Kyoto Celadon Gurin teapot gift package (Red Lacquer box)

This teapot features a greyish blue color, a rounded shape, and a straight spout. It has a shape called "Gurindama", which is one of the standard shapes of Chinese teapots. It has just the right volume for brewing Chinese or Taiwanese tea. It comes in a gift package that combines lacquerware and furoshiki.

The potter, Mr. Yasuhisa Shibata, trained 12 years at Sawamura Tosai, the third generation of Kyoto ware. The Sawamura family has been a Kyoto ware potter since the Taisho era (about 100 years ago), and has inherited the traditional techniques and aesthetic sense of Kyoto ware. They mainly produce tableware used in traditional Japanese restaurants.

Mr. Shibata also specializes in tableware shaped like bamboo and bamboo grass, which are used in Japanese restaurants. High modeling skills are required to make tableware with intricate craftsmanship, and such handiwork is becoming less common these days. The vessels and teapots that Mr. Shibata makes are very delicate, and you can see the high level of modeling skills.

Kyo-yaki pottery often copies Chinese ceramics, and teapots and other sencha tea utensils originally from China are popular. Shibata-san inherits the tradition of Kyo-yaki sencha tea utensils and makes elegant and beautiful teapots.

(Brief biography of Shibata Yasuhisa)

Born in Kyoto in 1977

Started making pottery under the third-generation master Sawamura Tosai in 2000

Graduated from Kyoto Prefectural High Technical College of Potters in 2001

Opened a kiln in Hanazono, Kyoto after 12 years of apprenticeship in 2012

Moved to Nishiyama, Kyoto in 2014

Kyoto Certified Craftsman for Kyo-yaki and Kiyomizu-yaki in 2014

The color of the glaze on ceramics is influenced by the weather during the firing period. This teapot was fired in a rainy June, and turned a grayish blue color. It has a refreshing color, as if the teapot had absorbed moisture from the air.

Porcelain fired in a wood-fired kiln has a soft atmosphere. In wood-fired kilns, the flow of the flame is irregular and the temperature is high. This creates subtle changes on the glaze surface, and the light is diffusely reflected, giving it a soft luster.

Firing celadon or white porcelain in a wood-fired kiln requires many years of experience and high skills, so these days it is common to fire them with electricity or gas. However, there is a rich expression of ceramics that can only be produced in a wood-fired kiln. This teapot also has the soft atmosphere of the old vessels seen in museums.

Wood-fired kilns have exhaust and heat problems, making them virtually impossible in residential areas such as Kyoto City. For this reason, Sawamura Toya built a kiln in Shiga Prefecture, where he burns red pine to fire his vessels. Shibata's teapots are also fired in the same kiln.

This teapot is semi-porcelain made by mixing porcelain and pottery clay. By mixing both clays, it is possible to combine the warmth unique to pottery with the durability of porcelain. The inside is also glazed, so it is less likely to absorb the aroma of tea leaves.

This teapot is perfect for brewing a variety of teas with different aromas, such as oolong tea, rock tea, flower tea, and black tea.

We ordered a lacquered box to store the teapot from Ootoshi lacquerware, a long-established Echizen lacquerware studio that has been in business for four generations. It is made using real lacquer and the traditional process of Echizen lacquerware. It takes three months to complete because each piece is made by hand.

The surface of the lacquered box has a soft thickness and a modest luster that is unique to lacquer. Lacquered boxes are not only used to store teapots, but are also beautiful as crafts and can be used as interior decorations for rooms. Wrapping them in a furoshiki cloth gives them an even more Japanese and cultural look.

Potter: Shibata kiln (Kyoto)

https://shibatagama.jimdofree.com/

Firing: Wood-fired kiln

Type: Semi-porcelain (ceramics made from a mixture of porcelain and pottery clay)

Size: Total length 11.5cm (including handle and spout), body diameter 7.5cm, height 8.5cm

Capacity: Full 150ml, usable 130ml

Weight: Approximately 190g

Notes: Since this is handmade, each piece is slightly different.

Because there are few holes in the spout, if you tilt the teapot to nearly 90 degrees, water will easily leak between the lid and the body. We recommend pouring slowly without tilting it too much.

<Lacquerware box>

Maker: Ootoshi Lacquerware (Echizen Lacquerware)

Size: Length 10.8cm, Width 10.8cm, Height 11.5cm

Weight: 230-260g

Materials: Lid - Shina plywood / Body - Hiba wood / Paint - Natural lacquer

Notes: Handmade in Fukui Prefecture. Only the outer bottom surface is coated black, the rest of the surface is coated vermilion.

<Furoshiki - wrapping cloth>

Materials: Silk and linen blend (Italian fabric)

Weight: Approximately 50g

Notes: You can choose the color of the furoshiki - red or navy.

*Kyoto ware

Kyoto ware is pottery made in Kyoto City. Since the Edo period (around 1800), with the popularity of the tea ceremony as a backdrop, many tea utensils for matcha and sencha were made. With the high culture of Kyoto as a backdrop, it has developed with the support of temples, shrines, nobles, and merchants.

They specialize in brightly colored porcelain such as blue and white, red painting, and gold painting, as well as finely crafted ceramics. It is ceramics with a high level of aesthetic sense and modeling technique that incorporates various techniques and styles.

*Echizen lacquerware

The origins of Echizen lacquerware date back about 1,500 years. Before Emperor Keitai, the 26th Emperor of Japan, ascended to the throne, he ordered a lacquer craftsman from Echizen to repair his crown. The lacquer craftsman repaired the crown with lacquer and presented a lacquered bowl to Emperor Keitai. The production of lacquerware was then encouraged, and lacquerware production began in the Katayama village of Sabae City, Fukui Prefecture.

Echizen has many lacquer trees, and it is said that at its peak it produced half of the lacquer in the country. When the Nikko Toshogu Shrine in Tochigi Prefecture was built, the Tokugawa Shogunate ordered lacquer craftsmen from Echizen to collect lacquer.

After the Muromachi period, lacquered bowls became popular for Buddhist ceremonies. At the end of the Edo period, makie artists were invited from Kyoto to introduce the technique of makie. The technique of chinkin was adopted from Wajima in Noto, and Echizen lacquerware became not only durable but also decorative.

 

From the middle of the Meiji period, trays and stacked boxes called "kakumono" (square objects) began to be made. The square bowls used for Zaru Soba and sushi geta (wooden clogs) are also square objects. By the way, bowls are called "marumono" (round objects). Square shapes require more lacquering processes than round objects, and lacquer tends to accumulate on the corners, making it difficult to finish the lacquer surface smoothly and beautifully. Ootoshi Lacquerware is a studio that has been in business for four generations and specializes in square objects.