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The Book of Tea
“A seminal guide to Asian life and thought… Very highly recommended.”—Midwest Book Review. In this classic 1906 essay on tea drinking – its history, aesthetics, and deep connection to Japanese culture - Okakura felt “Teaism” could influence the world: “Tea with us becomes more than an idealization of the form of drinking; it is a religion of the art of life.”
Kakuzo Okakura (1863-1913) was an administrator and scholar who had a profound effect on art and aesthetics both in Japan and the West. He helped found an arts college and in 1904 became an assistant curator at Boston’s Museum of Fine Arts. Through his writings, Okakura was able to permanently affect the way the West viewed Japan and Asia.
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A Diplomat in Japan; The Inner History of the Critical Years in the Evolution of Japan When the Ports Were Opened and The Monarchy Restored
Based on the author’s detailed diary, personal encounters, and keen memory, this book is a record of the inner history of the critical years of social and political upheaval that accompanied Japan’s first encounters with the West around the time of the Meiji Restoration.
Sir Ernest Satow (1843-1929) arrived in Japan in 1862 and remained there for 21 years as a secretary of the British Legation of Tokyo, becoming an avid student of Japanese language, history, religion, and customs. He later served as Minister in Siam, Uruguay, Morocco, and China. He died at age 86 in England.
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Epochs of Chinese and Japanese Art; The Outline History of East Asiatic Design
Still regarded as a monumental survey of Eastern art, this comprehensive volume was intended for art collectors and general readers as well as travelers and scholars. It covers China and Korea in addition to Japan, and places a special emphasis on Buddhist influences.
Ernest F. Fenollosa (1853-1908) came to Japan in 1878, teaching at Imperial University of Tokyo. There he laid the foundation of studies in Japanese art history. After contributing to the establishment of what is now Tokyo National University of Fine Arts and Music, he curated the Department of Oriental Art at Boston Museum of Fine Arts.
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The Ideals of the East; With Special Reference to the Art of Japan
The 1904 book that famously declared “Asia is one” is also among the first studies in English to reference Zen in its exploration of the roots of Japanese beauty. Like the author’s Book of Tea, this volume emphasizes the spiritual ideals of Asian, and especially Japanese, art.
Kakuzo Okakura (1863-1913) was an administrator and scholar who had a profound effect on art and aesthetics both in Japan and the West. He helped found an arts college and in 1904 became an assistant curator at Boston’s Museum of Fine Arts. Through his writings, Okakura permanently affected the way the West viewed Japan and Asia.
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Kwaidan; Stories and Studies of Strange Things
In this startling and poignant gathering of ghost stories, odd tales, and curious observations, Hearn captures the folk-spirit and “exoticism” of a land thought at the time to be both mysterious and sinister.
Lafcadio Hearn (1850-1904) was born in Levkas, Greece, as the son of Greek and British parents. In 1869 he went to the United States and did various works, finally as a journalist. In 1890 he came to Japan and taught English in Japanese schools, and became a Japanese citizen under the name of Koizumi Yakuma. He died in Tokyo.
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The Mikado's Empire; A History of Japan from the Age of Gods to the Meiji Era (660 BC-AD 1872)
“A series of brilliant tableaux.”—Harper’s (1876). In its day the most popular book on the then-mysterious nation of Japan, this volume covers the history and culture of Japan from the earliest times to the Meiji Restoration of 1868. Included in literature, history, and language courses.
William Elliot Griffis (1843–1928) was an educator and writer and a respected authority on Japanese culture.
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Things Japanese; Being Notes on Subjects Connected with Japan
An engaging collection about everything from the abacus to zoology in Japan, designed to preserve knowledge about a society that was modernizing beyond recognition. This book remains an erudite source of information about culture, history, art, religion, and daily life.
Basil Hall Chamberlain (1850-1935) was a professor of Tokyo Imperial University and one of the foremost British Japanologists of the late 19th century. A translator of haiku and classical Japanese, he was a brilliant linguist who studied Ainu and wrote books on Japanese language, learning, and travel. He lived in Japan from 1873-1911.
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Unbeaten Tracks in Japan; An Account of Travels in the Interior Including Visits to the Aborigines of Yezo and the Shrine of Nikko
“So genial is its spirit, so enticing its narrative.”—New Englander and Yale Review (1881). The first recorded account of Japan by a Westerner, this 1878 book captures a lifestyle that has nearly vanished. The author traveled 1,400 miles by horse, ferry, foot, and jinrikisha.
Isabella Lucy Bird (1831–1904) was a pioneering woman adventurer who wrote many books about faraway places. The ceaseless traveler’s books include A Lady’s Life in the Rocky Mountains (1879) and Among the Tibetans (1894).
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