The Glocal Book:"The Book of Tea" by Okakura Kakuzou(Tenshin)-No.75

The Occident; Arrayed Symmetrically;

Useless Reiteration

「Here again the Japanese method of interior decoration differs from that of the Occident, where we see objects arrayed symmetrically on mantelpieces and elsewhere.

In Western houses we are often confronted with what appears to us useless reiteration.

We find it trying to talk to a man while his full-length portrait stares at us from behind his back.

We wonder which is real, he of the picture or he who talks, and feel a curious conviction that one of them must be fraud.

Many a time have we sat at a festive board complating, with a secret shock to our digestion, the representation of abundance on the dining-room walks.

Why these pictured victims of chase and sport, the elaborate carvings of fishes and fruit?

Why the display of family plates, reminding us of those who have dined and are dread?」 (From the Book of Tea-theTea-Room, p.72, Charles E. Tuttle Co., Rutland, Vermont , Tokyo, Japan)

How do you think?

To my mind, I do not want to deny all sorts of arrayes of Occident style.

It's depend on the purpose of Objects what you want.

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The Glocal Book:"The Book of Tea" by Okakura Kakuzou(Tenshin)-No.74

In the Tea-Room; The Fear of Repetition;

A Constant Presence

「In the tea-room the fear of repetition is a constant presence.

The various objects for the decoration of a room should be so selected that no colour or design shall be repeated.

If you have a living flower, a painting of flowers is not allowable.

If you are using a round kettle, the water picher should be angular.

A cup with a black glaze should not be associated with a tea-caddy of black lacquer.

In placing a vase or an incense burner on the tokonoma, care should be taken not to put it in the exact center, let it divide the space into equal halves.

The pillar of the tokonoma should be of a different kind of wood from the pillars, in order to break any suggestion of monotony in the room. 」 (From the Book of Tea-the Tea-Room, pp.71-72, Charles E. Tuttle Co., Rutland, Vermont, Tokyo, Japan)

In this chapter, you could understand the essential concepts of beauty in the tea-room decoration.

I think the most important is the essence of space dividing.

You need to remember the Abode of Vacancy.

The beauty concepts are incomplete and unsymmetrical in the dynamic, temporal aesthetic mood.

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The Glocal Book:"The Book of Tea" by Okakura Kakuzou(Tenshin)-No.73

In the Tea-Room; Uniformity of Design:

Fatal to the Freshness of Imagination

「The Virility of the life and art lay in its possibilities for growth.

In the tea-room it is left for each guest in imagination to complete the total effect in relation to himself.

Since Zennism has become the prevailing mode of thought, the art of the extreme Orient has purposely avoid the symmetrical as expressing not only completion, but repetition.

Uniformity of design was considered as fatal to the freshness of imagination.

Thus, landscapes, birds, and flowers became thr favourite subjects for depiction rather than the human figure, the latter being present in the person of the beholder himself.

We are often too much in evidence as it is, and in spite of our vanity even self-regard is apt to became monotonous. 」 (From the Book of Tea-the Rea-Room, pp.70-71, Charles E. Tuttle Co., Rutland, Vermont, Tokyo, Japan)

The art must lay in the immortality for growth.

In its sence, uniformity of design is fatal to the freshness of immagination.

Now, I think youll' be able to understand the beauties ," the Abode of the Unsymmetrical & Incomplete".

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The Glocal Book:"The Book of Tea" by Okakura Kakuzou(Tenshin)-No.72

The Abode of the Unsymmetrical; True Beauty;

Complete The Incomplete Mentally

「The "Abode of the Unsymmetrical" suggests another phase of our decorative scheme.

The absence of smmetry in Japanese art objects has been often commented on by Western critics.

This, also, is a result of a working out through Zennism of Taoist ideals.

Confucianism, with its deep-seated ideas of dualism, and Northern Buddhism with its workship of a trinity, were in no way opposed to the expression of symmetry.

