Tea Pots and Cups
The production of high quality utensils used during the tea ceremony is considered an art form in Japan and handmade utensils by recognised artists in this field can cost
thousands of dollars. The great Tang dynasty work on tea culture "The Classic of Tea" by Lu Yu lists some 26 utensils and vessels that can be used in the preparation and
consumption of tea. The modern Japanese tea ceremony still uses many such items, the study of which is a fascinating field in itself. Our particular focus will be
more specifically on
tea pots and bowls, since these are (initially at least) easier to appreciate as artistic works. The term chawan (literally "tea bowl") may be used generally to describe
bowls of all types in Japan.
In the context of tea culture the term usually refers to wide, open vessels used for drinking matcha tea, as opposed to taller yunomi used for leaf tea. There are however,
a great many terms for the different styles and specific uses of bowls and cups in Japanese tea culture. For example, a senchawan is slightly wider than a yunomi and is
used for drinking sencha tea. They are usually placed on a chataku (a traditional wooden saucer) and often come in sets of four or more for serving sencha tea to
guests.
The study of such vessels is part of the general field of Japanese pottery, which has a complex relationship with the great tradition of Chinese pottery and ceramics which itself
stretches back for thousands of years. Although pottery has also been made in Japan for thousands of years, the first instance of Chinese methods being used there is during the
Tang dynasty (618 - 907 CE) when some aspects of the sancai or "three colour" style of glazing were introduced to Japan. Various other Chinese techniques were also
reproduced in Japan during the subsequent centuries, but the amount of high quality porcelain produced in China was such that much fine porcelain in Japan was imported
from China. Some goods were even made in China specifically to order for Japanese merchants. Then, from 1656 - 1684 CE, during the turbulent era between the Ming and Qing dynasties,
the Chinese government stopped all trade in porcelain. With the aid of some Chinese potters who had sought refuge from the wars in China, Japanese kilns were able to produce
porcelain of sufficient quality to supply the growing market for porcelain in Europe, and continued to do so long after the wars in China had ceased.
The Song dynasty (960 - 1279 CE) is often regarded as the greatest age of Chinese ceramic art. The pure and natural aesthetics of works from this time are without equal in the
world. In the early 13th century, techniques for producing tea bowls and other vessels for use in the tea ceremony were brought back to Japan by Zen Buddhist monks who had gone
to study in China. The pottery kilns at Seto in Aichi prefecture became a centre for the production of vessels using these techniques, particularly the black and dark brown
tenmoku iron-glazed stoneware. The famous raku ware tea bowls are also dark in colour but come from a different tradition. They were first produced in 16th century
Japan by a potter of Korean descent whose father had come to Japan from China during the Ming dynasty (1368 - 1644 CE). The lead-glaze used with Rakuware has its origins in
the Sancai glaze methods of the Tang dynasty. These types of chawan are at high end of the scale of tea bowl craft in Japan. They are only for ceremonial use and are prized by
the most elite practitioners of the tea ceremony for there deliberate simplicity and rustic qualities.
Teapots in Japan are known as kyusu and there are three basic designs: yokode kyusu, which has a side handle and is
the most common type in Japan, ushirode kyusu have the handle at the back and uwade kyusu have the handle on top. Those with bamboo handles are on top are known
as dobin teapots.
There are also tetsubin traditional iron kettles which are only used for boiling water and should not be confused with teapots. The matcha powdered tea used in the
tea ceremony is not brewed in a teapot, but rather whisked in the bowl with water boiled in tetsubin or a kama boiling pot. Kyusu are used for sencha, genmaicha and other
leaf teas and come in many different materials from traditional Japanese clay pottery to more modern bone china types.
There are many claims that boiling water in a cast iron tetsubin and using certain type of clay teapots and/or tea bowls will significantly affect the taste of tea brewed in this
way. It is often claimed that green tea will be slightly sweeter and less astringent using such vessels. There are also various claims about the health benefits and possible
health risks of cast iron vessels or vessels made from clay with a relatively high iron content (such as traditional Japanese purple clay pottery). None of these
claims are conclusively proven. For any tea it is essential to heat the water to the right temperature and to avoid unnecessary bubbling get a pleasant tasting brew. There is a
fairly large consensus that iron based vessels will impart a slight sweetness to the resulting tea, but the way water is heated in a tetsubin usually follows a different pattern
than for a standard stainless steel kettle, hence the comparison is not very scientific.
