View a FREE sample

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

Short Answer Questions

1. How might a tea room appear to a Westerner?

2. How much do they cut off tree branches?

3. Tea master influence is reflected in aspects of what?

4. Lastly, tea masters have an understanding of the ________________ of life.

5. What is the tea room?

Short Essay Questions

1. How did tea-masters think of art?

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

3. Why might it be difficult for Westerners to appreciate Japanese architecture?

4. Who is Pai Ya? What does he do with the instrument?

5. Why does Okakura use this tale?

6. Describe the attitude of "Flower Masters" towards flowers.

7. What do tea-masters think of life?

8. What does Okakura say about modern art appreciation?

9. What can cause problems for an artist? How is this a problem?

10. How are art masters immortal?

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

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?

Essay Topic 3

The tea room, or Sukiya, is a simple cottage.

Part 1) Give a full description of a tea room, or Sukiya. What has influenced the design of a Sukiya? How has the Sukiya evolved over time? Why?

Part 2) Describe the Japanese tea ceremony. How are the design of the tea room and the service that takes place within connected?

Part 3) What structures exist in our culture that serve some sort of religious or ritualistic purpose? How is the ritual tied to the design of the structure?

(see the answer keys)

This section contains 883 words (approx. 3 pages at 300 words per page) View a FREE sample