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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. Eastern so-called _____________________ perceive that they deal in death, and so treat flowers carefully and with honor.

2. How does Okakura feel about modern art appreciation?

3. Tea-masters, in choosing art for their ceremonies, only choose what pieces?

4. Flowers and trees are selected how?

5. What do the great masters never forget?

Short Essay Questions

1. Do humans deserve flowers, according to the author? Explain.

2. What is a Sukiya?

3. How is non-symmetry and non-repetition important?

4. What is the connection between man and flowers?

5. Why is the tea room intended to be barren?

6. What is done with these selected flowers?

7. What do tea-masters think of life?

8. What story does Okakura tell? What is the problem with the instrument in the book?

9. Who was Rikyu? What problem existed between him and Hideyoshi?

10. How was the Cult of Flowers developed? What is this cult?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

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 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

There are three eras of tea.

Part 1) What are the three main tea eras? Describe each of them and explain how each of them come to be? How are they connected?

Part 2) How does each era reflect the Japanese culture of the time? Does the tea era influence the culture or does the culture influence the tea era? Explain.

Part 3) How does art in America today reflect life? How has American art evolved to be what it is today?

(see the answer keys)

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