The overwhelming majority of tea practitioners in contemporary Japan are women, but there has been little discussion on their historical role in tea culture (chanoyu). In Cultivating Femininity, Rebecca Corbett writes women back into this history and shows how tea practice for women was understood, articulated, and promoted in the Edo (1603–1868) and Meiji (1868–1912) periods. Viewing chanoyu from the lens of feminist and gender theory, she sheds new light on tea’s undeniable influence on the formation of modern understandings of femininity in Japan. Amazon
With mazes of expressways pushing scores of traffic through action filled, neon lit cities, there is perhaps no better platform than Japan to grasp the full motion and machinery of life.
But sitting silently in the shadows waits another realm. Just as intoxicating, enchanting and engaging as its counterpart albeit not as animated or ablaze with flashing lights, hundreds of abandoned abodes lay forgotten and left to decay.
Stepping away from the lights and into the shadows, photographer Shane Thoms embarks on an underground voyeuristic journey, documenting a curious collection of images that provide a rare and intimate glimpse into a secret, mysterious and sometimes bizarre world.
http://carpetbombingculture.co.uk/book/haikyo-the-modern-ruins-of-japan/
The teabowl has become an iconic form in contemporary ceramics. Having travelled from Japan, where it was an inherent part of chanoyu, or tea ceremony, it has evolved and adapted to become something very different in the West. - Bloomsbury Publishing
