The Ideals of the East

The 1904 book that famously declared “Asia is one” was among the first studies in English to reference Zen as it explored the roots of Japanese beauty. Like the author’s The Book of Tea, this volume emphasized the spiritual ideals of Asian, and especially Japanese, art.

Kakuzo Okakura (1863–1913) was an administrator and scholar whose writings helped shape the West’s early views of Japan and Asia.