The tea bowl, long revered in Asian cultures, has become an iconic form in Japanese ceramics. Born out of the Japanese tea ceremony, in which tea is the medium of quiet communion between a tea master and his guests, the Japanese tea bowl or chawan has, over the centuries, been invested with a wealth of cultural and spiritual significance that still resonates to this day.
Below is a wonderful description of the tea bowl in the context of the tea ceremony, taken from the The Teabowl by Bonnie Kemske (Herbert Press, 2017). Read it slowly while you imagine being seated on a tatami mat in a tea room as your host begins the time-honored ritual of the tea ceremony. After a brief historical overview of the origins of the Japanese tea culture, I highlight a particular chawan from the 17th century favored by tea masters as embodying the spirit of meditative simplicity. Details of this ancient chawan can be found on the website of the the Museum of Modern Ceramics SG (https://momc-sg.com)
Extract from The Teabowl by Bonnie Kemske
“You are seated in the tea room. The warm colors of the unfinished walls surround you. It is quiet; the only sound is the soft, almost-simmer of the water in the kettle. The host has made a bowl of tea for you. You have performed the required thankful obeisance and have turned the front of the bowl away from where you will drink.
The teabowl now rests in the palm of your left hand as you cradle it with your right. You cradle the bowl that cradles the tea. It is slightly rough against your skin. With the palm of your right hand you feel an almost imperceptible asymmetrical indentation that you had not seen. Inside, the bright green of the tea contrasts the soothing quiet color of the bowl. The tea is covered in a fine froth that peaks slightly in the center.
As you put the tea bowl to your lips, you notice that the rim is not perfect, although it fits your lip comfortably and snugly. You drink the tea in three considered sips. Turning the teabowl so the front is again facing you, you place it in front of yourself. After placing your hands together on the tatami, you look at the teabowl. What you have felt with your body you now perceive with your eyes; a glaze of depth and subtlety that is not uniform; a round shape that is not perfectly so; a flowing, undulating rim that gracefully forms the curve you have felt on your lips. Then you put your elbows on your knees and lean forward so you can safely lift the bowl. You can now look at its profile, inspect the rim closely and turn it over to consider the way the body falls away from its base and foot ring. You place it back on the tatami, bow once, then return the bowl to the host.”
Tea Culture and Ceramics in Japan
Tea culture originated in China. The earliest known archaeological evidence of drinking tea is a 2,400-year-old pottery bowl with cooked tea leaf residue from Shandong province, China. During the Tang Dynasty (618-907 AD), a more structured tea culture emerged, with specific utensils like bowls created to facilitate brewing and drinking. It was at this time that Japan started importing tea from China. Initially a rare luxury for priests and nobility, the popularity of tea drinking in Japan spread significantly in the 13th century when the monk Eisai brought back powdered tea and promoted its benefits. A specific style emerged in the 16th century, most notably under Sen no Rikyu from Kyoto (1522-1591) who taught tea drinking as both a meditative ritual in which the architecture of the tea room, tea utensils and the precise sequence of movements in the tea ceremony were elevated to a high degree of spiritual importance.
The tea rooms designed by Sen no Rikyu were deliberately small, usually no larger than four tatami mats. This is because the master sought to encourage a heightened state of meditative focus. In keeping with this, the tea room is sparsely furnished, usually with a calligraphic scroll, a simple flower arrangement and a small array of tea utensils. Emphasis is placed on the attentive and quiet manner in which host and guest interact without the distractions of ornamentation.
Rikyu also took great pains over the utensils used in preparing tea. Eschewing expensive and ostentatious ware from China for the simple and rustic, he encouraged the use of tea bowls that are irregular in shape, monochrome in color (usually black or mud-red) and devoid of decorations. He famously commissioned the roof tile maker, Tanaka Chojiro (died ca. 1589) in Kyoto to create tea bowls with the above style termed Raku. These bowls formed the basis of a long lineage of Raku makers for about 500 years. They continue to be made today by the 16th generation head of the Raku family (Raku Kichizaemon XVI), as well as countless others imitating the original Raku style.
The technique of making Raku tea bowls is also fascinating. All Raku bowls are shaped by hands, then glazed and fired in a wood or charcoal kiln at a lower temperature than other types of ceramics. They are taken out of the kiln when still hot and cooled down rapidly either by dipping in water or ash. The combined effects of glazing, flames interacting with flying wood and charcoal ash in the kiln and rapid cooling give the surface of the finished bowl a scarred appearance that is highly valued by tea masters for they capture the essence of wabi-sabi, the idea that there is beauty to be found in what is simple, rustic and in the aged and worn. Derived from the key tenets of Zen Buddhism, wabi-sabi is an all-pervading aesthetic philosophy in Japan even today.
A 17th Century Raku Chawan
Here is a tea bowl made by one of the early members of the Raku clan, Raku Kichizaemon IV, who is also known as Raku Ichinyu (1640-1696). If you examine this bowl closely, you will find all the wabi-sabi features mentioned earlier, namely an irregular rim, a jet-black matte glaze, a scarred surface, and deliberately spatula marks in many places (an Ichinyu signature). All of which makes this tea bowl not just a tea bowl, but a work of art fit for a proper tea ceremony. As mentioned, you can find more details of this tea bowl in https://momc-sg.com in the”Tea Bowls” section.