As a matter of fact, if we study the ancient bronzes of China or the religious arts of the Tang dynasty and the Nara period, we shall recognise a constant striving after symmetry.

The decoration of our classical interors was decidedly regular in its arrangement.

The Taoist and Zen conception of perfection, however, was different.

The dynamic natere of their philosophy laid more stress upon the process through which perfection was sought than upon perfection itself.

True beauty could be discovered only by one who mentally completed the incomplete.」 (From the Book of Tea-the Tea-Room, pp.69-70, Charles E, Tuttle Co., Rutland, Vermont, Tokyo, Japan)

This section is very important to understand the "Abode of the Unsymmetrical".

The concepts are the result of workings out through Zennism of Taoist ideals.

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The Glocal Book:"The Book of Tea" by Okakura Kakuzou(Tenshin)-No.71

The Tea-Room; Absolutly Empty,

Except for Satisfying Some Aesthetic

Mood Temporarily

「The term, Abode of Vacancy, besides conveying the Taoist theory of the all-containing, involves the conception of a continued need of change in decorative motives.

The tea-room is empty, except for what may be placed there temporarily to satisfy some aesthetic mood.

Some special art object is brought in for the occation, and everything else is selected and arranged to enhance the beauty of the principal theme.

One cannot listen to different piecec of music at the same time, a real comprehention of the beatiful being possible onlty through concentration upon some motive.

Thus it will be seen that the system of decoration in our tea-rooms is opposed to that which obtains in the West, where the interior of a house is often converted into a museam.

To a Japanese, accustomed to simplicity of ornamentation and frequent change of decorative method, a Western interior permanently filled with a vast array of pictures, statuary,
and bric-'a-brac gives the impression of mere vulgar display of riches.

It calls for a mighty wealth of appreciation to enjoy the constant sight of even a masterpiece, and limitless indeed must be the capacity for artistic feeling in the those who can exist day after day in the midst of such confusion of colour and form as is to be often seen in the homes of Europe and America.」 (From the Book of Tea-theTea-Room, pp.68-69, Charles E. Tuttle Co., Rutland, Vermont, Tokyo, Japan)

It is very interesting for the different appreciations for the decoration in rooms between Japan and Europe and America .

In Japan, it's simplicity of ornamentation and frequent frequent changes of decorations.

In Westen, it's the permanent fullfill with a vast array of interior goods.

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Picture: Striped Porgy by Katashi Oyama
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The Glocal Book:"The Book of Tea" by Okakura Kakuzou(Tenshin)-No.70

The Tea-Room; The Enforcement of

the Principle of Vitality in Art

「That　the tea-room should be built to suit some individual taste is an enforcement of the principle of vitality in art.

Art, to be fully appreciated, must be true to contemporaneous life.

It is not that we should ignore the claims of posterity, but that we should seek to enjoy the present more.

It is not that we should disregard the creations of the past, but that we should try to assimilate them into our consciousness.

Slavish conformity to traditions and formulas fetters the expression of individuality in architecture.

We can but weep over those senseless imitations of European buildings which one beholds in modern Japan.

We marved why, among the most progressive Western nations, architecture should be so devoid of originality, so replete with repetitions of obsolete styles.

Perhaps we are now passing through an age of demonstration in art, while awaiting the rise of some princely master who shall establish a new dynasty.

Would that we loved the ancients more and copied them less!

It has been said that the Greeks were great because they never drew from the antique.」 (From the Book of Tea-the Tea-Room, pp.67-68 , Charles E. Tuttle Co., Rutland, Vermont, Tokyo, Japan)

Not only the Tea-Room, the principle of the way of tea must be creative to all sorts of individual performances.

You have to be philosophical and artistic for enjoying tea drinking and for the life of art.

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The Glocal Book:"The Book of Tea" by Okakura Kakuzou(Tenshin)-No.69

The Temporary Refuge;

With the Subtle Light of the Refinement

「With the predominance of Zen individualism in the fifteenth century, however, the old idea became imbued with a deeper significance as conceived in connection with the tea-room.

