (по източноазиатските стандарти) я прочетат, разбирателството и толерантността ще са много повече от предрасъдъците, самодоволството и агресията.
Какудзо Окакура познава ценностната японска система от първа ръка, както и тази на англосаксонския Запад от епохата Мейджи. И с невероятен финес провежда задълбочен диалог между Изтока и Запада ... над чаша чай - единственият еквивалент на демокрацията на Изток, по негови думи, срещаща бедни и богати, невежи и артистични, местни и чужденци. Чаят и неговата култура празнуват живота във всичките му форми, затова и този мил, ерудиран, намигващ ни от далечната 1906 г. естет и поет възпява благородството на простотата и богатството на ежедневието, където пребивава всяка човешка душа.
Читателят е докоснат, благословен и пречистен като с крило на пеперуда от Естетиката на Ефимерното, което е Вечност. С Празното, което оставя необятно пространство за всяка игра на въображението и изкуството.
Като естетика дзен и чаизмът са сродни с масово познатия минимализъм. Но това е само най-повърхностната, индустриализирана обвивка. Светогледът на чаизма е начин на пребиваване в и възприемане на света, който облагородява човека във всеки един аспект.
Картинка
Културата на чая, или “чаизъм”, както го нарича Окакура, е рожба на даоизма. Релативизмът, вечната промяна и дълбокият индивидуализъм на даоизма като контрапункт на едно всепоглъщащо и сковано от строги ритуали и неизменни норми конфуцианско общество е бащата на дзен. А дзен е в основата на чаизма.
Историята на чая като напитка, хронология, философска концепция с безброй школи и течения и изкуство е проследена от най-древните китайски източници, през поетичните династии Тан и Сун с техните философски чаени школи, до династиите Мин и Цин и първите чайни в Европа и Русия. Както и до поезията на чайните къщички и градини на архипелаг от острови с твърде много земетресения.
Светът има нужда от повече чай. Най-поетичния и мистичен чай сред грохота на ежедневието. И не е необходимо да имаме градина с изисканите и семпли мънички чайни павилиони с тяхната обрана, вписана в природата естетика с най-много един едничък ярък акцент, например цветно клонче в снежен ден. Не е необходимо да познаваме и всяка стъпка на ритуала. Имаме нужда просто от чаша чай и нейната празнота, която да поеме чая и частица от душата ни и от преходната, но и вечна красота на този свят. И цялата му житейска философия.
Картинка
***
➡️ Цитати:
🌸”Чаизмът е по същността си преклонение пред Несъвършеното, тъй като е слаб и лесно уязвим опит да се постигне нещо възможно в условията на невъзможната среда, която наричаме живот.”
⛩ ”Чаизмът представя истинския дух на източната демокрация, като превръща всички свои последователи в аристократи на вкуса.”
🌸”Самият дух на учтивостта изисква да казваш онова, което се очаква да изречеш, и нищо повече. Но аз не възнамерявам да бъда вежлив чаист. Толкова много злини са произтекли от взаимното неразбиране между Новия и Стария свят, че не са необхо��ими извинения за незначителния ти принос към постигането на едно по-добро разбирателство”
⛩ “Нашите морални норми са възникнали от миналите потребности на обществото, но нима обществото си остава все същото?”
Картинка
🌸”Да спазваш пропорцията на нещата и да даваш място на другите, без да губиш своето положение — това е тайната на успеха в земната драма.”
⛩ “Пустотата е тук, за да влезете в нея и да я изпълните в пълна мяра с вашата естетическа емоция.”
🌸”Един особен принос на дзен към източната мисъл е признаването на еднаквата значимост на земното и духовното. Той твърди, че във великата връзка на нещата няма разлика между голямо и малко, всеки атом обладава възможностите на вселената.”
⛩ “Би ми се искало повече да обичаме древните и по-малко да ги копираме! Казват, че гърците са били велики, защото никога не са черпели вдъхновение от древните.”
🌸”В момента на срещата любителят на изкуството надраства себе си. Той е едновременно такъв, какъвто си е и какъвто не е.”
🌺 “Твърде много класифицираме и твърде малко се наслаждаваме.”
