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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. Some statesmen, philosophers, and artists of the West could be referred to as what?

2. There is also an emphasis on what?

3. Okakura again emphasizes that tea can do what for a culture?

4. What is another side?

5. What is the word for the "religion of aestheticism," which has grown up around tea in Japanese culture?

Short Essay Questions

1. Describe the Whipped Tea era.

2. Is it appropriate for Westerners to learn tea's origin and how it is used elsewhere? Why or why not?

3. Who was Lu Wu? What were his beliefs about tea?

4. What is Zennism?

5. Is tea art? If so, how? If not, why not?

6. How did Zen contribute to Eastern thought?

7. What did Fenollosa and Okakura do together? How and why did their travels together end?

8. What is the history of Taoism and tea?

9. What was the opinion of tea?

10. 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?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

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 2

Tea masters were conscious of art as a living, present influence.

Part 1) Support this statement with facts from this book. How does this also reinforce Eastern philosophical and religious beliefs?

Part 2) How do Westerners view art? How does this view affect how Westerners treat art and what art is made?

Part 3) How do you view art? How have you come to this belief? How does it compare to the tea master's view of art?

Essay Topic 3

Okakura tells the story of the Last Tea of Rikyu.

Part 1) Describe the Last Tea of Rikyu. Why does he tell this story? What does it illustrate? What does it reinforce?

Part 2) How does this story compare to our own folk tales? What commonalities exist? What differences exist?

Part 3) Why might the author have ended this book with this story? How does this ending affect the reader?

(see the answer keys)

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