The Book of Tea

By: Okakura Kakuzo

Narrated by: Ken Cohen

The Book of Tea is much more than a book about tea. It's a celebration of the arts and culture of Japan, and a portrait of tea ceremony, the "Way of Tea", as the pinnacle of Japanese spirituality and artistic life.

Written in 1906 by Kakuzo Okakura, curator of Chinese and Japanese Art at the Boston Museum of Fine Arts and a noted scholar and art critic, this modern classic traces the history of tea from its early medicinal uses in China, through the development of Chinese tea culture, and finally to the role of tea in Japanese Zen, culture, and politics. In the process, Okakura weaves together the philosophies, myths, history, and poetry of China and Japan. He introduces us to tea masters, emperors, and warlords, and brings us an appreciation of the transient beauty of life that is at the heart of Japanese artistic ideals.

Okakura wrote The Book of Tea in English, and his elegant prose mirrors the refined artistry of the Japanese tea ceremony. Narrated by Ken Cohen, himself a student and practitioner of tea ceremony in the Urasenke tradition, this audiobook captures Okakura's vision of how "Teaism" can transform us and the way we see ourselves and our world.

Public Domain (P)2015 Ken Cohen

beautiful but

beautiful book, incredible information, but the reading was difficult, the monotonous tone kept putting me to sleep. took me way too long to finish such a quick read.

An uplifting beverage!

Many Japanese art forms seek to express the transcendental through through the ordinary, and the art of tea is pre-eminent in this regard. Okakura Kauzo's elegant essay on this most Japanese of past-times invites us into the mystic world of the tea master, presents a potted history of the development of the art and concludes with a heart-rending description of the passing of the Rikyu, the most celebrated of all the masters of the way of tea. This book is a meditation, rather than an essay, and is best enjoyed as such. Wonderfully enhanced by Ken Cohen's calm and persuasive delivery, this is a book to which one surrenders, rather than just listens. Do you want to de-stress? Don't have a beer - have a cup of tea with Ken Cohen instead. You will find it very refreshing.

unexpected but enjoyed

It includes a lot of background, depth and thoughts about Zen and flowers and westerners... which gives us an interesting perspective into the Japanese tea culture.

Good information

It contains some interesting things that people might not have known, new perceptions.
But it is very attached to its own view of the world, and is very adamant in propelling it’s own beliefs.

The Depth of Tea

Breathtaking. A book about finding meaning in simplicity. The book is short, powerful, quiet, and well written.