Today's MatchaWan :D (new name, but tea's the same)

[blairswhitaker]

Here is a very unassuming hagi bowl. It's kind of a generic peach/cream color. Perhaps not truly my tastes but I needed something to practice with in my dorm room. It's nice and light and feels well balanced so I figured I couldn't go wrong for 1500¥ or roughly 15.00 US dollars.

[blairswhitaker]

^fuut are you an omotosenke practitioner?

Nice Chawan everyone. Hope to see you back on the green path soon seeker.

[JBaymore]

Darn nice bowl for $15.00.

In my experience many real Tea practitioners use much "quieter" Chawan than many in the West tend to assume. "In you face" Chawan often fight with the tearoom environment and the other utensils......require a careful and skillful planning of the situation.

best,

..................john

[blairswhitaker]

I certainly agree with you John, for use in the tea room I would take what I consider a "qualifying" bowl. One with all the standard attributes for temae that doesn't require any special consideration or need to be treated differently. At least rather than one that visually arresting but challenging to handle

It's a really, really functional bowl. Mostly it lacks some of the "masculinity" I look for in a chawan I want to drink out of every day.


Of course right now I am seeing and even using Chawan that come from the hands of true masters, so I look at this and it's a little.... Eh... Quaint.

Sometime I will have to tell you about the time I was casually served tea in an aka raku by seinyu XIII at the onishi seiwemon museum, I was in for quite a surprise during heikan.

[JBaymore]

..........I was casually served tea in an aka raku by seinyu XIII at the onishi seiwemon museum, I was in for quite a surprise during heikan.

ROTFLMAO !!!!

I've had some similar experiences in Japan....... at least I had the wherewithall to actually recognize that the Chawan I was using was a "really nice bowl" BEFORE I knew the pedigree.

best,

...................john

[Fuut]

^fuut are you an omotosenke practitioner?

Nice Chawan everyone. Hope to see you back on the green path soon seeker.

Thanks for the question, though i am not a practitioner of any specific way of tea. Just my own style mixed with certain elements. Perhaps if i would be so lucky to get a master//sensei someday i would actually allign with a specific school:)

[blairswhitaker]

Okay, I asked because in your photos your tea doesn't have much foam, and that's the omotosenke way, for one reason or another most people on here seem to go for a lot foam Which is the urasenke way.

[Fuut]

Okay, I asked because in your photos your tea doesn't have much foam, and that's the omotosenke way, for one reason or another most people on here seem to go for a lot foam Which is the urasenke way.

I'm afraid that's more related to the matchaa and my whisking technique;)

[blairswhitaker]

Here's another new to me hagi piece.
This is a choun bowl.

[debunix]

Such drama concentrated at the base--in the deep green matcha (interior) and the dramatic foot (exterior). Cool!

[rdl]

Here's another new to me hagi piece.
This is a choun bowl.

blairswhitaker,
may i ask, one, where you are purchasing your tea bowls? and two, just curious why hagi-yaki and not kyo-yaki or raku-yaki? although you need not convince me of the appeal of a chawan like you purchased. the choun is really nice. thanks for your postings, i hope you'll have time to continue through the year.

[blairswhitaker]

Rdl, sounds like you know a bit about chadogu. I got both of those pieces from KyoMasashi-do

First off I am very aesthetically drawn to hagi-Yaki, although I would kill for a top notch raku bowl. However it was not aesthetics alone that my deciding factors were based on. I needed a bowl with some versatility, I don't know your level of education regarding tea ceremony so please forgive me if this is to simple an explanation.

It's not considered appropriate to make koicha in a decorated bowl, kyo-Yaki is typically decorated. I also don't favor it much because I feel it looks a bit garish.

Raku is primarily for koicha, all the plain black and red bowls you see are not really appropriate to make usucha in.

Finally hagi is often considered appropriate for both koicha and usucha.

Of course all of this is tied into the shape and decoration or lack thereof as well as some other ambiguous "rules" that may be broken depending on numerous factors.

Both these bowls are considered to have a shape that is appropriate for year round use, with their optimum time based on shape, glaze, and the kiln they are from being in spring and early summer.

All those factors, as well as the price, made those the appropriate choice for me at this given time.

[Pig Hog]

Interesting. I was unaware of the 'rules' regarding level of decoration. There must be some kind of spectrum, so what makes a bowl suitable for both types of tea?

Also, where is the line drawn between winter only and all year round?

I'm very tempted by a hagi yaki chawan I've seen on artistic nippon, which I might treat myself to if I don't come across anything in Tokyo.

[Fuut]

Interesting. I was unaware of the 'rules' regarding level of decoration. There must be some kind of spectrum, so what makes a bowl suitable for both types of tea?

Also, where is the line drawn between winter only and all year round?

I'm very tempted by a hagi yaki chawan I've seen on artistic nippon, which I might treat myself to if I don't come across anything in Tokyo.

As far as i know, winter type tea bowls are often higher than they are wide (called tsutsu chawan), to keep tea hot longer, and in the summer there is ceremony for outside (open air), that either uses smaller (nodate bowls) or shallow bowls so tea cools faster. However I'm not expert myself, so don't take it as fact:)

[JBaymore]

Blair,

Good stuff you are sharing there above. You are now touching on stuff that I have been teaching in my "making chawan" classes. So many (Gaijin) potters make "chawan" that are of limited use in actual formal Chado. And some folks don't even know about usucha and koicha.

Nice Hagi there.

Can't believe it but right at the moment I am forgetting (getting old) the third in the Tea saying.......

Raku First,
Hagi second,
XXXXXX third.

Karatsu..... right?

I've been known to make usucha in Raku. (Don't tell anyone! )

best,

.............john