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This test consists of 5 short answer questions, 10 short essay questions, and 1 (of 3) essay topics.

Short Answer Questions

1. Is there a mechanical method for making tea?

2. What is something that Westerners have invested in in excess?

3. Okakura could be brilliant but also ________________; visionary but suffering from cultural myopia, arrogant and pedantic but sentimental.

4. How did tea grew in popularity?

5. 1898, Okakura resigned his official post in a state institution to found what?

Short Essay Questions

1. Did all Japanese accept modern, Western attitudes and behaviors? How do you know this?

2. What was the opinion of tea?

3. What is teaism?

4. Describe the Whipped Tea era.

5. Describe Okakura's education.

6. What are the three distinct sides of Okakura?

7. What is the history of Taoism and tea?

8. Will the West ever truly understand the East? Why or why not? What stereotypes have formed? Are these stereotypes breaking down? Why or why not?

9. What are differences between China and Japan, regarding culture and tea?

10. What did the two men do once they parted ways?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

Okakura relates the Taoist tale of the Harp.

Part 1) Describe this tale. Why does Okakura relate this tale? How is it tied to Japanese culture? What does it reinforce?

Part 2) Describe a Western tale. What does it reveal about Western culture? How do the Eastern and Western tales compare?

Part 3) How do these tales illustrate the differences in Eastern and Western culture and thinking? How might they aid in building relations between the East and the West?

Essay Topic 2

Okakura was a complicated man and a study of contrasts.

Part 1) Support the statement above with details from the book. What is the purpose of knowing this information about the author? What does this information reveal about the purpose of this book?

Part 2) How does this information about the author affect you as the reader? Does it affect your opinion of Okakura's work and the information he provides in this book? Why or why not?

Part 3) How does your personality compare to Okakura's? Are you a complicated person full of contrasts? Are you straight-forward and always of a similar mindset? Are you somewhere in the middle? Explain.

Essay Topic 3

Okakura laments modern art appreciation.

Part 1) Describe modern art appreciation from Okakura's point of view. Why does he lament it? How does it compare to older forms of art appreciation?

Part 2) Do you agree with Okakura? Why or why not? Do you believe that everything was better in the past? Why or why not?

Part 3) What improvements have taken place in modern times? What about modern life do you see as an improvement from the past? Why?

(see the answer keys)

This section contains 1,064 words (approx. 4 pages at 300 words per page) View a FREE sample