The Cup of Humanity

:: Okakura Kakuzo:: His Philosophies About Tea And Life In Quotes Includes Ikebana And Other Illustrations About Okakura Tenshin Kakuzo From the forward of "The Awakening of Japan" Okakura Kakuzo was born in Japan in 1863. Okakura graduated (1880) from Tokyo Imperial University. Soon thereafter he met Ernest Fenollosa who become the preeminent voice in defending Japan's traditional art forms against the drive to modernization and westernization of the early Meiji Restoration. Under his influence Okakura worked toward reeducating the Japanese people to appreciate their own cultural heritage. He was one of the principal founders of the Tokyo Fine Arts School, opened in 1887. In 1898 Okakura was ousted from the school in an administrative struggle. He next established the Nippon Bijutsu-in (Japan Academy of Fine Arts) with the help of such followers as Hishida Shunso and Yokoyama Taikan. A frequent traveler abroad, at the turn of the century Okakura became curator of the Oriental art division of the Boston Museum of Fine Arts. Many of his works, such as The Ideals of the East (1903), The Awakening of Japan (1904), and The Book of Tea (1906), were written in English in order to spread abroad his ideas.