Handmade

I have built a few things over the years and in the process learned many skills: working with wood, metal, and fiberglass, and then often the most difficult, the final finish. This is one of the reasons I was drawn to Japanese culture. It was before I had developed any of the above. I was anticipating, however impossible, that one day I would be able to emulate the workmanship, the craft, and the creativity I saw presented by Japanese artisans.

If I am honest, even though I have built and designed things as disparate as boats and tea tables, I have never realized the competency and artisanship of Japan's craft practitioners. The tradition of arts and crafts in Japan is on such a high level that it is almost unattainable.

Think of a "simple" Raku bowl. It is rough and irregularly shaped, it is grossly black, and it is a bowl with such a specific purpose that it is useless to most. But for tea, it is the perfect vessel. Though it looks heavy, it is light. Fill it with hot water and it is the perfect insulator. Behold it filled with whipped, frothy matcha, the green within the black surroundings, and the natural world is revealed.

This is the same for many of tea’s utensils. Consider the natsume, the tea caddy. Depending on its shape, the matcha within is carefully placed into a steep volcanic peak or a low lying hill. In use, the natsume is placed close to the side of the chawan, the tea bowl. The right hand while grasping the chashaku carefully removes the lid. The matcha now conjures up an image of a tree covered mountain, or a mossy hill.

We learn over time to disturb the perfectly formed mound of matcha selectively, creating a crag in the far off side. The totality remains, if not in reality, then in the minds eye.

Tea utensils have evolved with the practice of tea. The ten craft families that collaborate with Rikyu’s descendants are dynasties of their own. They continue to supply the ceramics; cast iron vessels; pottery; bronze; silk cloths and containers; various wood and bamboo pieces; lacquered paper and wood; and the other paper products that make tea possible.

And though Rikyu stated that, “it is foolish to possess numerous utensils", surely chanoyu would be found lacking without the tradition of design and execution these families bring to tea, to say nothing of their historical significance.

I do not diminish my skills but I am humbled by the art and craft of even the simplest of tea wares. Whenever I am working on a project, their example keeps me honest. Each bowl of handmade tea draws upon this four hundred year legacy, of what Morgan Pitelka calls in his same named book, Handmade Culture.

January 2019