Картинка
Написана е през далечната 1906 г. от потомък на самурайско семейство, получил западно образование, и е издадена на английски език в Бостън. Толкова изумителна е в семплото си изящество и безмилостна красота и искреност, че - мисля си - ако всеки един от войниците на Хирохито я беше прочел и осмислил през втората световна война, ролята на Япония в нея щеше да е съвсем различна. А ако повече западняци (по източноазиатските стандарти) я прочетат, разбирателството и толерантността ще са много повече от предрасъдъците, самодоволството и агресията.
Какудзо Окакура познава ценностната японска система от първа ръка, както и тази на англосаксонския Запад от епохата Мейджи. И с невероятен финес провежда задълбочен диалог между Изтока и Запада ... над чаша чай - единственият еквивалент на демокрацията на Изток, по негови думи, срещаща бедни и богати, невежи и артистични, местни и чужденци. Чаят и неговата култура празнуват живота във всичките му форми, затова и този мил, ерудиран, намигващ ни от далечната 1906 г. естет и поет възпява благородството на простотата и богатството на ежедневието, където пребивава всяка човешка душа.
Читателят е докоснат, благословен и пречистен като с крило на пеперуда от Естетиката на Ефимерното, което е Вечност. С Празното, което оставя необятно пространство за всяка игра на въображението и изкуството.
Като естетика дзен и чаизмът са сродни с масово познатия минимализъм. Но това е само най-повърхностната, индустриализирана обвивка. Светогледът на чаизма е начин на пребиваване в и възприемане на света, който облагородява човека във всеки един аспект.
Картинка
Културата на чая, или “чаизъм”, както го нарича Окакура, е рожба на даоизма. Релативизмът, вечната промяна и дълбокият индивидуализъм на даоизма като контрапункт на едно всепоглъщащо и сковано от строги ритуали и неизменни норми конфуцианско общество е бащата на дзен. А дзен е в основата на чаизма.
Историята на чая като напитка, хронология, философска концепция с безброй школи и течения и изкуство е проследена от най-древните китайски източници, през поетичните династии Тан и Сун с техните философски чаени школи, до династиите Мин и Цин и първите чайни в Европа и Русия. Както и до поезията на чайните къщички и градини на архипелаг от острови с твърде много земетресения.
Светът има нужда от повече чай. Най-поетичния и мистичен чай сред грохота на ежедневието. И не е необходимо да имаме градина с изисканите и семпли мънички чайни павилиони с тяхната обрана, вписана в природата естетика с най-много един едничък ярък акцент, например цветно клонче в снежен ден. Не е необходимо да познаваме и всяка стъпка на ритуала. Имаме нужда просто от чаша чай и нейната празнота, която да поеме чая и частица от душата ни и от преходната, но и вечна красота на този свят. И цялата му житейска философия.
Картинка
***
➡️ Цитати:
🌸”Чаизмът е по същността си преклонение пред Несъвършеното, тъй като е слаб и лесно уязвим опит да се постигне нещо възможно в условията на невъзможната среда, която наричаме живот.”
⛩ ”Чаизмът представя истинския дух на източната демокрация, като превръща всички свои последователи в аристократи на вкуса.”
🌸”Самият дух на учтивостта изисква да казваш онова, което се очаква да изречеш, и нищо повече. Но аз не възнамерявам да бъда вежлив чаист. Толкова много злини са произтекли от взаимното неразбиране между Новия и Стария свят, че не са необхо��ими извинения за незначителния ти принос към постигането на едно по-добро разбирателство”
⛩ “Нашите морални норми са възникнали от миналите потребности на обществото, но нима обществото си остава все същото?”
Картинка
🌸”Да спазваш пропорцията на нещата и да даваш място на другите, без да губиш своето положение — това е тайната на успеха в земната драма.”
⛩ “Пустотата е тук, за да влезете в нея и да я изпълните в пълна мяра с вашата естетическа емоция.”
🌸”Един особен принос на дзен към източната мисъл е признаването на еднаквата значимост на земното и духовното. Той твърди, че във великата връзка на нещата няма разлика между голямо и малко, всеки атом обладава възможностите на вселената.”
