The Glocal Book:"The Book of Tea" by Okakura Kakuzou(Tenshin)-No.87

Rikiu; Love Only Objects

Which Really He Appreciatted

「One is reminded in this connection of a story concerning Kobori-Enshiu.

Enshiu was complimented by his disciples on the admirable taste he had displayed in the choice of his collection.

Said they, "Each piece is such that no one could help admiring.

It shows that you had better taste than had Rikiu, for his collection could only be appreciated by one beholder in a thousand."

Sorrowfully Enshiu replied: " This only proves how commonplace I am.

The great Rikiu dared to love only those objects which personally appealed to him, whereas I uncosciously cater to the taste of the majority.

Verily, Rikiu was one in a thousand among tea-masters."」 (From the Book of Tea-Art Appreciation, Charles E. Tuttle Co., Rutland, Vermont, Tokyo, Japan)

This part is very important about the greatness of art appreciation.

The facts mean the great art is not necessarily appreciatted by the taste of majority.

Click Please！！

Picture: Ash-Glazed Combed Pattern Rectangular Dish
Image Designer: Izumi Mori

The Glocal Book:"The Book of Tea" by Okakura Kakuzou(Tenshin)-No.86

Art; Individual Appreciation

「We must remember, however, that art is of value only to the extent that it speaks to us.

It might be a universal language if we ourselves were universal in our sympathies.

Our finite nature, the power of tradition and conventionality, as well as our hereditary instincts, restrict the scope of our capacity for artistic enjoyment.

Our very individuality establishes in one sense a limit to our understanding; and our aesthetic personality seeks its own affinities in the creations of past.

It is true that with cultivation our sense of art appreciation broadens, and we become able to enjoy many hitherto unrecognised expressions of beauty.

But after all, we see only our own image in the universe,-our particular idiosyncrasies dictate the mode of our preceptions.

The tea-masters collected only objects which fell strictly within the measure of their individual appreciation.」 ( From the Book of Tea-Art Appreciation,pp.83-84, Charles E, Tuttle Co., Rutland, Vermont, Tokyo, Japan)

After all, the art appreciation is depend on individual sensitivity.

It is not the matter of knowledge, but your creative resonance to the art.

Click Please！！

Picture: Blue - Green Glazed Square Platter by Keitoku Kato
Image Designer: Izumi Mori

The Glocal Book:"The Book of Tea" by Okakura Kakuzou(Tenshin)-No.85

The Great Value of The Masterpieces

「At the time when Teaism was in the ascendency the Taiko's generals would be better satisfied with the present of a rare work of art than a large grantb of territory as a reward of victory.

Many of our favourite dramas are based on the loss and recovery of a noted masterpiece.

For instance, in one play the palace of Lord Hosokawa, in which was preserved the celebrated painting of Dharuma by Sesson, suddenly takes fire through the negligence of the samurai in charge.

Resolved at all hazards to rescue the precious painting, he rushes into the burning building and seizes the kakemono, only to find all means of exit cut off by the flames.

Thinking only of the picture, he slashes open his body with his sword, wraps his torn sleeve about the Sesson, and plunges it into the gaping wound.

The fire is at last extinguished.

Among the smoking embers is found a half-consumed corpse, within which reposes the treasure uninjured by the fire.

Horrible as such tales are, they illustrate the great value that we set upon a masterpiece, as well as the devotion of a trusted samurai.」(From the Book of Tea-Art Appreciation, pp.82-83, Charles E, Tuttle Co., Rutland, Vermont, Tokyo, Japan)

From this story, you can imagine how they think much of a Masterpipiece.

The fact was explained in relation to the devotion of the Samurai mind.

Click Please！！

Picture: With Every Good, Kayokukan by Oyama Katashi
Image Designer: Izumi Mori

The Glocal Book:"The Book of Tea" by Okakura Kakuzou(Tenshin)-No.84

ART; Ennoble Mankind

「Nothing is more hallowing than the union of kindered spirits in art.

At the moment of meeting, the art lover transcends himself.

At once he is and is not.

He cathes a glimpse of Infinity, but words cannot voice his delight, for the eye has no tongue.

Freed from the fetters of matter, his spirit moves in the rhythm of things.

It is thus that art becomes askin to religion and ennobles mankind.

It is this which makes a masterpiece something sacred.

In this old days the veneration in which the Japanese held the work of the great artist was intense.

The tea-masters guarded their treasures with religious secrecy, and it was often necessary to open a whole series of boxes, one within another, before reaching the shrine itself-the silken wrapping within whose soft folds lay the holy of holies.

Rarely was the object exposed to view, and then only to the initiated.」( From the Book of Tea-Art Appreciation, pp.81-82, Charles E. Tuttle Co., Rutland, Vermont, Tokyo, Japan)

I will not necessarily agree to guard their arts with religious secrecy.

It should be open to everybody to ennoble mankind.

Click Please！！

Picture: Blue - Green Glazed Square Plate by Keitoku Kato
Image Designer: Izumi Mori

The Glocal Book:"The Book of Tea" by Okakura Kakuzou(Tenshin)-No.83

In Art ;Vanity is Fatal to Sympathetic Feeling

「The great masters both of the East and the West never forgot the value of suggestion as a means for taking the spectator into their confidence.

