Art of Tying Knots for Tea Tools by Toshika Tanaka
NHK (Nippon Hasa Kyokai) 2004 ISBN 9784140311301
The author of this soft-cover, 26.5 cm x 21 cm (10 inches x 6¼ inches) book of 79 pages learned her techniques from the late Sho-en Hashida (1923-1991), who wrote the book reviewed above, and from time to time she teaches knots on TV culture programmes. The contents - in Japanese - are almost exclusively to do with tying the decorative parcel knots associated with the ritual tea ceremony, but the various eye-catching methods are fortunately illustrated with step-by-step, black-&- white drawings and photographs, interleaved with 24 superb colour plates. And, once again, the dust jacket alone is a treat. [I am indebted to Akie Narita, a translator with the BBC in London, England, for the gift of these two books, as well as for her helpful pencilled annotations in English.]
G.B.