Hojo's teapots and tetsubins

by **teafarm** » Mar 25th, '11, 20:44

Re: Hojo's teapots and tetsubins

by teafarm » Mar 25th, '11, 20:44

I would love to own one of the Kyusus. I'm sure the prices are justified with 50% craftsmanship and 50% TLC.

by **David R.** » Mar 25th, '11, 21:19

Re: Hojo's teapots and tetsubins

by David R. » Mar 25th, '11, 21:19

Those black Shimizu Ken have sold out rapidly. Anyone here responsible for it ? I won't judge, I am guilty as charged ! :lol:

by **mountainhugger** » Mar 27th, '11, 21:42

Re: Hojo's teapots and tetsubins

by mountainhugger » Mar 27th, '11, 21:42

David R. wrote:Those black Shimizu Ken have sold out rapidly. Anyone here responsible for it ? I won't judge, I am guilty as charged !

I was able to get one of them. Beautiful kyusu. My first

: B410 150ml JPY10500.JPG (40.89 KiB) Viewed 1949 times

The craftsmanship is suburb, and Hojo's customer service was spectacular. It arrived in about 5 days with EMS in perfect condition. I ordered an Ali Shan and Phoenix Mi Lan Xiang, and Akira threw in a couple samples.

I'm really happy with my purchase. Having been my first high-end teapot, I wanted it to be a nice, simple, hand-thrown while appearing a little classy, and within a relatively low price-range.

I haven't performed any tests regarding the teapot's affect on the taste of the Ali Shan, but will soon enough.

Which of Shimizu Ken's were you able to purchase?

by **David R.** » Mar 28th, '11, 10:57

Re: Hojo's teapots and tetsubins

by David R. » Mar 28th, '11, 10:57

Hi, welcome to Teachat black Shimizu Ken brother. :wink:

You'll be able to see my model here.

I happen to have the same model you own, but in red. It was the first model of Shimizu Ken teapots Akira sold, before he worked with him to improve the clay, this collaboration ending up with the actual pinker red kyusu. Even if the clay of the first model was not the best, it has always been on of my favourite teapots, although I don't use it anymore.

So I am very excited to own a new one, one I will definitively use a lot. So far, my tests are showing very good results.

I am very happy with this purchase !

by **Chasm** » Mar 28th, '11, 20:58

Re: Hojo's teapots and tetsubins

by Chasm » Mar 28th, '11, 20:58

Does anyone know what semi-handmade means in this context?

The methods I'm familiar with for making unglazed teapots are:

hand-thrown on a potter's wheel
beating the clay into a flat sheet and cutting out sections, then hand-forming those sections into a complete pot
same as above, but beating the clay into a mold instead
pouring a diluted clay slurry into a mold

by **mountainhugger** » Mar 31st, '11, 16:38

Re: Hojo's teapots and tetsubins

by mountainhugger » Mar 31st, '11, 16:38

Chasm wrote:Does anyone know what semi-handmade means in this context?

The methods I'm familiar with for making unglazed teapots are:
hand-thrown on a potter's wheel
beating the clay into a flat sheet and cutting out sections, then hand-forming those sections into a complete pot
same as above, but beating the clay into a mold instead
pouring a diluted clay slurry into a mold

I think it may refer to using a mold, but I'm not positive. Are you referring to the semi-hand-made banko teapots? I had thought about those a bit myself. If you haven't already, I'm sure Hojo could better explain what is meant by that description. I'm kind of curious myself.

by **David R.** » Mar 31st, '11, 17:56

Re: Hojo's teapots and tetsubins

by David R. » Mar 31st, '11, 17:56

I own a semi handmade banko clay kyusu from Hojo. I like it a lot. That is what made me lean toward another reduction clay teapot : Shimizu Ken's.

The semi hand made is from the fact that some of the parts were slipcast I think, then manually assembled. But it is the same clay than 100% handmade banko pots from Tachi Masaki. A cheap way to try this clay. Obi-ami filters used are great also.

by **Rayuela** » Mar 31st, '11, 19:56

Re: Hojo's teapots and tetsubins

by Rayuela » Mar 31st, '11, 19:56

What kind of teas do you use the Shimizu Ken teapot with? I have one of the later red ones and I'm still confused. I'm not sure I like what it does to Japanese greens (too much heat retention) and Hojo says best with oolongs, but despite much experimentation, I'm still a bit lost. It works wonders with extremely yin infusions of roasted oolong (e.g. Dong Ding), but seems to smother them at more normal parameters (i.e. 8-10ish grams for 150ml) and the clay just seems too thick for high mountain teas.

Any thoughts would be appreciated.

by **David R.** » Apr 1st, '11, 04:59

Re: Hojo's teapots and tetsubins

by David R. » Apr 1st, '11, 04:59

I am sorry I really don't have an answer for you here. A friend of mine likes the result with Japanese greens teas. But I've heard the new red models are quite different from the one I have, and my new black also seems to be. Maybe someone else will be able to help.

by **Chasm** » Apr 1st, '11, 06:37

Re: Hojo's teapots and tetsubins

by Chasm » Apr 1st, '11, 06:37

Thanks for the answers to my question. Slipcast parts that are then hand-assembled makes sense, but as you say, asking Hojo is the way to be sure.

by **Chasm** » Apr 1st, '11, 06:45

Re: Hojo's teapots and tetsubins

by Chasm » Apr 1st, '11, 06:45

For what it's worth, I'm pretty sure that the thermal properties of slipcast ware will not be the same as for ware that starts from the same clay but is otherwise handmade.

When you get into oolongs, I've heard some learned opinions on why slipcast doesn't cut it. I'm not in a place to have an opinion just yet, though the arguments make sense to me.

But for something like Japanese greens, I'm not sure slipcast is a disadvantage.

Or it may all come down to the clay -- it might be that if you slipcast a good clay, you get something that makes good tea.

Okay, now I've just found several hundred experiments' worth of more questions I'd like to investigate in time.

by **shinobicha** » May 4th, '11, 16:32

Re: Hojo's teapots and tetsubins

by shinobicha » May 4th, '11, 16:32

So....

Has anyone actually seen or own one of these?
A Satetsu tetsubin? They look amazing! But, they are quite costly (I think I saw the price list as ranging from 60000 JPY to 120000 or something)

http://hojotea.com/newsletter/NL_malaysia_5.html
or
http://hojotea.com/item_e/suzuki.htm - scroll down to tetsubins 24 - 27 and 29.

by **auhckw** » Dec 16th, '11, 23:56

Re: Hojo's teapots and tetsubins

by auhckw » Dec 16th, '11, 23:56

無名異土 Mumyoi Clay
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C1WpNIM_Rko