⛩ “Би ми се искало повече да обичаме древните и по-малко да ги копираме! Казват, че гърците са били велики, защото никога не са черпели вдъхновение от древните.”
🌸”В момента на срещата любителят на изкуството надраства себе си. Той е едновременно такъв, какъвто си е и какъвто не е.”
🌺 “Твърде много класифицираме и твърде малко се наслаждаваме.”
Картинка
November 7, 2012
المكتوب أدناه مقتبس حرفياً من الكتاب، والصور أيضاً كلها من نفس الكتاب، ولما اقتبست فقط أمنح الكتاب 3 من 5 والمزيد من الصور هنا
"على غرار الفن، هناك حقب ومدارس للشاي. ونستطيع تقسيم تطوره إلى ثلاث مراحل أساسية: الشاي المغلي، والشاي المخفوق، والشاي المنقوع. وننتمي نحن أبناء هذا الزمن إلى المدرسة الأخيرة. وما هذه المنهج المتعددة في تقدير الشاي إلا دلالة روحية على العصر الذي سادت فيه".ص24
"منذ أقدم الأزمنة، عّرفت نبتة الشاي وموطنها الأصلي جنوب الصين، كواحد من النباتات الصينية والأعشاب الطبية. ويرد ذكرها في المراجع والأدبيات الكلاسيكية تحت مسميّات شتى: التو
Tou،
والتشه
Tseh،
وتشانغ
Chung،
وخا
Kha،
ومينغ
Ming،
وكان ينظر إليها بعين التقدير والإجلال بوصفها تحتوي على مزايا تخفيف التعب، وإدخال المسرة إلى الروح، وشد العزيمة، وتقوية البصر. ولم تكن توصف كعقار يُشرب فحسب، بل كثيراً ما كانت تطبق كمرهم يُمسح به الجلد لتسكين آلام الروماتيزم. وقد ذهب أتباع المذهب التاوي إلى حد الزعم بأن عشبة الشاي هي مكون أساسي من مكونات إكسير الخلود. كما أكثر البوذيون من استعمالها لمقاومة النعاس خلال ساعات التأمل الطويلة".ص25-26
"أما حجرة الشاي (السوكية) فلا تعتبر "مجرد كوخ، مجرد سقيفة من القش، مثلما نسميها. تعني كلمة سوكية ’’مسكن الوهم‘‘. وأخيراً استبدلها عدد من معلمي الشاي المختلفين بخاصيات صينية وفقاً لمفهومهم عن حجرة الشاي. وصار تعبير السوكية يمكن أن يعني ’’مسكن الفراغ‘‘ أو ’’مسكن اللامتناظر‘‘. إنه مسكن الوهم ما دام بنية زائلة مبنية لتحتضن اللحظة الشعرية".ص52
"إن بساطة حجرة الشاي وتحررها من الإبتذال يجعلها حقاً ملاذاً من سموم العالم الخارجي. هناك، وهناك فقط، يسع المرء أن يكرّس نفسه للإفتتان الصرف بالروعة. في القرن السادس عشر كانت حجرة الشاي تؤمن مُستراحاً من العناء للمقاتلين الأشاوس ورجال الدولة المنخرطين في عملية التوحيد وإعادة البناء في اليابان. في القرن السابع عشر، وبعد أن نشأ التمسك الصارم بالشكليات في حكم ’’توكوغاوا‘‘، وفرت حجرة الشاي الفرصة والوحيدة للإجتماع الحر للأرواح الفنية. أما العمل الفني العظيم ليس من تمييز بين ’’الدايم يو‘‘ (التسمية التي كانت تطلق على كبار الإقطاعيين في اليابان منذ القرن الثاني وحتى إصلاحات حقبة "مييجي") والساموراي والرجل العمومي. لقد جعلت الثورة الصناعية الصفاء أمراً أكثر صعوبة وندرة في جميع أرجاء المعمورة. اترانا نحتاج إلى حجرة الشاي أكثر من أي وقت مضى؟".ص64
May 4, 2016
بدأت بقراءة الكتاب من باب التخفيف والتسلية..
لم أتوقع أن يكون المحتوى بهذا الرقي!!
