Quotessence
Home / Quotes / Quote by Koushun Takami

Quote by Koushun Takami

“We're supposed to strive for harmony, and that's what the art of tea is supposed to accomplish... but harmony is very, very difficult to achieve in this country. Tea ceremony is powerless. But it's also not such a bad thing either. You should enjoy it while you can.”

Quote by Koushun Takami

Book:Battle Royale
Create image

Work

Battle Royale

Browse quotes and source details for this work. more

Author

Koushun Takami
Koushun Takami

Japanese author known for his influential science fiction novel 'Ghost in the Shell', which has had a profound impact on the science fiction literature and animation industry. more

You May Also Like

“Because this tea kaiseki would be served so soon after breakfast, it would be considerably smaller than a traditional one. As a result, Stephen had decided to serve each mini tea kaiseki in a round stacking bento box, which looked like two miso soup bowls whose rims had been glued together. After lifting off the top dome-shaped cover the women would behold a little round tray sporting a tangle of raw squid strips and blanched scallions bound in a tahini-miso sauce pepped up with mustard. Underneath this seafood "salad" they would find a slightly deeper "tray" packed with pearly white rice garnished with a pink salted cherry blossom. Finally, under the rice would be their soup bowl containing the wanmori, the apex of the tea kaiseki. Inside the dashi base we had placed a large ball of fu (wheat gluten) shaped and colored to resemble a peach. Spongy and soft, it had a savory center of ground duck and sweet lily bulb. A cluster of fresh spinach leaves, to symbolize the budding of spring, accented the "peach," along with a shiitake mushroom cap simmered in mirin, sake, and soy. When the women had finished their meals, we served them tiny pink azuki bean paste sweets. David whipped them a bowl of thick green tea. For the dry sweets eaten before his thin tea, we served them flower-shaped refined sugar candies tinted pink. After all the women had left, Stephen, his helper, Mark, and I sat down to enjoy our own "Girl's Day" meal. And even though I was sitting in the corner of Stephen's dish-strewn kitchen in my T-shirt and rumpled khakis, that soft peach dumpling really did taste feminine and delicate.”

WomenSpringJapanese CuisinePinkTea CeremonyCherry BlossomsPeach
Book:Untangling My Chopsticks: A Culinary Sojourn in Kyoto
Create image

“Nei giorni di pioggia, ascolta la pioggia. Nei giorni di neve, guarda la neve. In estate apprezza il caldo, in inverno, il freddo che gela le ossa... Qualsiasi giorno, godilo pienamente per quello che è. Il tè è questo modo di vivere.”

SeasonsTeaCarpe DiemTea Ceremony
Book:Every Day a Good Day: Fifteen lessons I learned about happiness from Japanese tea culture
Create image

“If the bodhisattvas live during a time of armed conflict, they give rise to the mind of compassion, transforming those who are fighting, and causing them to dwell in a land without contention. If there are great wars, the bodhisattvas make the strength on both sides equal. They manifest their spiritual authority and subdue people so that peace is restored.”

WarSpiritualityPeaceCompassionBuddhismBodhisattva
Book:The Bodhisattva Path: Commentary on the Vimalakirti and Ugrapariprccha Sutras
Create image

“Ciò cui mirano sia la scuola che il tè è la crescita della persona. Però, con una importante differenza: a scuola ci si confronta con l'altro, mentre nella cerimonia del tè, ci si confronta con il se stesso di ieri.”

TeachingSelf ImprovementTeaSelf KnowledgeTea Ceremony
Book:Every Day a Good Day: Fifteen lessons I learned about happiness from Japanese tea culture
Create image

“C'è anche chi dice: «Il tè è la bellezza formale della vita di un tempo». «E' il culmine delle arti giapponesi», pensano altri. Qualcuno, poi, ha scritto: «E' la religione della bellezza, nella quale si mira al vuoto attraverso la tenace pratica dell'otemae». «Un concentrato di saggezza esistenziale, incentrata sulle stagioni». «Uno stile zen»... Il tè ammette qualsiasi interpretazione. E allora anche alla mia visione corrisponde un mondo del tè. Forse il tè è un riflesso di ciascuno: ci sono tanti tè quante persone.”

TeaJapanese CultureTea Ceremony
Book:Every Day a Good Day: Fifteen lessons I learned about happiness from Japanese tea culture
Create image

“Tea is the soothing potion that turns "calm down" into "chai down." It's like a warm hug in a cup, a liquid oasis in a world of chaos. Sip by sip, it transforms stress into serenity, worry into wonder. With its aromatic steam rising, it whispers, "Relax, rejuvenate, and refill your cup of sanity." So, let's raise our mugs and toast to tea—the humble hero of hydration, the aromatic ally of afternoon delight.”

RelaxationGreen TeaAfternoon TeaTea CeremonyAntioxidantsChaiBlack TeaTea CultureHerbal BlendsLoose Leaf
Author:Life is Positive
Create image

“There are strawberries growing among my bulbs. Wild ones, seeded from God knows where, poking their pale little fingers among the tulips and crocuses. Wild strawberries are invasive; not quite as invasive as dandelions, but those little heart-shaped leaves conceal a powerful hunger for conquest, sending their runners everywhere, each one an outpost preparing itself for a future invasion. And yet I cannot bring myself, père, to curb their cheery exuberance. Though more or less worthless in terms of fruit, the little white flowers and pretty leaves make excellent ground count cover, keeping the thistles and ragwort at bay without suppressing my daffodils. And besides, in summer, there may be enough of the tiny red berries to put on a tart, or flavor a glassful of sweet white wine. That is, if the birds do not steal them first. They too enjoy their sweetness. Those strawberries will creep, Reynaud, said Narcisse's voice in my mind. Let them stay, and in a month, your beds will be nothing but strawberries.”

Wild StrawberriesInvasive
Book:The Strawberry Thief
Create image