Zennism, with the Buddist theory of evanescence and its demands for the mastery of of spirit over matter, recognised the house only as a temporary refuge for the body.

The body itself was but as a hut in the wilderness, a flimsy shelter made by tring together the grasses that grew around,---when these ceased to be bound together they again became resolved into the original waste.

In the tea-room fugitiveness is suggested in the thatched roof, frailty in the slender pillars, lightness in the bamboo support, apparent carelessness in the use of common place materialals.

The eternal is to be found only in the spirit which, embodied in these simple surroundings, beutifies them with the subtle light of its refinement.」 (From the Book of Tea-the Tea-Room, pp.66-67, Charles E. Tuttle Co., Rutland, Vermont, Tokyo, Japan)

Now, I think you can understand the spiritual back ground of The Tea-Room.

I hope you read through carefully in this parts of sentences.

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The Glocal Book:"The Book of Tea" by Okakura Kakuzou(Tenshin)-No.68

Abode of Fancy; Implies a Structure Created to Meet Some Individual Artistic Requirement

「The name, Abode of Fancy, implies a structure created to meet some individual artistic requirement.

The tea-room is made for the tea-master, not the tea-master for the tea-room.

It is not intended for posterity and is therefore ephemeral.

The idea that everyone should have a house of his own is based on an ancient custom of the Japanese race, Shinto superstition ordering that every dwelling should be evacuated on the death of its chief occupant.

Perhaps there may have been some unrealised sanitary reason for this practice.

Another early custom was that a newly built house should be provided for each couple that married.

It is account of such customs that we find the Imperial capitals so frequently removed from one site to another in ancient days.

The rebuilding every twenty years of Ise Temple, the supreme shine of the Sun-Goddeass, is an exanple of one of these ancient rites which still obtain at the present day.

The observance of these customs was only possible with some such form of construction as that furnished by our system of wooden architecture, easily pulled down, easily built up.

A more lasting style, employing brick and stone, would have rendered migrations impracticable, as indeed they became when the more stable and massive wooden construction of China was adopted by us after the Nara period.」(From thr Book of Tea-the Tea-Room, pp.65-66, Charles E. Tuttle Co., Rutland, Vermont, Tokyo, Japan)

Essential spiritual mind of the way of tea is individualism and very personal.

Yet, I think the mind was changed to "fall into the habit of learning the process of the way of tea without philosophical search.

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The Glocal Book:"The Book of Tea" by Okakura Kakuzou(Tenshin)-No.67

Rikiu; the Ideas of Cleanliness;

Not Cleanliness Alone,

but the Beautiful & the Natural Also

「In this connection there is story of Rikiu which well illustrates the idears of cleanliness entertained by the tea-masters.

Rikiu was watching his son Shoan as he swept and watered the garden path.

"Not clean enough," said Rikiu, when Shoan had finished his task, and bade him try again.

After a weary hour the son turned to Rikiu: "Father, there is nothing more to be done.

The steps have been washed for the third time, the stone lanterns and the trees are well sprinkled with water, moss and lichens are shining with a fresh verdure; not a twig,not a leaf have I left on the ground.

"Young fool," chided the tea-master, "that is not the way a garden path should be swept."

Saying this, Rikiu stepped into the garden, shook a tree and scattered over the garden gold and crimson leaves, scraps of the brocade of autumn!

What Rikiu demanded was not cleanliness alone, but the beautiful and the natural also.」 (From the Book of Tea-the Tea-Room, pp.64-65, Charles E. Tuttle Co.,Rutland, Vermont, Tokyo, Japan)

You will be able to understand what the grand tea-master, Rikiu let his sun learn.

You will remember the sentence which was shown in No.3 of this Blog as follow.
[It is essentially a worship of the Imperfect, something possible in this impossible thing we know as life.], which was appeared No.3 of this Blog.