كتاب عن الشاي وما هو الشاي أكثر من كونه مشروب.. شيء يشترى ويستهلك.. هذه هي فكرتنا غالباً لكن الكاتب الياباني يقدمه هنا كعنصر هام ومؤثر في الثقافة اليابانية حيث نطل عليها ونحاول أن نفهمها من خلاله ومن خلال ما يرتبط به..
وكأن الحياة لوحة فنية يعيشونها والشاي جزء من هذه اللوحة..
كتاب يشع جمالاً وسكينة قد يؤثر في تفكيرك وذائقتك..
لم أتوقع أن يكون المحتوى بهذا الرقي!!
كتاب عن الشاي وما هو الشاي أكثر من كونه مشروب.. شيء يشترى ويستهلك.. هذه هي فكرتنا غالباً لكن الكاتب الياباني يقدمه هنا كعنصر هام ومؤثر في الثقافة اليابانية حيث نطل عليها ونحاول أن نفهمها من خلاله ومن خلال ما يرتبط به..
وكأن الحياة لوحة فنية يعيشونها والشاي جزء من هذه اللوحة..
كتاب يشع جمالاً وسكينة قد يؤثر في تفكيرك وذائقتك..
June 2, 2016
A really fascinating little collection of essays, dealing with Japanese culture at the turn of the twentieth-century, especially the tea ceremony and the culture and philosophy that springs from it. I found this really interesting and readable, although possibly more enjoyable if you have vague background knowledge of Japanese and Chinese history and schools of philosophy.
January 20, 2016
This was a very good book on the history of tea and it's importance in the eastern cultures. Tea started out as a medicine and grew itself into a beverage. The book also speaks of the religion of Japan of Teaism.
I recommend this book to all.
Enjoy and Be Blessed.
Diamond
I recommend this book to all.
Enjoy and Be Blessed.
Diamond
May 23, 2020
“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.”
It’s not a book about tea, in the sense that it’s not about how to drink your tea, what sorts you can get and what fancy properties they have and should you put milk in it or not. However, it does explain why this golden beverage might hold such sway over us, even today:
“There is a subtle charm in the taste of tea which makes it irresistible and capable of idealisation. Western humourists were not slow to mingle the fragrance of their thought with its aroma. It has not the arrogance of wine, the self- consciousness of coffee, nor the simpering innocence of cocoa.”
Having been written in 1906 you’d think it’d be a bit dated, but it could just as well have been written today. What Okakura has to say about art, philosophy, nature, and the gap between Eastern and Western civilizations, and how to bridge it, is as relevant and as spot on today as it was a hundred years ago. It’s a bit scary really, but goes to show, perhaps, how delicate a thing it is to understand a different culture, and how delicate and slow you have to go in order not to ruin it. He simply does it all by talking about tea, and how it can help you understand all these things.
A few teasers on some of the things he has to say about art;
“We must remember, however, that art is of value only to the extent that it speaks to us. It might be a universal language if we ourselves were universal in our sympathies. Our finite nature, the power of tradition and conventionality, as well as our hereditary instincts, restrict the scope of our capacity for artistic enjoyment. Our very individuality establishes in one sense a limit to our understanding; and our aesthetic personality seeks its own affinities in the creations of the past. It is true that with cultivation our sense of art appreciation broadens, and we become able to enjoy many hitherto unrecognised expressions of beauty. But, after all, we see only our own image in the universe,—our particular idiosyncracies dictate the mode of our perceptions. The tea- masters collected only objects which fell strictly within the measure of their individual appreciation.”
human nature, our culture and nature itself;
“Scratch the sheepskin and the wolf within us will soon show his teeth. It has been said that a man at ten is an animal, at twenty a lunatic, at thirty a failure, at forty a fraud, and at fifty a criminal. Perhaps he becomes a criminal because he has never ceased to be an animal. Nothing is real to us but hunger, nothing sacred except our own desires. Shrine after shrine has crumbled before our eyes; but one altar is forever preserved, that whereon we burn incense to the supreme idol,—ourselves. Our god is great, and money is his Prophet! We devastate nature in order to make sacrifice to him. We boast that we have conquered Matter and forget that it is Matter that has enslaved us. What atrocities do we not perpetrate in the name of culture and refinement!”
philosophy;
“The usefulness of a water pitcher dwelt in the emptiness where water might be put, not in the form of the pitcher or the material of which it was made. Vacuum is all potent because all containing. In vacuum alone motion becomes possible. One who could make of himself a vacuum into which others might freely enter would become master of all situations. The whole can always dominate the part.”
and so on, and so on. It is on the whole a very enlightening read on many subjects, all of them centered around tea and its many abilities.
