Black Glazed Mino-yaki Chawan

This Mino-yaki chawan (matcha bowl) is inspired by Seto-guro and Oribe-guro bowls, with a grooved, hantsutsu-gata shape and a textured deep black glaze. This classic cylindrical shape makes for easy whisking and the dark glaze contrasts strongly with matcha's vibrant green.

Made by Kōzan Kiln (好山窯).

Developed in the late 1500s by Mino potters, potentially at the direction of Furuta Oribe (古田織部), the original Seto-guro (瀬戸黒 - Seto Black) bowls had a tall cylindrical or half-cylindrical shape and a glossy black glaze. The black colour originally came from the hikidashi-kuro (引き出し黒 - pull-out black) technique in which the piece is removed from the kiln while still red hot. As only a few bowls can be reached from these windows, very few seto-guro chawan can be made from a single firing. Many modern black chawan simply employ a modern black glaze that doesn't require pulling from the kiln, which allows for easier large-scale production.