The worship of the Imperfect is the most important philosophy of the way of tea.

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The Glocal Book:"The Book of Tea" by Okakura Kakuzou(Tenshin)-No.66

Tea-Master; Master of Arts in Cleaning & Dusting

「One of the first requisites of a tea-master is the knowledge of how to sweep, clean, and wash, for there is an art in cleaning and dusting.

A piece of antique metal work must not be attacked with the unscrupulous zeal of the Dutch housewife.

Dripping water from a flower vase need not be wiped away, for it may be suggestive of dew and coolness.」 (From the Book of Tea-The Tea-Room, p.64, Charles E. Tuttle Co., Tuttle, Vermont-Tokyo, Japan)

This is the Reason that the Way of Tea is the culture of daily life.

If you are a Man to be the Master minds of Tea-Drinking, you have to behave like the Man of delicate & sensitive about every tinny matters.

You have to be the Man of refined & elegant about every movements & manners.

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Picture: Blue - Green Glazed Square Plate by Keitoku Kato
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The Glocal Book:"The Book of Tea" by Okakura Kakuzou(Tenshin)-No.65

The Tea-Room; Everything is Absolutely Clean

「Even in the daytime the light in the room is subdued, for the low eaves of the slanting roof admit but few of the sun's rays.

Everything is sober in tint from the celing to the floor ; the guests themselves have carefully chosen garments of unobtructive colours.

The mellowness of age is over all, everything suggestive of recent acquirement being tabooed save only the one note of contrast furnished by the bamboo dipper and the linen napkin, both immaculately white and new.

However faded the tea-room and the tea-equipage may seem, everything is absolutely clean.

Not a particle of dust will be found in the darkest corner, for if any exists the host is not a tea-master」 (From the Book of Tea-The Tea-Room, pp.63-64, Charles E. Tuttle, Rutland, Vermont, Tokyo, Japan)

In the midst of city, imagine you are in the dark corner of absolutely clean Tea-Room without a particle of dust.

Do you will feel free or nervous?

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The Glocal Book:"The Book of Tea" by Okakura Kakuzou(Tenshin)-No.64

The Tea-Room; the Silence; The Kettle Sing

「The order of precedence having been mutually agreed upon while resting in the machiai, the guests one by one wil enter noiselesly and take their seats, first making obeisance to the picture or flower arrangement on the tokonoma.

The host will not enter the room until all the guests have reated themselves and quiet reigns with nothing to break the silence save the note of the boiling water in the iron kettle.

The kettle sings well, for pieces of iron are so arranged in the bottom as to produce a peculiar melody in which one may hear the echoes of a cataract muffled by clouds, of a distant sea breaking among the rocks, a rainstorm sweeping through a bamboo forest, or of the soughing of pines on some fareway hill.」(From the Book of Tea-The Tea-Room, pp.62-63, Charles E. Tuttle Co., Rutland, Vermont, Tokyo, Japan)

I hope you are able to imagine the silence in theTea-Room, in which you hear and/or listen to the singing songs of boiling water in the iron kettle.

I am sure you will understand various kinds of the singings of the kettles.

It is the supreme spritual and natural songs.

You will realize and accept the world of quiet and relaxes in the midst of a city by the singing song of the kettle.

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The Glocal Book:"The Book of Tea" by Okakura Kakuzou(Tenshin)-No.63

The Tea-Room; The House of Peace;

Inculate Humanity

「Thus prepared the guest will silently approach the sanctuary, and, if a samurai, will leave his sword on the rack beneath the eaves, the tea-room being preeminently the house of peace.

Then he will bend low and creep into room through a small door not more than three feet in height.

The proceeding was incumbent on all guests,--high and low alike,--and was intended to inculcate humanity.」(From the Book of Tea-The Tea-Room, p.62, Charles E. Tuttle Co., Rutland, Vermont, Toky, Japan)

Passing Through the Roji, you will reach to the entrance to the tea-room.