Who can contemplate a masterpiece without being awed by the immense vista of thought presented to our consideration?

How familiar and sympathetic are they all; how cold in contrast the modern commonplaces!

In the former we feel the warm outpouring of a man's heart; in the latter only a formal salute.

Engrossed in his technique, the modern rarely rises above himself.

Like the musicisns who vainly invoked the Lungmen harp, he sings only of himself.

His works may be nearer science, but are further from humanity.

We have an old saying in Japan that a woman cannot love a man who is truly vain, for there is crevice in his heart for love to enter and fill up.

In art vanity is equally fatal to sympathetic feeling, whether on the par of the artist or the public.」(From the Book of Tea-Art Appreciation, pp.80-81, Charles E. Tuttle Co., Rutland, Vermont, Tokyo, Japan)

The art is the sincere sympathetic heart of humanity.

It should be the feeling of the warm outpouring of a man's heart.

Click Please！！

Picture: Dark Green - Iron Glazed Crock by Keitoku Kato
Image Designer: Izumi Mori

The Glocal Book:"The Book of Tea" by Okakura Kakuzou(Tenshin)-No.82

The More Human the Call

the Deeper is Our Response

「To the sympathetic a masterpiece becomes a living reality towards which we feel drawn in bonds of comradeship.

The masters are immortal, for their loves and fears live in us over and over again.

It is the soul than the hands, the man than the technique, which appeals to us,ーthe more human the call the deeper is our response.

It is because of this secret understanding between the master and ourselves that in poetry or romance we suffer and rejoice with the hero and heroine.

Chikamatsu, our Japanese Shakespeare, has laid down as one of the first principles of dramatic composition the importance of taking the audience into the confidence of the author.

Several of his pupils submitted plays for his approval, but only one of the pieces appealed to him.

It was a play somewhat resembling the Comedy of Errors, in which twin brethren suffer through mistaken identity.

"This," said Chikamatsu, "has the proper spirit of the drama, for it takes the audience into consideration.

This public is permitted to know more than the actors.

It knows where the mistake lies, and pities the poor figures on the board who innocently rush to their fate." 」 ( From the Book of Tea-Art Appreciation, pp.79-80, Charles E. Tuttle Co., Rutland, Vermont, Tokyo, Japan)

The artistic values are not simple, but you should ask for eternal beauty at any chances.

Click Please！！

Picture: Striped Porgy by Katashi Oyama
Image Designer: Izumi Mori

The Glocal Book:"The Book of Tea" by Okakura Kakuzou(Tenshin)-No.81

The Sympathetic Communion of Minds Necessary for Art Appreciation; Mutual Concession

「The sympathetic communion of minds necessary for art appreciation must be based on mutual concession.

The spectator must cultivate the proper attitude for receiving the message, as the artist must know to impart it.

The tea-muster, Kobori-Enshiu, himself a daimyo, has left to us these memorable words: "Approach a great painting as thou wouldst approach a great prince."

In order to understand a masterpiece, you must lay yourseif low before it and await with bated breath its least utterance.

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 judgment matured I prised myself for liking what the masters had chosen to have me like."

It is to be deplored that so few of us really take pains to study the moods of the masters.

In our stubborn ignorance we refuse to render them this simple courtesy, and thus often miss the rich repast of beauty spread before our very eyes.

A master has always something to offer, while we go hungry solely because of our own lack of appreciation.」(From the Book of Tea-Art Appreciation, pp.78-79, Charles E. Tuttle Co., Rutland, Vermont, Tokyo, Japan)

I would like to access to the art from my philosophycal sympathetic communication of minds.

Click Please！！

Picture: Olibe Glazed Crock by Keitoku Kato
Image Designer: Izumi Mori

The Glocal Book:"The Book of Tea" by Okakura Kakuzou(Tenshin)-No.80

The Mystery of Art Appreciation

「This story well illustrates the mystery of art appreciation.

The masterpiece is a symphony played upon our finest feelings.

True art is Peiwoh, and we the harp of Lungmen.

At the magic touch of the beutiful the secret chords of our being are awakened, we vibrate and thrill in response to its call.

Mind speaks to mind.

We listen to the unspoken, we gaze upon the unseen.

The master calls forth notes we know not of.

Memories long forgotten all come back to us with a new significance.

Hopes stifled by fear, yearings that we dare not recognise, stand forth in new glory.

Our mind is the canvas on which the artists lay their colour; their pigments are our emotions:; their chiaroscuro the light of joy, the shadow of sadness.

The masterpiece is of ourselves, as we are of the masterpiece. 」 (From the Book of Tea-Art Appreciation, p.78, Charles E, Tuttles Co., Rutland, Vermont, Tokyo, Japan)

I hope to read just this section to understand the way ofthe Art Appreatiation of oriental finest feelings.

