The Book of Tea, de Kakuso Okakura, é um ensaio belíssimo, escrito em 1906, e que tem servido desde há um século como uma das mais interessantes introduções à cultura e pensamento asiático. Escrito originalmente em inglês, o seu exotismo fascinou os primeiros leitores e continua a surpreender-nos com a sua subtileza.
Deixo-vos com um pequeno excerto:
Tea is a work of art and needs a master hand to bring out its noblest qualities. We have good and bad tea, as we have good and bad paintings – generally the latter. There is no single recipe for making the perfect tea, as there are no rules for producing a Titian or a Sesson. Each preparation of the leaves has its individuality, its special affinity with water and heat, its hereditary memories to recall, its own method of telling a story. The truly beautiful must be always in it. How much do we not suffer through the constant failure of society to recognise this simple and fundamental law of life; Lichihlai, a Sung poet, has sadly remarked that there were three most deplorable things in the world: the spoiling of fine youths through false education, the degradation of fine paintings through vulgar admiration, and the utter waste of fine tea through incompetent manipulation.
Okakura, Kakuzo, The Book of Tea, Tokyo: Kodansha International, 1991, p. 43
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