Though I have long ago learned to not trust the common wisdom of the Internet, a quick Google search will reveal the following alleged traditional Japanese proverb:
“If a man has no tea in him,
he is incapable of understanding truth and beauty.”
I would love to find this proverb in Japanese, but no matter. As I sought for poems or good quotes of artistic masters to reference in the title of this blog, I came across this, and loved it. After all, search any Japanese dictionary for the word mucha (無茶), literally meaning “no tea”, and you will find that it is used to mean “absurd; unreasonable; excessive; rash; absurdity; nonsense”.
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The creation of this blog was inspired by the example of Tobias Harris, author of ObservingJapan.com, a prominent contemporary Japanese politics blog, and a former classmate of mine. (There’s something wrong with the grammar of that sentence, but I kind of like the way it flows, so I’m leaving it.) I had been thinking for quite some time that I should try to create a more formal, more serious blog, devoted to art and/or history, separate from my personal online journal. And while I regret not doing it while an intern at the art museum, nor while a Master’s student, where I was exposed on a daily basis to objects, news, discussions, special events, exhibits, and lectures on art, history, and culture, I am finally doing it now.
I hope to be able to update fairly often, on artists I have discovered, news relating to the art world, and other thoughts. I cannot consider myself in any way an insider, with my finger on the pulse of the art world, nor even a properly educated, trained, experienced, professional art historian, but I hope that I bring a somewhat different perspective, and that you find my posts to be of interest.
I love the title. It’s poetic and allusive without being particularly pretentious. There’s a simplicity to it which is accessible, but also inside. There’s a wit and humor about the way it’s phrased too: A Man With Tea. It’s charming. I have no doubt your blog will have all of those qualities in abundance.
Also, I see nothing grammatically wrong with your sentence in question except, perhaps, that the period should follow your parenthesized observation.
I look forward to reading more.
Kudos!
–Eric
Thanks for the support and encouragement. I’m very excited about the project.
As for the grammatical awkwardness, all I was really pointing at was the fact that while “a prominent … blog” refers to the website, the very next phrase, connected with “and” does not refer to the blog, but rather to its author. Never mind. Obviously not a big deal.
Ah, perhaps you’re right. The line between grammar and logic sense is sometimes blurry. But then I believe they should be in agreement for the sentence to communicate the idea most effectively.