Tea Ceremony

by Sen'o Tanaka, Sendo Tanaka

Paperback: 224 pages
Publisher: Kodansha International; Revised Paperback Edition (2000)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 4-7700-2507-6
ISBN-13: 978-4-7700-2507-4
Dimensions: 10.1" x 7.25" x 0.75"
Shipping Weight: 1.69 lbs.

In Japan, serving tea is an art and a spiritual discipline. As an art, the tea ceremony is an occasion to appreciate the clean lines of the tea room's design, the feel of the bowl in the hand, the company of friends, and a simple moment of purity. As a discipline, it has roots in the twelfth century and intimate connections to architecture, landscape gardening, ceramics, painting, flower arrangement, and of course, Zen Buddhism.

Written by contemporary tea masters, The Tea Ceremony takes a clear and comprehensive look at the sources and inspiration of this ancient discipline. The authors trace the practice form its earliest origins to the present day, considering in detail the individuals who helped it evolve. They discuss all the elements of the ceremony—including art, architecture, incense, flowers, and the influence of Zen—and show how readily the study of tea can serve as a spiritual path to greater insight and calm.

Originally published in 1973, The Tea Ceremony has been revised extensively. Along with a rewritten and updated text, entirely new photographs and line drawings have been selected. Over 75 step-by-step stills of the tea ritual itself, featuring a number of close-up shots, give the reader a fuller visual understanding of the ceremony. Numerous line drawings illuminating the more important elements of the ceremony have been inserted for the first time, and for those readers wishing to delve further into the subject, bilingual charts of tea terms have been appended

This lavish new edition of The Tea Ceremony adds an important dimension capturing the aesthetic spirit that lies at the heart of the ritual.