Cha Do / The Japanese Way of Tea : Literature and Practice in German

The survey of the LITERATURE begins with reports of the Jesuits in the 16th century who had integrated the Japanese tea-ceremony into their missionary work in Japan. This is followed by a detailed report on the works of Engelbert Kaempfer and Philipp Franz von Siebold who during their service for the VOC on Deshima had collected first hand information on the "closed country". After the re-opening of Japan to the Western World we have seven reports, including Ida Trotzig's book in the Swedish language, on the tea-ceremony by foreign experts serving in Japan before World War I. By world War II another five reports were published, among them the famous "Book of Tea" (1906) by Kakuzo Okakura, that appeared in German translation as early as 1919, and Anna Berliner's "Der Teekult in Japan" (1930), a detailed description based on her own practice in Japan during the twenties. Nineteen texts on the tea-ceremony have been published since World War II, they are also surveyed in chronological order. A separate chapter deals with Okakura and the four German translations of "The Book of Tea", that have appeared so far. Two evaluative studies of the tea-practice in contemporary Japan are also summarized.PRACTICE in Germany describes "KanShoAn", the Japanese tea-house in the English Garden of Munich, a donation by Urasenke Grandmaster Sen Soshitsu XV in 1972. Urasenke's present branch-offices and training facilities in Germany and Switzerland are also described.37 plates illustrate persons and documents