Chawan
A chawan (Chinese: 茶碗; lit. 'tea bowl') is a bowl used for preparing and drinking tea. There are many types of chawan used in tea ceremonies, and the choice of their use depends upon many considerations. In addition to being used for Chinese tea, it is used for matcha (powdered green tea) in the Japanese tea ceremony.
History
Chawan originated in China. The earliest chawan in Japan were imported from China between the 13th through the 16th century.[2] Up till about the 15th century Japan, tea was mainly drunk from a Chinese variety of tea bowls which the Japanese called Tenmoku chawan,[3] the Jian chawan.[4] This type of Chinese chawan was the preferred tea bowl for the Japanese tea ceremony up until the 16th century.[4] The Japanese term tenmoku is derived from the name of the Tianmu Mountain, where Japanese priests visited Chinese temples and acquired these tea bowls to bring back to Japan.[1]
An 11th century resident of Fujian wrote about the Jian tea wares:
Tea is of light colour and looks best in black cups. The cups made at Jianyang are bluish-black in colour, marked like the fur of a hare. Being of rather thick fabric they retain the heat, so that when once warmed through they cool very slowly, and they are additionally valued on this account. None of the cups produced at other places can rival these. Blue and white cups are not used by those who give tea-tasting parties.[5]
By the end of the Kamakura period (1185–1333), as the custom of tea drinking spread throughout Japan and the Tenmoku chawan became desired by all ranks of society, the Japanese began to made their own copies in Seto (in present day Aichi Prefecture).[6] Although the Tenmoku chawan was derived from the original Chinese that came in various colors, shapes, and designs, the Japanese particularly liked the bowls with a tapered shape, so most Seto-made Tenmoku chawan had this shape.[6] With the rise of the wabi tea ceremony in the late Muromachi period (1336–1573), the Ido chawan, a variety of Korean bowls mainly used for rice in Korea, also became highly prized in Japan.[3]
Regional styles and classification
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Japan
Chawan are classified according to their place of origin or manufacture, colour, shape, materials and other characteristics. More than one classification may apply to a given bowl.
Most chawan are bowl-shaped, but shapes vary widely. There are names for each general shape, within which there may be many variations. Common shapes include cylindrical, flat and round. Cylindrical bowls are called tsutsu-chawan, while shallow bowls are called hira-chawan.
Chawan are also classified according to the type of tea that will be served in them: bowls for "thin tea" (usucha) are referred to as usuchawan, and those for and "thick tea" (koicha), koichawan.
In Japan, chawan also is the standard term for bowls for rice. If it is necessary to distinguish between them, bowls for rice are called gohan jawan, while the those for use in tea ceremony are called matchawan. The handle-less cups used for drinking regular steeped tea are generally referred to as yunomi (literally, cups for hot water), while the small porcelain cups used for fine-quality steeped green tea are often distinguished as senchawan. When the word chawan stands alone, it is normally prefixed with the honorific o-.
Karamono
Karamono (唐物) refers generally to styles of chawan that originated in China. These bowls were designed for drinking tea. Note that in all cases, the names are Japanese.
- Tenmoku (天目, Jian ware)
- Haikatsugi
- Yohen
- Kensan
- Yuteki
- Taihisan
- Seiji (青磁; Celadon)
- Hakuji (白磁; Blanc de Chine)
- Sometsuki (Blue and white porcelain)
Kōraimono
Kōraimono (高麗物) refers generally to styles of chawan that originated in Korea. Korean chawan were originally rice bowls that were adapted for tea when they entered Japan, much like Chinese oil bottles became tea caddies. Korean bowls were a favourite of Sen no Rikyu because of their rough simplicity.[7]
- Iji
- Mishima
- Kaki-no-heta
- Kinsan
- Ido
- Gōki
- Goshō Maru
- Totoya
- Katade Komogai
- Kohiki
- Amamori
- Hagame
- Sōhaku
- Gohon
- Tamagote
- Sōba
- Unkaku
- Wari-kodai
- Iraho
Wamono
Wamono (和物) can refer to anything that is traditionally Japanese, or made in Japan. In the case of chawan, it refers to styles that were developed in Japan.
Wamono chawan can be further divided by location and by kiln:
Provincial
- Karatsu
- Asahi
- Oku-gorai
- Iga
- Hagi
- Seto (瀬戸)
- Setoguro (瀬戸黒)
- Izumo
- Shigaraki
- Oribe (織部)
- Shonzui
- Genpin
- Shino (志野)
- Satsuma
Raku (kiln)
Raku is also known as raku-yaki (楽焼).
- Chojiro I
- Kōetsu
- Nonko
See also
References
- ^ a b "Tea bowl (China) (91.1.226)". Heilbrunn Timeline of Art History. New York: The Metropolitan Museum of Art. 2006.
{{cite web}}: Unknown parameter|month=ignored (help) - ^ Kodansha encyclopedia of Japan, Volume 2. Tokyo: Kodansha. 1983. p. 25. ISBN 978-0-87011-622-3.
- ^ a b Tsuchiya, Yoshio (2002). The fine art of Japanese food arrangement. London: Kodansha Europe Ltd. p. 67. ISBN 978-4-7700-2930-0.
- ^ a b "Jian ware". Encyclopædia Britannica. Retrieved 4 December 2011.
- ^ Bushell, S.W. (1977). Chinese pottery and porcelain. Kuala Lumpur: Oxford University Press. ISBN 0-19-580372-8.
- ^ a b Ono, Yoshihiro. "Tenmoku Teabowls". Kyoto National Museum. Retrieved 26 November 2011.
{{cite web}}: Unknown parameter|coauthors=ignored (|author=suggested) (help) - ^ Sadler, A.L. Cha-No-Yu: The Japanese Tea Ceremony. Tokyo: Tuttle, 1962, 67.