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Kakuzō Okakura

3.8/5 ( ratings)
Born
February 13 1863
Died
0101 09 19131913
Okakura Kakuzō , also known as Okakura Tenshin , was a Japanese scholar who contributed the development of arts in Japan. Outside Japan, he is chiefly remembered today as the author of 'The Book of Tea'.

Born in Yokohama to parents originally from Fukui, Okakura learned English while attending a school operated by Christian missionary, Dr. Curtis Hepburn. At 15, he entered Tokyo Imperial University, where he first met and studied under Harvard-educated professor Ernest Fenollosa. In 1889, Okakura co-founded the periodical Kokka. A year later he was one of the principal founders of the first Japanese fine-arts academy, the Tokyo School of Fine Arts , and a year later became its head, although he was later ousted from the school in an administrative struggle. Later, he also founded the Japan Art Institute with Hashimoto Gahō and Yokoyama Taikan. He was invited by William Sturgis Bigelow to the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston in 1904 and became the first head of the Asian art division in 1910.

Okakura was a high-profile urbanite who had an international sense of self. In the Meiji period he was the first dean of the Tokyo Fine Arts School . He wrote all of his main works in English. Okakura researched Japan's traditional art and traveled to Europe, the United States, China and India. He emphasised the importance to the modern world of Asian culture, attempting to bring its influence to realms of art and literature that, in his day, were largely dominated by Western culture.

His book, 'The Ideals of the East' , published on the eve of the Russo-Japanese War, is famous for its opening line, "Asia is one." He argued that Asia is "one" in its humiliation, of falling behind in achieving modernization, and thus being colonized by the Western powers. This was an early expression of Pan-Asianism. Later Okakura felt compelled to protest against a Japan that tried to catch up with the Western powers, but by sacrificing other Asian countries in the Russo-Japanese War.

In Japan, Okakura, along with Fenollosa, is credited with "saving" Nihonga, or painting done with traditional Japanese technique, as it was threatened with replacement by Western-style painting, or "Yōga", whose chief advocate was artist Kuroda Seiki. In fact this role, most assiduously pressed after Okakura's death by his followers, is not taken seriously by art scholars today, nor is the idea that oil painting posed any serious "threat" to traditional Japanese painting. Yet Okakura was certainly instrumental in modernizing Japanese aesthetics, having recognized the need to preserve Japan's cultural heritage, and thus was one of the major reformers during Japan's period of modernization beginning with the Meiji Restoration.

Outside of Japan, Okakura had an impact on a number of important figures, directly or indirectly, who include philosopher Martin Heidegger, poet Ezra Pound, and especially poet Rabindranath Tagore and heiress Isabella Stewart Gardner, who were close personal friends of his.

Kakuzō Okakura

3.8/5 ( ratings)
Born
February 13 1863
Died
0101 09 19131913
Okakura Kakuzō , also known as Okakura Tenshin , was a Japanese scholar who contributed the development of arts in Japan. Outside Japan, he is chiefly remembered today as the author of 'The Book of Tea'.

Born in Yokohama to parents originally from Fukui, Okakura learned English while attending a school operated by Christian missionary, Dr. Curtis Hepburn. At 15, he entered Tokyo Imperial University, where he first met and studied under Harvard-educated professor Ernest Fenollosa. In 1889, Okakura co-founded the periodical Kokka. A year later he was one of the principal founders of the first Japanese fine-arts academy, the Tokyo School of Fine Arts , and a year later became its head, although he was later ousted from the school in an administrative struggle. Later, he also founded the Japan Art Institute with Hashimoto Gahō and Yokoyama Taikan. He was invited by William Sturgis Bigelow to the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston in 1904 and became the first head of the Asian art division in 1910.

Okakura was a high-profile urbanite who had an international sense of self. In the Meiji period he was the first dean of the Tokyo Fine Arts School . He wrote all of his main works in English. Okakura researched Japan's traditional art and traveled to Europe, the United States, China and India. He emphasised the importance to the modern world of Asian culture, attempting to bring its influence to realms of art and literature that, in his day, were largely dominated by Western culture.

His book, 'The Ideals of the East' , published on the eve of the Russo-Japanese War, is famous for its opening line, "Asia is one." He argued that Asia is "one" in its humiliation, of falling behind in achieving modernization, and thus being colonized by the Western powers. This was an early expression of Pan-Asianism. Later Okakura felt compelled to protest against a Japan that tried to catch up with the Western powers, but by sacrificing other Asian countries in the Russo-Japanese War.

In Japan, Okakura, along with Fenollosa, is credited with "saving" Nihonga, or painting done with traditional Japanese technique, as it was threatened with replacement by Western-style painting, or "Yōga", whose chief advocate was artist Kuroda Seiki. In fact this role, most assiduously pressed after Okakura's death by his followers, is not taken seriously by art scholars today, nor is the idea that oil painting posed any serious "threat" to traditional Japanese painting. Yet Okakura was certainly instrumental in modernizing Japanese aesthetics, having recognized the need to preserve Japan's cultural heritage, and thus was one of the major reformers during Japan's period of modernization beginning with the Meiji Restoration.

Outside of Japan, Okakura had an impact on a number of important figures, directly or indirectly, who include philosopher Martin Heidegger, poet Ezra Pound, and especially poet Rabindranath Tagore and heiress Isabella Stewart Gardner, who were close personal friends of his.

Books from Kakuzō Okakura

The Book of Tea

3.6/5 ( ratings)

Ideals of the East: The Spirit of Japanese Art

3.3/5 ( ratings)

The Awakening of Japan

3.8/5 ( ratings)

The Cup of Humanity: Okakura Kakuzo Quotes about Tea and Life

4.3/5 ( ratings)

Quotes About Tea and Life From Okakura Kakuzo [Color Illustrations and Photographs]

4.4/5 ( ratings)

The Zen of Tea

3.2/5 ( ratings)

Japanese Spirituality: Bushido, Samurai and the Art of Tea

5/5 ( ratings)

О budizmu - Hođoki

4/5 ( ratings)

Japan: Described and Illustrated by the Japanese; Volume 3

4/5 ( ratings)

Classics for Holidays - Ultimate Collection: 150 Timeless Masterpieces of World Literature in One Volume

4/5 ( ratings)

The Ultimate Summer Read Collection: 150 Everlasting Masterpieces of the World Literature

4/5 ( ratings)

The Best Classics for Christmas: 650 Timeless Masterpieces of World Literature & Christmas Classics to Read During the Holidays

4/5 ( ratings)

Masterpieces to Go - Ultimate Holiday Read: 150 Timeless Classics of World Literature in One Volume

4/5 ( ratings)

The Ultimate Summer Read: Collection of 150 Masterpieces of the World Literature in One Volume

4/5 ( ratings)

90 Masterpieces You Must Read (Vol.2): Novels, Poetry, Plays, Short Stories, Essays, Psychology & Philosophy: The Awakening, A Tale of Two Cities, Iliad ... and Sons,The Prince, Peter and Wendy...

4/5 ( ratings)

The Great Classics of World Literature

4/5 ( ratings)

The Classics You Need to Read in Your Life

4/5 ( ratings)

The Book of Tea (Penguin Little Black Classics)

4/5 ( ratings)

The Book of Tea

4/5 ( ratings)

L'unto. Il messia venuto dall'India

4/5 ( ratings)
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