Click Please！！

Picture: Blue - Green Glazed Square Platter
Image Designer: Izumi Mori

The Glocal Book:"The Book of Tea" by Okakura Kakuzou(Tenshin)-No.79

Let Choose the Harp the Song of Theme

「Then Peiwoh changed the key and sang of love.

THe forest swayed like an ardent swain deep lost in thought.

On high, like a haughty maiden, swept a cloud bright and fair; but passing, trailed long shadows on the ground, black like despair.

Again the mode was changed; Peiwoh sang of war, of clashing steel and trapling steeds.

And in the harp arose the tempest of Lungmen, the dragon rode the lightning, the thunderimg avalanche crashed through the hills.

In ecstasy the Celestrial monaech asked Peiwoh wherein lay the secret of his victory.

"Sire, he replied, "others have failed because they sang but of themselves.

I left the hwrp to choose its theme, and knew not truly whether the harp had been Peiwoh or Peiwoh were the harp."」 (From the Book of Tea-Art Appreciation, p.77, Charles E Tuttle Co., Rutland, Vermont, Tokyo, Japan)

The essential philosophy of oriental and/or Japan people is that human being must resonance with nature, but not to fight against nature.

Click Please！！

Picture: Striped Porgy by Keitoku Kato
Image Designer: Izumi Mori

The Glocal Book:"The Book of Tea" by Okakura Kakuzou(Tenshin)-No.78

The Prince of Harpists; Playing of

Nature & Seasons;

Awake all the Memories of the Old Kiri Tree

「At last came Peiwoh, the prince of harpists.

With tender hand he caressed the harp as one might seek to soothe an unruly horse, and softly touched the chords.

He sang of nature and the seasons, of high mountains and flowing waters, and all the memories of the tree awoke!

Once more the sweet breath of spring played amidst its branches.

The young cataracts, as they danced down the ravine, laughed to the budding flowers.

Anon were heard the dreamy voices of summer with its myriad insects, the gentle pattering of rain, the weil of the cuckoo.

Hatk! a tiger roars,-the valley answers again.

It is autumn; in the desert night, sharp like a sword gleams the moon upon the frosted grass.

Now winter reigns, and through the snow-filled air swirl flocks of swans and ratling hailstones beat upon the boughs with fierce delight」(From the Book of Tea-Art Appreciation, pp.76-77, Charles E. Tuttle Co., Rutland, Vermont, Tokyo, Japan)

The facts mean the resonance with nature is the most critical.

The harp will not sing if you are trying to play, but will sing if you are trying to enjoy the nature and seasons with harp.

Click Please！！

Picture: Striped Porgy by Katashi Oyama
Image Designer: Izumi Mori

The Glocal Book:"The Book of Tea" by Okakura Kakuzou(Tenshin)-No.77

The Taoist Tale of the Taming of the Harp

「Have you heard the Taoist tale of the Taming of the Harp?

Once in the hoary ages in the Ravine of Lungmen stood a Kiri tree, a veritable king of the forest.

It reared its head to talk to the stars; its roots stuck deep into the earth, mingling their bronzed coils with those of the silver dragon that slept beneath.

And it came to pass that a mighty wizard made of this tree a wondrous harp, whose stubbon spirit should be tamed but by the greatest of musicians.

For long the instrument was treasured by the Emperor of China, but all in vain were the efforts of those who in turn tried to draw melody from its strings.

In response to their utmost strivings there came from the harp but harsh notes of disdain, ill-according with the songs they fain would sing.

The harp refused to recognise a master.」 ( From the Book of Tea-Art Appreciation, pp.75-76, Charles E. Tuttle Co., Rutland, Vermont, Tokyo, Japan)

Now, we are going to understand Japanese Art.

As you learned at the chapter of The Tea-Room, you will understand more about the philosophy and the beauty of the Way of Tea Drinking.

Click Please！！

Picture: Striped Porgy by Katashi Oyama
Image Designer: Izumi Mori

The Glocal Book:"The Book of Tea" by Okakura Kakuzou(Tenshin)-No.76

The Tea-Room; Freedom from Vulgarity; Sanctuary from the Vexations of the Outer World

「The simplicity of the tea-room and its freedom from vulgarity make it truly a sanctuary from the vexations of the ouer world.

There and there alone can one consecrate himself to undisturbed adoration of the beautiful.

In the sixteenth century the tea-room afforded a welcome respite from labour to the fierce warriors and statemen engaged in the unification and reconstruction of Japan.

In the seventeenth century, after the strict formalism of the Tokugawa rule had been developed, it offered the only opportunity possible for the free communication of artistic spirits.

Before a great work of art there was no distinct between daimyo, samurai, and commoner.

Nowadays industrialism is making true refinement more and more difficult all the world over.

Do we not need the tea-room more than ever?」 ( From the Book of Tea-the Tea-Room, pp.72-73,Charles E. Tuttle Co., Rutland, Vermont, Tokyo, Japan)

Nowadays, the Social Usages and Commercialism are making true refinement more and more difficult.

The formalism of the Present Status in the tea developed in the formalism of the way of tea without arts and philosophy.

Click Please！！

Picture: Blue - Green Glazed Square Plate by Keitoku Kato
Image Designer: Izumi Mori