Collection: Tea Ceremony

The Japanese tea ceremony uses a set of carefully chosen utensils, each with a purpose and symbolic meaning. Matcha is stored in a tea caddy—either the lacquered natsume for thin tea or the ceramic cha-ire for thick tea—then measured with a slender bamboo scoop called the chashaku. The tea is prepared in a specially selected bowl, or chawan, and whisked into hot water using the finely carved bamboo chasen. Water is heated in an iron kettle known as the kama and transferred with a graceful bamboo ladle called the hishaku. Fresh water is kept in a lidded container—the mizusashi—while used rinse water goes into the kensui. A silk cloth, or fukusa, is handled delicately to purify tools in a ritualized manner.