Okakura Kakuzo
Part I: The Origin of “Teaism”
By Stef S., Tea Consultant
The year is 1905. The restless, foamy waves of the Pacific break against the tall, craggy rocks that line the Izura coast in Japan’s northern Ibaraki prefecture. Okakura Kakuzo, a distinguished gentleman clad in traditional Japanese garb, gazes at the horizon. The sun warms his skin as he inhales the aroma of salt and sea. One of the most prominent writers and thinkers of Japan’s art community at the turn of the 20th century, Okakura has no shortage of projects to oversee, but he makes time every day to slow down and appreciate the beauty of nature around him. The sounds of mallets striking cedar punctuate the ocean’s gentle roaring. A small crew of artisan builders works diligently to erect a humble yet elegant hexagonal structure at the precipice of the cliff. The Rokkakudo, as it will come to be called, is inspired by Chinese pagodas used by monks and ascetics for meditation. It was designed and commissioned by Okakura. Unlike the pagoda of an ascetic, however, the Rokkakudo was constructed less than 150 feet from the author’s house. With a hearth at the center for brewing tea, it is to serve as his personal tea house for entertaining guests by performing Chanoyu, Japan’s time-honored tea ceremony. Okakura turns his face to the horizon. He has something else on his mind: crossing the ocean to return to Boston for the newest venture in his long and illustrious career. He has recently been inducted into the Museum of Fine Arts of Boston as an expert of Chinese and Japanese Art. He is also writing a book about tea. It is far from his first publication.
How could Okakura have ever guessed that his simple book on tea would become his legacy?
Okakura Kakuzo was born in 1863, during the final years of the Edo period in Japan. His father was a silk merchant who formerly worked as a treasurer for the shogunate. In other words, he was born into an elite ruling class of aristocrats and noble warriors. Sons of respectable families during the Edo period were well-educated and expected to do great things, but Okakura was exceptionally brilliant. He began his studies at the Tokyo Imperial University at just 15 years old. In the age of the samurai, scholars were not only encouraged but expected to learn a wide variety of knowledge, from mathematics to philosophy. The arts were an essential part of a gentleman’s education, including Ikebana flower arranging, Nihonga-style painting, poetry, and of course, the tea ceremony. Though Okakura was well versed in all of these, he had a particular affinity for tea, which he felt was woven through the heart of Japanese culture and daily life. He would later write, “There is a subtle charm in the taste of tea which makes it irresistible and capable of idealisation.”
“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.”
-Okakura Kakuzo, The Book of Tea (1906)
It was at Tokyo Imperial University that the young artist became acquainted with Ernest Fenollosa, an art historian and Harvard graduate who was teaching abroad in Japan. Fenollosa was 10 years his senior and at 27 years old already an established member of the global art world that captured young Okakura’s attention. Recognizing his student’s brilliance, Fenollosa took the young man under his wing. After graduating from university at the young age of 17, Okakura first worked as a government official for the Ministry of Education, then as the director of the Tokyo School of Fine Arts, and, concurrently, as the director of the Fine Arts at Tokyo’s iconic National Museum.
Okakura was born at a unique time in Japanese history, just 10 years after American Commodore Matthew Perry’s ships docked in Japan and re-established trade between the countries for the first time in 200 years. The Edo period, where Japan was ruled by the Tokugawa shogunate empire with the city Edo as its capital, came to an end in Okakura’s early childhood. The culture of Japan was changing. As a child, he was raised to embrace traditional Japanese art forms and ideals. As a student, he devoted his life to the pursuit of them. Western-style painting was becoming all the rage in Japan, and many traditional mediums were losing popularity. Okakura feared that hundreds of years of Japanese art history would culminate in the rejection of tradition for a Western way of life, and he felt responsible for dedicating his career to their preservation and promotion. He sought to establish a relationship between the art worlds of East and West, to educate America about Japanese culture. What better way to start a serious conversation than to begin with a cup of tea?
The Book of Tea introduces the idea of teaism, a way of looking at Japanese culture with tea at its center, teaching purity in simple rituals performed mindfully, and harmony between humankind in the humble things we share. Teaism, however, is not exclusively applicable to Japan. Okakura writes, "We are reminded in this connection what an important part (tea) plays in modern history. Colonial America resigned herself to oppression until human endurance gave way before the heavy duties laid on Tea. American independence dates from the throwing of tea-chests into Boston harbour.” Tea connects us all. In Okakura’s words, tea is at the center of life. “When we consider how small after all the cup of human enjoyment is, how soon overflowed with tears, how easily drained to the dregs in our quenchless thirst for infinity, we shall not blame ourselves for making so much of the tea-cup.”
The book was published in New York in 1906. Today, The Book of Tea has been translated into over 40 languages and is still in print. It has become one of the most widely read books about tea ever published. Just 160 pages and written with an elegance befitting the subject matter, it quickly became popular among American high society. After all, in the early 1900s, afternoon tea was in vogue. In 1910, Okakura was appointed curator of the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston’s Department of Chinese and Japanese Art.
In the next issue of our Upton Tea Quarterly, Part II will explore the development of Okakura’s career in Boston, his friendship with Isabella Stewart Gardner, and his legacy in the world of tea. “Meanwhile,” Okakura writes, 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.”
While at the turn of the century Okakura was a Japanese green tea aficionado, today we have access to a vast selection of green tea varieties. Discover a treasure trove of light and refreshing teas from around the world on pages 48-49.