Water, Fire.

A tea garden at a monastery in Kyoto, Japan. Seikyo drinks ritualistically from an empty tea bowl, which puzzles his fellow monks. He explains that he once was a prince and begins to tell the story.

Ten years earlier, he traveled to Xi’an, the capital of China during the T’ang dynasty, to see the Emperor of China, whom he had met previously. As Seikyo arrives at the palace, the Emperor is being entertained by his two children, Princess Lan and the Prince. They are performing a scene from a shadow-puppet opera, “The Monkey King,” for their father. Lan and Seikyo renew their mutual attraction, and after Seikyo demonstrates his worthiness in a poetry contest, the Emperor begins a tea ceremony to celebrate their betrothal. The ceremony is interrupted by the arrival of a message from the Prince of Persia, who is willing to trade one thousand horses for a single book – The Book of Tea. The Prince of China explains that he has the book, which he produces but which Seikyo denounces as a fake. The Prince and Seikyo quarrel vehemently, and each accepts the other’s deadly challenge to prove whether the book is genuine.

Paper.

Seikyo and Lan travel to the south of China in search of Lu Yu, author of The Book of Tea. They fall more deeply in love as their journey progresses, expressing their passions through metaphors of tea.

Ceramic, Stones.

Lan and Seikyo arrive at the home of Lu Yu, only to find that he has died a few days earlier. His daughter gives them a genuine copy of The Book of Tea, asking them to swear to “spread the book to the world.” Just then Lan’s brother, the Prince, bursts in and tears the book from Seikyo’s hands. They renew their fight, this time armed with swords. In their struggle, the Prince accidentally stabs Lan, who realizes that she is about “to die for the one I love, by the one who loves.” The Prince acknowledges that he has lost the contest and places his head beneath Seikyo’s sword. Seikyo swings his blade but cuts off his own hair, rather than killing the Prince…

The scene returns to the tea garden in Kyoto, where Seikyo and the monks savor empty bowls of tea, a mirror of soul.