Hagi Yaki Chawan Tea Bowl

This beautiful tea bowl is a stunning example of Hagi yaki ceramics. Makino-san's soft ash glaze allows the bowl's form and clay body to shine through. Makino-san dug the clay for this bowl by hand in Shimonoseki City. The foot of the bowl is formed by placing the piece on a shell when firing. This traditional technique allows traces of the shell to remain in the foot after firing. 

Hagi yaki is highly regarded in Japan as a premium choice of teaware. The porous nature of Hagi yaki allows the matcha tea to absorb into the clay, seasoning the vessel for fuller flavour in subsequent brews. This process can also change the colour of the vessel over time, developing a unique bond with its user.

Comes in a custom made wooden box signed by Makino-san.

Height: 85mm
Width: 115mm

Handcrafted in Hagi

MASANORI MAKINO
On our most recent trip, Makino-san and his wife welcomed us into their studio in the quiet outskirts of Hagi. Positioned at the entrance of his gallery store, Makino-san proudly displays his certificate as a Certified Master of Traditional Crafts (Dentōkugei-shi). A true custodian of the traditional art form of Hagi Yaki, Makino-san is recognised as one of the hardest work Hagi Yaki artisans in the city. Only firing once per year, he spends the rest of the year preparing the materials and vessels for the next firing. He carries out every step of the process by hand, including digging his own clay, cutting down the trees and collecting the rice straw for his ash glazes, and crafting every unique piece by hand on his kick wheel. In 2018, Makino-san built the newest climbing kiln in Hagi, maybe the last step kiln to be built in the region.

No two pieces by Makino-san are alike, every vessel is a rare taste of a centuries old art form.