“The Philosophy of Tea is not mere aestheticism in the ordinary acceptance of the term, for it expresses conjointly with ethics and religion our whole point of view about man and nature. It is hygiene, for it enforces cleanliness; it is economics, for it shows comfort in simplicity rather than in the complex and costly; it is moral geometry, inasmuch as it defines our sense of proportion to the universe.”
So if you want to know about the history of tea, the cultural significance it had and still has, and the philosophy that surrounds it and that it’s cultivated through the ages, then this is what you need to read.
Even if you are an avid coffee drinker and would never dare look upon a cup of tea, then you will learn a thing or two from this.
It’s not a book about tea, in the sense that it’s not about how to drink your tea, what sorts you can get and what fancy properties they have and should you put milk in it or not. However, it does explain why this golden beverage might hold such sway over us, even today:
“There is a subtle charm in the taste of tea which makes it irresistible and capable of idealisation. Western humourists were not slow to mingle the fragrance of their thought with its aroma. It has not the arrogance of wine, the self- consciousness of coffee, nor the simpering innocence of cocoa.”
Having been written in 1906 you’d think it’d be a bit dated, but it could just as well have been written today. What Okakura has to say about art, philosophy, nature, and the gap between Eastern and Western civilizations, and how to bridge it, is as relevant and as spot on today as it was a hundred years ago. It’s a bit scary really, but goes to show, perhaps, how delicate a thing it is to understand a different culture, and how delicate and slow you have to go in order not to ruin it. He simply does it all by talking about tea, and how it can help you understand all these things.
A few teasers on some of the things he has to say about art;
“We must remember, however, that art is of value only to the extent that it speaks to us. It might be a universal language if we ourselves were universal in our sympathies. Our finite nature, the power of tradition and conventionality, as well as our hereditary instincts, restrict the scope of our capacity for artistic enjoyment. Our very individuality establishes in one sense a limit to our understanding; and our aesthetic personality seeks its own affinities in the creations of the past. It is true that with cultivation our sense of art appreciation broadens, and we become able to enjoy many hitherto unrecognised expressions of beauty. But, after all, we see only our own image in the universe,—our particular idiosyncracies dictate the mode of our perceptions. The tea- masters collected only objects which fell strictly within the measure of their individual appreciation.”
human nature, our culture and nature itself;
“Scratch the sheepskin and the wolf within us will soon show his teeth. It has been said that a man at ten is an animal, at twenty a lunatic, at thirty a failure, at forty a fraud, and at fifty a criminal. Perhaps he becomes a criminal because he has never ceased to be an animal. Nothing is real to us but hunger, nothing sacred except our own desires. Shrine after shrine has crumbled before our eyes; but one altar is forever preserved, that whereon we burn incense to the supreme idol,—ourselves. Our god is great, and money is his Prophet! We devastate nature in order to make sacrifice to him. We boast that we have conquered Matter and forget that it is Matter that has enslaved us. What atrocities do we not perpetrate in the name of culture and refinement!”
philosophy;
“The usefulness of a water pitcher dwelt in the emptiness where water might be put, not in the form of the pitcher or the material of which it was made. Vacuum is all potent because all containing. In vacuum alone motion becomes possible. One who could make of himself a vacuum into which others might freely enter would become master of all situations. The whole can always dominate the part.”
and so on, and so on. It is on the whole a very enlightening read on many subjects, all of them centered around tea and its many abilities.
“The Philosophy of Tea is not mere aestheticism in the ordinary acceptance of the term, for it expresses conjointly with ethics and religion our whole point of view about man and nature. It is hygiene, for it enforces cleanliness; it is economics, for it shows comfort in simplicity rather than in the complex and costly; it is moral geometry, inasmuch as it defines our sense of proportion to the universe.”
