The Classic Work on the Japanese Tea Ceremony and the Value of Beauty
Hardcover, 160 pages
English language
Published Feb. 16, 2006 by Kodansha International.
Tea began as a medicine and grew into a beverage. In China, in the eighth century, it entered the realm of poetry as one of the polite amusements. The fifteenth century saw Japan ennoble it into a religion of aestheticism - Teaism. 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.
I should have read this in one sitting for maximum effect. It’s very pretty.
