Just in from AN

[blairswhitaker]

got some new things for tea time! I will post individual photos of these items at a later date in their specified "brag" threads.





REALLY LOVE THIS KETTLE BY KUNZAN, Oni Arare Tetsubin with fukuro tsuru!

[debunix]

Beautiful pieces, that play nicely off each other.

[Poohblah]

That is not an inexpensive order!

Beautiful, too

[blairswhitaker]

The kettle was a great upgrade form my previous tetsubin. Anyone drinking some serious japanese green tea and not using a tetsubin, stop spending your money on any other teaware and start saving up for what i consider my most important tea tool. As always Toru was a pleasure to deal with, he even threw in a couple of hamamonyo tengui...

( I guess he really wants me to wipe that kettle down and keep it looking good, plus they are great for protecting the fingers from getting burned by the hot lid)

[tkellyd]

Hi blairswhitaker!:

Must have missed this post. Love the tetsubin! I ordered the same one from Hojo. Haven't gotten it yet, though. It's in production as we speak. Can't wait! It's as beautiful as I remember.

Best,

- T

[blairswhitaker]

Hi blairswhitaker!:

Must have missed this post. Love the tetsubin! I ordered the same one from Hojo. Haven't gotten it yet, though. It's in production as we speak. Can't wait! It's as beautiful as I remember.

Best,

- T

It has by far become my most used piece of teaware, since all my tea starts with hot water. I hope you love yours as much as I love mine.

I am curious does the hojo version also have a hollow handle looked it up on the site and didn't see any info listed about the handle?

[MarshalN]

I'm pretty sure Hojo's price is probably 3x as much because it's blessed with his magic pixie dust

[tkellyd]

Hello all:

I'm not sure about the tetsubin having a hollow handle; I assume that they are made the same way being from the same caster. I have a collection of antique tetsubin (one newly and one, the Kunzan, on the way) and I love all of them. Some were cheap and just 'projects' while others were 'gotta haves'. Not all of them are serviceable, but that's ok.

As for the magic pixie dust of Hojo, I opted to wait for it to be made because it was about $100 cheaper than buying from artistic nippon. I actually remember that tet. I was told that it was the last of it's kind and I wanted it badly, but hey, a hundred bucks is a hundred bucks toward the purchase of my next acquisition. So I wait.

- tkellyd

[betta]

I'm pretty sure Hojo's price is probably 3x as much because it's blessed with his magic pixie dust

As for the magic pixie dust of Hojo, I opted to wait for it to be made because it was about $100 cheaper than buying from artistic nippon. I actually remember that tet. I was told that it was the last of it's kind and I wanted it badly, but hey, a hundred bucks is a hundred bucks toward the purchase of my next acquisition. So I wait.

- tkellyd

Seriously doubt if you'll receive the item with the same quality as that of AN, if you pay at that high price difference and especially if the item is made recently.
Japanese Yen appreciating against (almost) all currencies now, especially US$ and €. Items recently made in Japan are always significantly more expensive than old stocks.
AN basically offers quality items at the price that is the same or similar to the unbeatable price on rakuten.

[tkellyd]

I believe that the only difference between AN and Hojo is price (which to me only equates to markup/profit). Both kettles are made by Kunzan and probably at about the same time (this year sometime). I doubt that Kunzan would be willing to take the risk of displeasing its customers by cutting costs (how I don't know) and tarnishing its reputation. What point would they make in doing it?

Oh, and let me correct and clarify my earlier post. I said that the tetsubin that I saw on AN was the last of its kind. What I meant was it was the last one that AN had in stock.

- tkellyd

[Tead Off]

Hi blairswhitaker!:

Must have missed this post. Love the tetsubin! I ordered the same one from Hojo. Haven't gotten it yet, though. It's in production as we speak. Can't wait! It's as beautiful as I remember.

Best,

- T

It has by far become my most used piece of teaware, since all my tea starts with hot water. I hope you love yours as much as I love mine.

I am curious does the hojo version also have a hollow handle looked it up on the site and didn't see any info listed about the handle?

If I'm not mistaken, don't all tetsubin's have hollow handles?

A few years back, I remember comparing prices of AN and Hojo. Many things were not that different, but, some were. I wound up buying a banko kyusu from AN at a lower price than at Hojo's. When I asked about getting more of a certain size, Toru told me that Hojo has deals in place with certain artists that make it difficult for other sellers to get stock. In other words, Hojo buys a lot and his selection from particular artists are greater than AN's. Hojo also has 1st choice of quality. He can reject any items that have the slightest flaws whereby other sellers have to buy what is available. In my case, the kyusu I bought had some flaws that became noticeable to me after I received it and began to use it. It was not a deal breaker and I'm very happy with the kyusu but nonetheless, as a seller, I would have rejected this piece.

[Ambrose]

That is a nice kettle indeed!

That exact kettle is $93 less from Hojo than AN.

Hojo is one of the best vendors to do business with but then again so is Toru.

I need a tetsubin !

[betta]

Invest in gold or silver, not in iron

[tkellyd]

Well I'm not sure about Hojo getting first pick of pottery, but I have heard of him requesting different handles for tetsubin (white cast iron). I don't think that he would opt for handles that were not hollow as these are inferior and used for commercial quality tetsubin. The tetsubin that is above, the Kunzan Oni Arare, is an artisanal tetsubin, hence the higher price than Teavana's so-called tetsubin.

As for my next acquisition, I'm looking at this beaut (if it's still available):

[MarshalN]

Invest in gold or silver, not in iron

True, but iron is functional, while silver is a bit of a pain