CHAIRE - TEA CADDY

Of the many kinds of tea ceremony utensils, the tea caddy is a small but essential aspect to the tea ritual. First recorded as a reputable part of the tea ceremony in the 16th century, Oda Nobunaga instituted a “Tea Ceremony Policy''. In this document, he selected practitioners to perform his tea ceremonies, and instituted the tea caddy as a mandatory aspect of the ritual The tea caddies shown in this exhibition showcase a high shouldered form. This is a unique tea caddy design type called “Katasuki”, an elegant form.

Within Katasuki forms, we also find variations, such as Narashiba (high shouldered form with a circular torso), Hatsuana (high shouldered form with an oval oblong torso, with a small base), and Nitta (high shouldered form with a slightly rounder torso, and a wider base)

The tea caddies offered in this exhibition are cylindrical in form, or tsutsugata, which offer a surface area to show off yakishime glazes in a scrolling composition.

In this show, we aim to introduce you to the wonderful range of tea caddy forms that the tea ceremony offers From traditional Yakishime surfaces, to the avant garde and pictorial decorative forms of contemporary artists.

Often, a tea caddy will be accompanied by Shifuku, or a silk drawstring presentation bag, which is thematically tied to different seasons. The presentation bag can be switched out for use depending on the season that the tea ceremony takes place in, or depending on the hosts's presentation method.

Pictured above is a Bizen yaki tea caddy by Mori Togaku 森 陶岳 (b. 1937).