The Book of Tea

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He opines: “In joy or sadness, flowers are our constant friends. We eat, drink, sing, dance, and flirt with them.” In modern times, flowers are still a regular part of life, but they’re something of an afterthought for many people (myself included) – I have been ignorant on the subject, perhaps more conscious of it as a child when romping about in fields and whatnot, but these days I don’t have the time to stop and stare at some daffodils. Okakura would no doubt chastise me for this state of affairs. 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.

The arrival of what he calls the “Art of Flower Arrangement” was simultaneous with Teaism around the 15th century. By the 17th century, Flower-Masters had become prominent and it was a skill as revered as any great tea-master, with Japanese artistic styles such as Ukiyo-e and Shijo influenced by both. on one hand, the writing is so… matter of fact. while it works in some places, it creates a disconnect in most that makes it hard to get into the story (especially at times when the plot is moving slowly). He then highlights the end of Japan’s “long isolation” from the rest of the world, which he states was “conducive of introspection”, has been beneficial for global Teaism. He’s right – Eastern culture and mysticism have swept through to the West throughout the 20th century and beyond – it’s been an inspirational benefit for myself and many millions of others, whether it’s through the intake of Buddhist practices, Studio Ghibli’s films, Nintendo’s creative genius, or Japanese literature. Eastern cultural influences have been rather magical and, of course, tea remains an ever popular export. Of it, Okakura states: It’s clear tensions and frustrations were rather high at the time (big surprise, the state of affairs hasn’t changed much since), but through tea Okakura is able to see a common love –“Strangely enough humanity has so far met in the tea-cup”:

All in all, I cannot recommend this duology enough! Also Princess Zhen is my fave along with her bodyguard. This chapter is about Japanese architecture, which is markedly different from most of the rest of the developed world. The use of wood and bamboo “seems scarcely worthy to be ranked as architecture”, the writer muses. He then lands a prescient statement which could be true of any age, but seems particularly well suited to life here in 2017 where money and power are all that seem to matter:

I had really expectations going into this- and i'm really sad to say this was a bit meh... 😒😒 It definitely wasn't bad and there were some things I enjoyed about it, but it's nowhere near as good as the first book in this series, sadly 🥲🥲 Ultimately, even if you’re not interested in drinking tea, you’ll find here a spirited and challenging piece of writing which captures a turning moment in history when globalisation was about to peak its head over the horizon, bringing with it far-flung new fancies which have enlightened the West to new possibilities and a way of life. Addendum: Tea & I Tea! Overall, while this sequel didn't live up to my hopes as much as the first one did, there's no doubt that Judy I. Lin is an author to look out for. Her ability to create a really unique magic system with Chinese mythology is amazing and wonderful, even if some of the writing style doesn't always bring out everything in the story it could. The cover of this book is so stunning and I cannot wait to see what sort of books she writes next. 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." Venom dives more into Taiwanese and Chinese mythology. I loved the deeper connections between the gods and Ning’s powers that came about in this one. There was also a ton of action and tension, though the stakes definitely were higher in this one since the threat wasn’t elimination but death (or something worse).

Apparently, in the fourth and fifth centuries of humanity, tea was a big hit with the locals in the Yangtse-Kiang valley. An ideogram (a character which symbolises something) came into creation around this time: Cha. on the other hand, the imagery was written fantastically, there was magical tea, and i also really enjoyed the last 15%. i think the problem is that it felt like the first 85% was all written as setup for the last 15%, and so i guess my main issue would be the pacing. (side note: there’s a lot of disappointment going around that this book didn’t have much romance- i really didn’t mind. if anything, i preferred it. considering the circumstances and where we left off on book one, any romance towards the beginning would have felt misplaced and put in only to please the audience. sorry! i said it!) We should be foolish indeed if we valued [artists from antiquity] achievements simply on the score of age. Yet we allow our historical sympathy to override our aesthetic discrimination. We offer flowers of approbation when the artist is safely laid to his grave.

Kakuzō Okakura’s fabulous essay expounds on it all and provides an essential insight into why many people turn tea into a way of life. His essay is also a call to humanity for a sense of humility and the need for simplicity – now, at a time when excess is hailed as the route to happiness, this is more essential than ever. In religion the Future is behind us. In art the Present is the eternal. The tea-masters held that real appreciation of art is only possible to those who make of it a living influence. Thus they sought to regulate their daily life by the high standard of refinement which obtained in the tea-room. 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." The poets of the southern dynasties have left some fragments of their fervent adoration of the ‘froth of the liquid jade.’ Then emperors used to bestow some rarer preparation of the leaves on their high ministers as a reward for eminent services. Yet the method of drinking tea at this stage was primitive in the extreme. The leaves were steamed, crushed in a mortar, made into a cake, and boiled together with rice, ginger, salt, orange peel, spices, milk, and sometimes with onions! The custom obtains at the present day among the Thibetans and the various Mongolian tribes, who make a curious syrup of these ingredients. The use of lemon slices by the Russians, who learned to take tea from the Chinese caravansaries, points to the survival of the ancient method.

II. The Schools of Tea.

For a 10-30 minute spell at a time it can remove all irrelevancies from your life and allow you, as a person, to enjoy some relaxation, or to heighten your enjoyment of the positive things around you, such as listening to classical music (have a gander at 10 Glorious Classical Music Animations for inspiration there), watching a film, or playing a stimulating video game (not forgettable trash like Call of Duty, try out the Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild).

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. It represents the true spirit of Eastern democracy by making all its votaries aristocrats in taste.The connection of Zennism with tea is proverbial. We have already remarked that the tea-ceremony was a development of the Zen ritual. The name of Laotse, the founder of Taoism, is also intimately associated with the history of tea.