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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. The guests must hunch down to enter the ______________ door.

2. How do guests approach the tea room?

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

4. Tea-masters are _______________ when choosing the art.

5. A masterpiece viewed in this way becomes what?

Short Essay Questions

1. How are art masters immortal?

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

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

4. Describe early tea rooms and how they changed with the innovations of Rikyu.

5. What is the connection between man and flowers?

6. How is the tea room different from other forms of architecture?

7. Why does Okakura use this tale?

8. What is a Sukiya?

9. How does one enter a tea room?

10. How do the Japanese show that art is important to them?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

Taoism and tea are connected.

Part 1) What is Taoism? How is Taoism connected to tea? How have they each influenced the other? What else is connected to tea?

Part 2) How have tea rooms and tea ceremonies been influenced by various philosophies and religions? How is this influence seen even in Western tea culture?

Part 3) How is religion and philosophy tied to American culture? How important is religion to our country's past, present, and future?

Essay Topic 2

Tea began as a medicine and only gradually grew into a beverage.

Part 1) Describe the medicinal uses of tea. How did this gradually lead to tea being a beverage? How did this beverage then spread throughout the world?

Part 2) What are the three main tea eras? How did each begin? How is each era unique? What commonalities exist between these eras? What influenced how tea was made and how it was served? How important is the tea room in the tea service? How does the tea room reflect the tea master and the tea that is being served?

Part 3) How has the U.S. been affected by the spread of the popularity of tea? How is tea a part of our culture today? How does U.S. tea culture compare to the Japanese tea culture described in the book? Is one tea culture superior? If so, how? If not, why not?

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)

This section contains 1,035 words (approx. 4 pages at 300 words per page) View a FREE sample