Ceramics and Pottery Arts and Resources

 

 

Aki Takahashi

 

 

Japanese tea and sake cup terminology

 

Trying to navigate the complex naming of the Japanese ceramic tea wares is a challenge but I will add a few terms here to help identify some of the pieces below.
A chawan is simply a teacup without a handle primarily used in the Japanese Tea Ceremony for preparing and drinking Matcha (powdered green tea), but is also used for other types of tea as well. It can also refer to a bowl for rice where it is called a “gohan chawan”. The word “yunomi chawan” is sometimes used to clarify its purpose as a teacup. For more formal settings, a wide-mouthed cup called kumidashi chawan is used to serve ocha (green tea).

 

 

Masato Yamaguchi, Mori Yamaguchi chawan

The yunomi is a form of teacup, typically made from a ceramic material, being taller than wide, with a trimmed or turned foot. Unlike the more formal chawan tea bowl, the yunomi is made for daily (or informal) tea drinking. The favoured shape is the “tsusugata” (a simple cylindrical form) Recommended stoneware styles for yunomi are Hagi, Shino, Karatsu and Mashiko. The Hagi yunomi is known for going through seven stages of change and deepening in aji (flavour) as more green tea is poured into it. The white Shino yunomi, with its thickly applied glaze, almost never feels hot to the touch and the splendid ocha color is clearly visible. In contrast, a Bizen yunomi is unglazed and quite hot to the touch. There are numerous names for the different shapes in the chawan and yunomi. For example the Hatazori-gata is the Curving Lip type 0f tea bowl while the Momo-gata has a  peach form.

 

 

Komosaki Ryuichi oribe yunomi

Oribe yaki (yaki=fired) is one of the many wares produced in the prolific pottery producing areas around Seto, Aichi prefecture and Tajimi, and the Mino area of the Gifu prefecture. Easily recognisable by its distinctive green glaze, Oribe yaki has four main types; E-Oribe (patterns done with iron underglaze), Kuro-Oribe (an almost black, dark green glaze),Ao-oribe ( light green glaze) and Aka-Oribe (incised patterns covered with various glazes). A favourite with the tea masters of the Momoyama period (in the late 16th century), the potter Furuta Oribe, is said to have lent his name to the pottery.

 

Mutsu Takayanagi porcelain tea cup

 

Kyuusu is the generic name for any ceramic or pottery teapot. Kyuusu is often used to describe the side handled (yokode) teapot. Celadon porcelain with its distinctive pale blue-green color is called Seiji. “Kama” read as “gama” in Japanese means “kiln”. The term Gosu refers to the cobalt oxide glaze used to produce the blue designs on sometsuke porcelain. Jiki is the Japanese word for Porcelain. Hakuji, traditionally speaking, is the white porcelain made with the superior kaolin clay from Izumiyama, usually very thin in structure.

Shino yaki is characterised by it’s thick milky-white glaze over an orange or pinkish clay base, pockmarked with tiny holes. It is said to be the first ware to decorate its pieces with brush-drawn designs. These were sometimes created with iron oxide, which changed the glaze to a rusty color after firing. The soft rugged shapes with their squat forms give the pieces a rustic appeal and the thick glaze with its nubbly texture imbues each piece with a sense of warmth. Other Shino ware styles were a grey glaze called “Nezumi shino”and pieces made with reddish or yellow clay named “Beni shino”.
Guinomi, choko, and sakazuki are three words that mean the same thing — sake cup. Among collectors, the Karatsu guinomi reigns supreme.

The images I’m using here are from the excellent blog called ‘Shelves of Sweet Beans’, which features a remarkable and large collection of Japanese tea wares and sake cups from a collector in Osaka.

