The Potter and the Tea Teacher

Tucked into a quiet street in the northwest of Kyoto lies an intimate gallery where raw earth meets refined ritual. Here, Toshi introduces you to a veteran master ceramicist who has spent more than forty years making tea ceramics in Japan. His kiln name was conferred by the 15th Grand Master of the Urasenke School of Tea, who went on to mentor him for the next four decades. He takes you through his work — the tea bowls, water jars and caddies he fires for the tea ceremony — and talks about the clay of various regions: the wares of Hagi, or the unglazed Bizen, fired for up to a fortnight in a wood kiln, where the markings come from ash and flame. His wife, who teaches chanoyu in the Urasenke tradition, then performs a formal tea ceremony using her husband's custom-fired vessels. Over matcha and seasonal sweets, an open dialogue facilitated by your guide Toshi follows — on Zen philosophy, craftsmanship, and the quiet symbolism ingrained in Japanese aesthetics.

This experience bridges the creation of tea ceramics with the living art of chado (the Way of Tea). It's a rare-access two hours spent with the master potter who fires the bowls and the tea teacher who performs a formal tea ceremony using them. At almost every tea ceremony in Kyoto, the bowl in your hands is anonymous and nobody in the room has met the person who made it. Here you spend the first hour with the potter who made it — in this case a man who apprenticed under a 12th-generation head of the Hagi tradition and a Bizen potter later named a Living National Treasure, before building his own kiln. His work is held in the Brooklyn Museum and sells to the most exacting tea practitioners and collectors in Japan. So the two hours are halves of one thing — his commentary, her ceremony. He makes the bowls; she has spent as long learning and teaching the Japanese tea ceremony to students of her own. Tea ceramics are judged differently from other pottery and your hosts will explain why.

Your host is Toshi, a Kyoto-based guide who arranges private access to Japan's living cultural traditions. He has long-standing relationships across the city's artistic community, which open doors that an outsider could not reach alone. He coordinates each experience in English, so that the conversation between you and your hosts flows freely. The ceramic artist at the heart of this experience is among the most respected Western potters working in Japan. Since 1979 he has devoted himself to tea ceramics, apprenticing in Kyoto, Hagi, Bizen and Mino before establishing his own kiln northwest of Kyoto. His work is held in collections around the world, including the Brooklyn Museum. The tea ceremony is conducted by his wife, who teaches chanoyu in the Urasenke tradition.

Please dress comfortably for sitting on tatami — you will be sitting on the floor for the tea ceremony. Socks are required and worn on tatami as a matter of politeness; white socks are traditional for the tea ceremony, but any color is fine. Photography is welcome at the artist's discretion.