To those unfamiliar with his name, Okakura Kakuzo was a pivotal figure in trying to make sense out of the clash between Western innovation in Japan and Oriental tradition. Self-exiled from the emerging modernism of the Meiji Era (1868-1912), Okakura traveled to India, China, Europe and, not without a degree of irony, found his most receptive audience in America, where he was appointed — some would say "anointed" — curator of oriental art at the Boston Museum.