So if you want to know about the history of tea, the cultural significance it had and still has, and the philosophy that surrounds it and that it’s cultivated through the ages, then this is what you need to read.
Even if you are an avid coffee drinker and would never dare look upon a cup of tea, then you will learn a thing or two from this.
June 21, 2013
من باب التغيير قررت قراءة هذا الكتاب ظنا مني أنه يتحدث عن تاريخ نبتة الشاي وطقوس تحضيره، ولكنني تفاجأت أنه كتاب عن الفلسفة والفن والجمال.
نصيحة: لا تقرأوا هذا الكتاب إلا وإبريق من الشاي بالياسمين إلى جانبكم
نصيحة: لا تقرأوا هذا الكتاب إلا وإبريق من الشاي بالياسمين إلى جانبكم
March 16, 2013
لم يعد هناك معنى لكوب قهوتي الذي رافقني أثناء قراءة الكتاب...فاستبدلته بكوب من الشاي "كوب الإنسانية"...لعلّ شيئا من فلسفة تلك الحياة التي وصفها الكاتب تدبّ فيه
والكتاب لمن لم يقرأه فعلا يتضمن أسلوب حياة وفلسفة لا تقتصر على الشاي فقط، وإنما منصة فكرية وجمالية يشرح فيها "أوكاكورا" السمات المميزة للحياة الشرقية، من أجل فهم أوسع من قبل الغربي لجماليات تلك الحضارة وما بنيت عليها، لكسر الصورة النمطية في تفكيره تجاه تلك الحضارة العظيمة
بلغة شعريّة وفلسفة عميقة ووصف بديع لطقوس الشاي الساحرة وأبعادها الروحيّة والإنسانية تأتي هذه التحفة الفنية، وزادتها الترجمة إشراقا فلا تشعر وأنت تقرأ أنك أمام كتاب مترجم
تخيلتنا اليوم ونحن نعد كوبا من الشاي ونتجرعه بأسرع الطرق خلال ممارستنا لشتى أعمالنا، فهو رفيق دائم للأغلبية منا، ومع ذلك لا نمنحه الفرصة ليكون جزءا من تأملاتنا كما كان يفعل الياباني قبل نحو قرن من الآن...رغم أن شركات الشاي من وقت قريب اتخذت في إعلانها منحى مختلفا من خلال التعبير عن شيء بسيط من تلك الفلسفة، لتسوق بنجاح لمنتجاتها ضمن تنافس محتدم
يبدأ المؤلف كتاب من فصل بعنوان "كوب الإنسانية" متحدثا عن تاريخ تلك النبتة والمراحل التي مرت بها لتتبوأ تلك المكانة في حياة اليابانيين، ويصبح له مذهبا خاصا به يدعى "مذهب الشاييّة"...ثم انتقل للحديث عن مدارس الشاي...وأفرد فصلا يوضح فيه علاقة مذهبي الزن والتاو بالشاي، ومن ثم تحدث عن حجرة الشاي وفلسفة العمارة التي بنيت بناء عليها
ويحدثنا عن تقدير الفن
ثم بفصل رائع عن الزهور وفلسفة جمالها وحبها وإهدائها والحفاظ عليها وتكريسها للنقاء والبساطة وعلاقتها بحجرة الشاي ومدارس تنسيقها...بل وكيفية إتلافها بعد أن تغادرها الحياة نهائيا...فصل جميل قرأته أكثر من مرة
ويختم بالحديث عن معلمي الشاي والمعايير التي وضعوها في حجرة الشاي من حيث ملابسهم وحديثهم وطقوس تقديمهم بما يضمن تناغما مع البيئة المحيطة، ومساهماتهم في فن العمارة والتزيين الداخلي وتصميم الحدائق، وفن الخزف...بل وتأثيرهم على الحياة نفسها
كتاب وضع قبل ما يزيد على مئة من السنوات، يؤكد لنا أن في حضارتنا من جماليات وأنماط عيش تستحق أن نعمل على تقديمها بمثل هذا الأسلوب، لتحقيق مزيد من فهم الآخر لنا والتعبير عن "هويتن�� الجمالية والثقافية والفكرية والإنسانية".
