Tea Set - Matsugawa Kokudei Tokoname-yaki Teapot with 5 Porcelain Teacups
This tea set includes an expertly crafted Tokoname-yaki kyusu (teapot) and five Mino-yaki yunomi (teacups). The teapot is thrown from Tokoname kokudei (黒泥) clay, which has the same properties as the iconic red shudei (朱泥) but is fired in reduction producing a deep black. The body is decorated with a detailed pine bark textured that contrasts with the smooth spout and handle. Made using a small wheel, this texturing technique is called matsugawa (松皮 - pine bark) in Japanese. The rim of the kyusu is also decorated with small pink circles.
The teapot's built-in ceramic sasame filter is perfect for naturally straining tea, with a wide shape for faster pouring and less clogging.
The porcelain Mino-yaki yunomi (tea cups) have an elegant simplicity and hold around 60ml of tea each, perfect for high-end sencha, gyokuro, or gong fu brewing. The pure white of porcelain lets you see the true colour of the tea.
Mino-yaki (美濃焼,) is a type of Japanese pottery produced in Mino Province in Gifu Prefecture, Japan. Since the introduction of mass production in the Meiji period (1868–1912), Mino ware accounts for around 50% of Japanese pottery produced today.