Ideals of the East

Okakura Kakuz, also known as Okakura Tenshin, was a Japanese academic and art critic who, during the Meiji Restoration reform era, defended conventional forms, practices, and beliefs. He lived from February 14, 1863, to September 2, 1913. He is most known outside of Japan for his 1906 book The Book of Tea: A Japanese Harmony of Art, Culture, and the Simple Life. It was written in English after the Russo-Japanese War, denounced Western stereotypes of Asians in general and the Japanese specifically, and voiced the worry that Japan would only acquire respect to the extent that it copied the barbaric practices of Western militarism. On the eve of the Russo-Japanese War, he released The Ideals of the East with Special Reference to the Art of Japan, a book on Asian aesthetic and cultural history. It is famous for its opening paragraph, which asserts that Asia differs from the West because of its spiritual unity. When Kakuzo persisted in visiting his mountain estate in Akakura in August 1913, his sister, wife, and daughter eventually transported him there by train. Kakuzo was able to communicate with others and feel a little better for almost a week before suffering a heart attack on August 25.