Two tana (shelves) 

Yoshino-dana

The Yoshino-dana style was favored by Ennosai, the 13th generation grand tea master of the Urasenke school (1872-1924). The inspiration for this design came from the round window of a tearoom used by the famous courtesan, Yoshino Dayu (1606-1643). 

It has a choice of two screens that fit into the left side; a white shoji screen is used in winter and a bamboo reed screen in summer.  

The chawan at the left of my tenchaban-style table is inside a mage wappa (bentwood) kensui, for the Irekodate temae. The hishaku is hung on the peg, and the natsume (tea caddy) is displayed on the top shelf.  

Hisago-dana

The Hisago-dana (or Hyotan-dana), has a hyotan / gourd shape cutout. I love that the piece which is cut out serves as the shelf. This style was favored by Tantan-sai, 14th Urasenke Grand Tea Master (1893-1964).  The Asagao (morning glory) natsume looks refreshing on the  natural wood grain of the tana.

Both of these tana are held together with pegs and can be easily dis-assembled for storage in a flat box.

My "real" goshokago from Japan

Even though I love making my own chabako from found materials, I wanted a "real" goshokago from Japan to compare with the ones I make. I wanted to see if I had accurately guessed at the dimensions and "feel" of traditional ones. 

To explain how long I've wished for one, when I visited Japan in 1984, I saw a picture in a magazine of a lady in kimono with all the pieces spread out on view. At the time, I had only studied chanoyu for a year and didn't know how they were used, but I was fascinated that they all fit into a beautiful lidded basket. 

Goshokago sets are very expensive, but I finally found one in my price range. Here it is:

It was missing only the brocade shifuku case for the chashaku, so I found a silk necktie that has similar colors, and made one.

Summer Chabako, revised -
an update to my clear chabako in the September 1, 2012 entry

My friend Becky Wehmer, a glass artist in Michigan, made 3 furidashi and 2 chakin tsu-tsu for my clear chabako set. Also In the picture is the ceramic furidashi that came with my traditional set, for comparison. The stopper from it fits one of the glass ones, and I made a stopper for another one.

I use a glass kettle on a vintage plate-warmer for hot water.

I'm still looking for a more interesting glass tea caddy than the spice jar in the picture. I'm waiting to receive a pretty glass chawan, I ordered from Japan, but the double-walled one works well. 

It may be hard to see in the picture below, that the chasen (whisk) is in a chasen tsu-tsu I made from a sheet of plastic stitched with silver thread.

Farewell Tea Gathering for a Fellow Chanoyu Student
 

Last Saturday, I hosted a tea gathering to say farewell to a fellow tea student who is moving away. I hadn't hosted a group this large, so my dear husband helped me fix some additional vintage stools for the occasion. (I sanded, he painted, I made cushions.) 

The kikka (guest tables) were arranged so that we could have two seating of five people each. Sensei made tea for the guest of honor plus 4 others, and then I made tea for the second group of five students and friends.

We used the green kaigu set that I made, and my recent acquisitions, a natsume with flying bird, and tea scoop with leaf-shaped tip. Does anyone know what kind of bird this is?

i-kan-jin (man at the well) futa-oki that I made.
 

Happy New Year!

This is my recent acquisition for chanoyu, a tanzaku-bako, traveling box for Japanese tea ceremony.
I chose the utensils especially to make tea for 2 potter-artist friends who came to visit last week. We had great times in the past, sharing our passion for making pottery and presenting tea ceremony.

This arrangement is just for the photo-record, not the way they are used for making tea.

top shelf: Hagi chawan from Japan.

middle shelf:
shino chawan by Dale Neese, Texas potter.

bottom shelf:
mizusashi / fresh water jar, by me.

in front, L-R:
bamboo chasen/whisk,
dark bamboo chashaku/tea scoop,
bamboo hishaku/ladle
on a sankanjin style futaoki / lid rest from Japan,
black natsume / tea caddy (maple, pine and gingko leaf design),
shino chawan by Angela Rogers, Austin TX potter.

My sunroom/tearoom, ready to make tea for friends. Since it's winter, the kettle is in a ro/ sunken hearth, between host and guests, to create a sense of warmth. The scroll "Thus Now" was chosen to remind us that sharing tea with friends after many years apart is a very special occasion.