Kakuzo Okakura

Born in Yokohama in 1862, Kakuzō Okakura—also known as Okakura Tenshin—became one of the most important interpreters of Japanese art and culture in the modern era. He studied in Tokyo during a time of rapid change in Japan and devoted much of his life to protecting and promoting traditional arts.

He played a leading role in the growth of modern art institutions in Japan, helping to establish the Tokyo School of Fine Arts and the art journal Kokka. Later, he worked with the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, where he helped build understanding of Asian art outside Japan.

Today he is most widely remembered as the author of The Book of Tea, first published in English. In that small but influential work, he used the tea ceremony as a way to explore beauty, simplicity, and the values behind Japanese culture.