Question about a teapot

[campfire]

I recently acquired a small antique teapot that looks very similar to the image attached, and it's about 8oz in volume.

I just recently started drinking Japanese green tea, particularly sencha, and was wondering if I would really get better taste/results if I were to purchase a good Kyusu and brew using that instead of the small teapot?

I did brew a few sessions in the teapot and they tasted very good, better than when using a brew basket. It has a sesame style filter in it.

Thanks!

[edkrueger]

Whats the filter like?

Edit: Sorry I need to read everything before I post.

[campfire]

It has a sesame style filter in it. Catches most of the leaves when brewing senchas.

[Chip]

We have likely all made do with some sort of "improv," but... nothing made me happier as when I received my first kyusu (even though it was a crapper by most standards, still it was a kyusu and I was thrilled to finally own one) ... the brewing aspect was better ... and it took on a whole new level of enjoyment ... hm ... fun. Yes, brewing became fun and I began to enjoy brewing tea as much as the tea itself.

Of course, this is me. Perhaps Chip is to Kyusu as say Brandon (or insert any Yixing aficionado here) is to Yixing?

[debunix]

At some point I began to get almost as much pleasure from my teawares as from my tea, and my lovely kyusus are very pleasing to eyes and hand. But I brewed up a forgotten packet of sencha this week in two different pots not made for sencha, had to pull out my strainers for the many many bits of leaves, but the tea was still great. So....if you're looking for an excuse to spring for a nice kyusu, you can justify it by the enhanced enjoyment you'll have when you use it, whether from aesthetic enjoyment of form, clay, and glaze, or from better-brewed tea, hardly matters....and if you're not looking for an excuse, well, the right kyusu did not make my sencha experiences 20x better....but it did make the sessions more fun.

[edkrueger]

It it has sesame or obami it is a kyusu. Side handle is neither necessary or sufficient to be a kyusu (Japanese tea pot).

[Chip]

It it has sesame or obami it is a kyusu. Side handle is neither necessary or sufficient to be a kyusu (Japanese tea pot).

... by the loosest interpretation, all teapots are kyusu, even a shib or a hohin? In fact, does it have to be Japanese? What about the Chinese pot posted by s-skua that had a ball filter? Or any teapot for that matter.

I could go on, but my main point being we most interpret a kyusu as a Japanese side-handled teapot.

There is something special about a side-handled kyusu ...

[edkrueger]

Debating definitions isn't worth much, but surely the following ushirode kyusu are kyusu:

http://www.artisticnippon.com/product/t ... kaobi.html
http://www.artisticnippon.com/product/t ... apot1.html
http://www.rishi-tea.com/product/tsuki- ... ot/teapots

It the OP's is like any of those, and has the filter like any of those, he should be fine.

Also, I am pretty sure dobin, shiboridashi and houhin are NOT kyusu in Japanese.

[Chip]

I will ask, but I have read in the past that kyusu simply means teapot. Or perhaps can simply mean teapot. It has been years since the point was brought up, so my memory is vague at best.

Why would a rear handle teapot be a kyusu and not a dobin? There are even rear handled dobin.

I would think there are simply in some cases more specific names for certain styles of kyusu.

EDIT: I have posed the question (well ... questions) to Toru. Though if John is reading, he might have some answers as well. This is not an argument on the point, but I am actually interested in what is correct.

[TokyoB]

I'm interested to hear what Toru has to say. He would know.

FYI - the characters for kyusu are 急須. On this page only the side handled pots are labelled as 急須 while the more western style teapots are labelled as ポット which is katakana for "pot" or the Japanese phonetic equivalent.

http://www.cyaki.net/aritaindex.html

On this page, again the side handle pots are labelled as 急須 while the western pots have a couple of different names.

http://www.cyaki.net/hakusan.html

This page is similar but note the side handle houhin style (i.e no spout) teapot labelled as a 急須.

http://www.cyaki.net/sigarakiindex.html

Not that this is definitive in any way but I thought it was interesting.

[edkrueger]

Not that this is definitive in any way but I thought it was interesting.
http://www.cyaki.net/sigarakiindex.html

That is interesting.

What about this though?
http://www.artisticnippon.com/japaneset ... kyusu.html

[Chip]

My bet is that if you have a table full of all different styles of teapots, it would be OK to say, a table full of Kyusu. However there are then the more specific nomenclatures for the different styles. But I also need to ask for a specific name for the side-handle version?

It is interesting that "Dobin" was borne in this style's use as a kettle.

I will post Toru's complete reply.

[Drax]

I have a feeling that a distinction does exist in the words, but that most people don't know them.

I remember when I was searching a lot on Japan Yahoo Auctions (Japan's eBay equivalent), that I would see shiboridashi and houbin pop up when just searching "kyuusu" (and with no other key words). So even after Toru-san clarifies the situation, just remember that not every Japanese person is an expert like him!

As another example, I just searched for "kettle" on eBay (US eBay), and in the first 10 that popped up, I see both drinking flasks and a stock pot (both with "kettle" in the title listing).

[Chip]

I have created a new topic on the definition of Kyusu, instead of cluttering up this topic.

http://www.teachat.com/viewtopic.php?f=36&t=17851

[campfire]

Hah, well I'm glad I got a discussion going about the definition of a kyusu in this thread, and thanks for all the replies! I'll eventually be purchasing a kyusu along with this teapot, and maybe a houhin next, who knows!