You will find the very small door, from which you have to enter the tea-room.

Inside the tea-room, you will enjoy the peaceful world of humanity.

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Picture: Blue - Green Glazed Square Plate by Keitoku Kato
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The Glocal Book:"The Book of Tea" by Okakura Kakuzou(Tenshin)-No.62

Roji; Kobori-Enshiu; Yearing for the Freedom that Lay in the Expanse Beyond

「Others,like Kobori-Enshiu, sought for a different effect.

Enshiu said the idea of the garden path was to be found in the following verses:

"A cluster of summer trees,
A bit of the sea,
A pale evening moon."

It is not difficult to gather his meaning.

He wished to create the attitude of a newly-awakened soul still lingering amid shadowy dreams of the past, yet bathing in the sweet unconsciouss of a mellow spiritual light, and yearning for the freedom that lay in the expanse beyond.」(From the Book of Tea-The Tea-Room, pp.61-62, Charles E. Tuttle Co., Rutland, Vermont-Tokyo, Japan)

It is clear that the Roji is the important path to the sophisticated spiritual world of Tea-drinking, the way of Tea.

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Picture: Olibe Glazed Crock by Keitoku Kato
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The Glocal Book:"The Book of Tea" by Okakura Kakuzou(Tenshin)-No.61

Roji; Rikiu; Utter Loneliness

「Some, like Rikiu, aimed at utter loneliness, and claimed the secret of making a roji was contained in the ancient ditty:

"I looked beyond;
Flower are not,
Nor tinted leaves.

On the sea beach
A solitary cottage stands
In the waring light
Of an autumn eve."

」(From the Book of Tea-The Tea-Room, p.61, Charles e. Tuttle Co., Rutland, Vermont,-Tokyo, Japan)

I hope you imagine What the Roji means.

As the great tea master Rikiu suggested, the Roji is the way to Utter loneliness.

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The Glocal Book:"The Book of Tea" by Okakura Kakuzou(Tenshin)-NO.60

In the Midst of a City;

Feel as if you were in the Forest

「One may be in the midst of a city, and yet feel as if he were in the forest far away from the dust and din of civilisation.

Great was the ingenuity displayed by the tea-masters in producing these effects of serenity and puruty.

The nature of the sensations to be aroused in passing through the roji differed with different tea-matters.」(From the Book of Tea-The Tea-Room, pp,60-61, Charles E. Tuttle Co., Rutland, Vermont, Tokyo, Japan)

At Tea-drinking, the Roji is the most important pass way to the world of Tea-ceremony.

You will drink Tea in the midst of a city.

Yet, you will find you are as if in the forest far away from the noisy of the manners and customs.

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The Glocal Book:"The Book of Tea" by Okakura Kakuzou(Tenshin)-No.59

The Roji; Break Connection with

the Outside World

「Again the Roji, the garden path which leads from the machiai to the Tea-room, signified the first stage of meditation,--the passage into self-illumination.

The Roji was intended to break connection with the outside world, and to produce a fresh sensation conductive to the full enjoyment of aesthetisism to the tea-room itself.

One who has trodden this garden path can not fail to remember how his spirit, as he walked in the twilignt of evergreens over the regular irregularities of the stepping stones, beneath which lay dried pine needles, and passed beside the moss-covered granite lanterns, became uplifted above ordinary thoughts.」(From the Book of Tea-The Tea-Room, p.60, Charles E. Tuttle Co., Rutland, Vermont, Tokyo, Japan)

The Roji is very important to the world of tea drinkig.

As mentioned by Okakura, The Roji is the pass-way to the tea world to produce a fresh sensation conductive to the full aesthetism to the tea-room.

You will appreciate the Roji is also the way to the spiritual world, eapecilly to the world of The Zennism and/or The Taoism.

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Picture: Ash-Glazed Combed Pattern Rectangular by Keitoku Kato
Image Designer: Izumi Mori