This classic of Japanese cultural studies explains the famous Japanese tea ceremony orcha-no-yu with great scholarship and clarity.
In 1933, when A. L. Sadler's imposing book on the Japanese tea ceremony first appeared, there was no other work on the subject in English that even remotely approached it in comprehensiveness or detail. Having attained something of the stature of a classic among studies of Japanese esthetics, it has remained one of the most sought-after of books in this field. It is therefore both a pleasure and a privilege to make it available once again in a complete and unabridged digital version
The tea culture book is abundantly illustrated with drawings of tea ceremony furniture and utensils, tearoom architecture and garden design, floor and ground plans, and numerous other features of the cha-no-yu. A number of photographic plates picture famous tea bowls, teahouses, and gardens.
This disciplined estheticism, as expressed in architecture, garden design, flower arrangement, pottery, painting, and other arts intimately related with the cha-no-yu, forms the focus of attention in the first part of this book.The second part, entitled "Tea Masters, " presents a series of stories illustrating the tea experiences of representative men of all types during the Muromachi, Momoyama, and Tokugawa periods. The book is abundantly illustrated with drawings of tea-ceremony furniture and utensils, tearoom architecture and garden design, floor and ground plans, and numerous other features of the cha-no-yu. A number of photographic plates picture famous tea bowls, teahouses, and gardens.