The Glocal Book:"The Book of Tea" by Okakura Kakuzou(Tenshin)-No.-114

Seeking Always To Be In Harmony

With The Great Rhythm Of The Universe

『He only who has lived with the beautiful can die beautifully.
　
　The last moments of great tea-masters were as full of exquisite refinement as had been their lives.

　Seeking always to be in harmony with the great rhythm of the universe, they were ever prepared to enter the unknown.

　The "Last Tea of Rikiu" will stand forth forever as the acme of tragic grandeur.

Long had been the friendship between Rikiu and the Taiko-Hideyoshi,
and high the estimation in which the great warrior held the tea-master.

But the friendship of a despot is ever a dangerous honour.

It was an age rife with treachery, and men trusted not even their nearest kin.

Rikiu was no servile courtier, and often dared to differ in argument with his fierce patron.

Taking advantage of coldness which had for some time existed between the Taiko and Rikiu, the enemies of the latter accused him of being implicated in a conspiracy to poison the deposit.

It was whispered to Hideyoshi that the fatal potion was to be administered to him with a cup of the green beverage prepared by the tea-master.

With Hideyoshi suspicion was sufficient ground for instant execution, and there was no appeal from the will of the angry ruler.

One privilege alone was granted to the condemned-the honour of dying by his own hand.』
（From the Book of Tea; Tea-Masters,ｐ.１１３－１１４ , Charles E. Tuttle Co., Rutland, Vermont, Tokyo, Japan)

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