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Teabowl Studies

The Journal

Teabowl Studies

茶碗

Reading the chawan — the kilns, the glazes, and how a tea bowl is meant to be held.

Hagi no Nanabake: Why Hagi Ware Changes Color With Use Hagi no nanabake describes the changing appearance of absorbent Hagi ware. Understand glaze crackle, the tea tradition and care that...
Kiri-bako: The Paulownia Box Behind a Japanese Tea Bowl Kiri-bako, tomobako and hakogaki explained: paulownia storage boxes, artists’ inscriptions, provenance, and keeping a tea bowl dry and protected.
The Chasen: How a Bamboo Matcha Whisk Is Made and Used How a bamboo chasen is shaped, what tine designs mean and how to rinse and dry it. Learn about Takayama’s...
Raku Ware: The Hand-Molded Tea Bowl of the Japanese Tea Ceremony Raku tea bowls: hand-shaping, Kyoto tea history, black and red firing differences, and checking intended use and care for the...
Reading a Chawan's Foot Ring: What the Kōdai Reveals How to examine a chawan’s foot ring: shapes, exposed clay, trimming and firing marks, plus careful handling and the limits...
How to Hold a Chawan: Etiquette, Grip, and Why It Matters Hold and turn a matcha bowl with care. An Urasenke usucha example explains the drinking point, kaishi and why detailed...
Five Tea-Bowl Traditions in Japanese Tea Culture An introduction to Raku, Hagi, Karatsu, Mino and Korean Ido tea bowls: their forms, glazes and histories, and what to...

Craft & Kilns

The places, materials and people behind Japanese craft.

Yellow wild-grape Kutani plate and white mejiro rice bowl on a sunlit wooden dining table.

Craft & Kilns

The Story of Kutani Ware

Early Kutani, Yoshidaya and export porcelain: the history behind the styles.

Illustrative home-table visualization of ZenKiln’s red-and-blue Edo Kiriko kagome pair; the actual product photo appears in the guide below.

Craft & Kilns

Edo Kiriko: Tokyo Cut Glass

Illustrative arrangement of pale Hagi-style bowls, cups, and a flask on a wooden table.

Craft & Kilns

Hagi Ware and the Seven Changes

Illustrative arrangement of blue-and-white Hasami-style porcelain for an everyday table.

Craft & Kilns

Hasami Porcelain for Everyday Tables

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Care & Guides

Practical reading for the pieces you use every day.

View all care guides

Series

Stories on tea bowls, Japanese lacquer and ceramic color.

Teabowl Studies

Teabowl Studies

Reading the chawan — kilns, glazes, and how a bowl is held

Urushi Studies

Urushi Studies

The craft of Japanese lacquer, layer by layer

Color of Utsuwa

Color of Utsuwa

How Japanese ceramics found their palette

All Stories

The latest stories, with more to explore by topic.

Illustrative Japanese incense tools arranged on a low table: a ceramic kōro, a stick holder with an unlit incense stick, an ash dish, and small utensils.

Japanese Incense Tools: Kōro, Stick Holders and the Kōdō Set

Illustrative incense clock path of powdered incense across ash, with a small ember at one end

How Did an Incense Clock Work? The Jōkōban of Jissōji

Hands setting a plain ceramic bowl beside a reusable plastic food container on a home dining table.

Is Ceramic Tableware Safer Than Plastic? What the Evidence Says

A handmade ceramic bowl of whisked matcha with a bamboo whisk on a wooden table in morning light.

Matcha Benefits: What a Daily Bowl Can Offer

Illustrative grey matcha bowl with white rabbit and gold-moon decoration beside a bamboo whisk on a wooden table.

How to Choose a Matcha Bowl for Everyday Use

Three Kutani porcelain daruma with floral and pine decoration on a wooden shelf.

Gifts & Occasions

Daruma and the Eye-Painting Tradition

Yellow wild-grape Kutani plate and white mejiro rice bowl on a sunlit wooden dining table.

The Story of Kutani Ware

A steaming Ginpo Hana-Mishima donabe with matching tonsui bowls and renge spoons on a Japanese dining table

Setting a Japanese hot pot table

Chōhō Kutani Red Fuji and Crane lucky cat on a wooden entryway console, showing its black body and red Fuji motif.

Red Maneki Neko: Protection and Health