هاتوا أكوابكم وشاركوني جلسة مسائية يتسيّدها الشاي...رغم أنني أعشق القهوة أكثر
June 29, 2017
Bu bir çay kitabı ancak isminden dolayı sadece çay için alırsanız yanılırsınız çünkü kitap bundan daha fazlası. Kitap Çayizm'in japon günlük yaşamında ki estetik ve kültürel etkileri üzerine bir inceleme. Ne yazık ki benim okuduğum baskısında öykü yazıyordu ve bu biraz yanlış anlaşılmaya sebep oluyor.
Eserede çayın tarihinden başlıyor önceleri nasıl yapılırdı ne amaçla kullanılırdı gibi konulardan bahsediyor. Sonrasında çay üzerinde Taoizm ve Zene'e, Çay Odaları'na ve Çay Ustaları'na değiniyor. Ayrıca Sanatın Değerlendirilmesi ve Çiçekeler diye iki bölümde var ve kitaba ayrı bir güzellik katmış. Yazarın bu kitabı 1900'lülerin başında yazmasına rağmen bugünü anlatıyor olması aradan yüzyıl geçmesinde rağmen hala benzer sorunları yaşıyor olmamız ilginç bir ayrıntıydı.
Eğer doğudan batıya bakışı merak ediyorsanız çay gibi güzel bir konu üzerinden zevkle okuyabilirsiniz.
Son olarakta en sevdiğim bölüm olan Çiçekler'den bir parça yazarak sözümü bitiriyorum.
"Kır çiçeklerinin gittikçe azaldığını siz de fark ettiniz mi? Belki ileri gelenleri, insanoğlu daha merhametli olana kadar ortadan kaybolmalarını söylemiştir. Belki de cennete göç etmişlerdi."
Eserede çayın tarihinden başlıyor önceleri nasıl yapılırdı ne amaçla kullanılırdı gibi konulardan bahsediyor. Sonrasında çay üzerinde Taoizm ve Zene'e, Çay Odaları'na ve Çay Ustaları'na değiniyor. Ayrıca Sanatın Değerlendirilmesi ve Çiçekeler diye iki bölümde var ve kitaba ayrı bir güzellik katmış. Yazarın bu kitabı 1900'lülerin başında yazmasına rağmen bugünü anlatıyor olması aradan yüzyıl geçmesinde rağmen hala benzer sorunları yaşıyor olmamız ilginç bir ayrıntıydı.
Eğer doğudan batıya bakışı merak ediyorsanız çay gibi güzel bir konu üzerinden zevkle okuyabilirsiniz.
Son olarakta en sevdiğim bölüm olan Çiçekler'den bir parça yazarak sözümü bitiriyorum.
"Kır çiçeklerinin gittikçe azaldığını siz de fark ettiniz mi? Belki ileri gelenleri, insanoğlu daha merhametli olana kadar ortadan kaybolmalarını söylemiştir. Belki de cennete göç etmişlerdi."
January 20, 2019
Ovaj produženi esej o umetnosti ispijanja čaja, istovremeno je vrlo zabavna kritika zapadnog ponašanja, ali i pohvala jednog jednostavnog pogleda na život, gde je umetnost ništa drugo do pronalaženje koristi u beskorisnom. Ponekad suviše kitnjasto, smetalo mi je i to što Okakura ume pomalo ekstremno da pristupi temi – a život je retko kad tako jednoznačan da se može definisati tačno odredjenim obrascem ponašanja. Ali kako je ovde konkretno u fokusu istorijat čaja (sa malim osvrtom na budizam), estetika njegovog ispijanja i značaj malih rituala u velikim danima, to i nije toliko strašno. Opuštajuće štivo, plus imponuje hipsteru u meni da se izmaltretira i napravi čaj koji nije u kesici i onda da ga srećno ispija uz knjigu, nataknut na električnu grejalicu koja ubija sav umor u njegovim teškim, dvadesetdvogodišnjim kostima.
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