 

 

Tsukamoto Haruhiko ceramic sake flask and guinomi

 

 

 

Fukimi Fumi Oribe footed cup

 

 

Aki Takahashi— ‘Kanai Cup Hokusai’

 

 

 

Atsushi Nakada yunomi cup

 

 

Bizen sake bowl – Ishii Takahiro

 

 

Elegant carved gold brush footed cup – Tsuyoshi Shimizu

 

 

Glazed white glaze sake machine – Kato Yoshiyasu

 

 

 

Fukuno Michita geometric pattern tea bowl

 

 

 

Tsuyoshi Shimizu incised texture bottle

 

 

 

 Ichikawa Toru – Golden color ‘Suzaku’ Teru (extra large)

 

 

 

Kazu Yamada – tri footed yunomi tea cup

 

 

Hiroaki Toyohaku yunomi

 

 

Hiroyuki Tomita – sake cup with drip glaze

 

 

Hitoshi Hiraoka footed tea cup

 

 

Ichikawa Translucent Sake Bowl

 

 

Ito Hokuto

 

 

Kanesu Iron painting Persian Shizza cup — Masutaka

 

 

Miho Sake Bowl

 

 

Kaori Takao –sweet peony tea cup

 

 

Kato Kiyoyuki shino cup

 

 

 

Masato Yamaguchi tea bowl

 

 

 

Masutaka – yunomi tea cup

 

 

 

Moonlit tea cup – Yoshimura Mariko

 

 

Masato Yamaguchi & Mori Yamaguchi—tea bowl

 

 

 

Mori Hinzai tea bowl

 

 

 

Nakagawa Kyohei tea bowl

 

 

 

Nagakino No Yoshiko

 

 

 

Nakaoka Nobuhito tea bowl

 

 

Naoko Kusuda

 

 

Nishida Shinya – incised tea bowl

 

 

Nomura Austrian ceramic tea cup

 

 

 

Oishi Shiori

 

 

Ancient vermillion pottery bowl –   Nakahara Koji

 

 

Ratsu Shika  tea bowl

 

 

Reiji Omori

 

 

Sachiko Shimizu yunomi

 

Satoshi Watanabe hand carved ceramic tea bowl

 

 

Sancha Oribe — Ho Hakugaku

 

 

Sato Tsutsumi Sato Satoshi  fine detail tea bowl

 

 

Sawada Hayato – tri footed yunomi

 

 

 

Seto Junji – red motif on black tea cup

 

 

Keisuke Shimatani – tea bowl, mottled and crackled surface patterns

 

 

 

Shibuya Toshiaki

 

 

 

Shinji Suzuki, Tajmi City – tea cup

 

Sawada Hayato – tri foot yunomi

 

 

 

Shino Shika Goto tea bowl

 

 

Shinya Tagami- white drip glaze tea cup

 

 

 

Shogo Ikeda geisha tea bowl

 

 

Shinya Tagami, Kyoto — tea bowl with incised surface, turquoise glaze interior

 

 

 

Shogo Ikeda

 

 

Shogo Ikeda ceramic bottle

 

 

 

Shuhei Fujioka celadon cup

 

 

 

Maeda Maeda

 

 

 

Masaki Tomabechi elegant tea bowl – gold rim and black on white crackle glaze

 

 

Takadai tea bowl

 

 

Takako Hotaka

 

 

Takuma Murakosh

 

 

Tamba cup – Masahiko Ichino

 

 

Tamba Oni sake cup

 

 

Takuma Murakoshi

 

 

Tanaka Takashi

 

 

Tetsuya Ishiyama Shigaraki wood fired cup

 

 

 Hideatake tea cup

 

 

Tomo Hayashi tea cup

 

 

Tomoko Takahashi

 

 

Tonomo Misao carved ceramic cup

 

 

Toshitaro Ogunsa

 

 

Tsujimura Lump japanese cup

 

 

Tsuyoshi Shimizu

 

 

Wadayama Mao, Osaka

 

 

Wakao – hexagonal tea bowl

 

 

Yamashita

 

 

Pink blossom yunomi – Yasunori Nakao

 

 

Yasushi Sakurai tea cup

 

 

Yoshimura Mariko naked girls tea cup

 

 

 

Yoko Komae ikebana vase

 

 

Yotaro Takemura striped tea cup

 

 

Yuki Ohashi—cityscape motif tea cup

 

 

Kim Hono

 

 

Aya Aki Takahashi

 

 

Yuri Takemura celadon tea bowl

 

 

Yusuke Makagawa tea cup

 

 

 

 

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