Hirotaka Umehara: Columnar Tobikanna Kyūsu

Quick brews, easy cleaning

One advantage of a short, straight body wall for a teapot, as in this columnar (切立) style, is the ease in cleaning. That is particularly useful when you need to quickly change to another batch of tea. This wide opening, short outer wall selection is suitable not only for Japanese greens, but also for other larger leaf size tea varieties that you intend to make tea with using shorter infusion time.

Master Umehara has inherited the renowned Gyokuko Master’s workshop 玉光陶園 as the second generation successor not because of bloodline, but for the dedication and talents he has shown through decades of outputs, exhibitions and awards.

Tobikanna — more than a decoration

The surface treatment of this vessel is intended for not only a unique appearance and pleasant tactility, but also another utilitarian purpose. Other than accessing genuine Yixing clay and building their pots with similarly high clay density as in slab building practiced in Yixing, pot artists in Japan can only devise alternatives to give better effectiveness in infusion enhancement to their works. Increasing the surface area is one theory they are trying. It does help generally for shorter infusion durations and for teas requiring lower infusion temperature, such as green teas, particularly Japanese ones.

While tobikanna (飛びカンナ) surface finish treatment is practiced by other artists, achieving such meticulous control for this intense pattern is another one of the Master’s most recognisable style, such as his Jade Luster classic utilitarian kyūsu that we have sold out.

This is a handmade item. Each individual piece delivered may have slight variations in colour, pattern, shape and details from the particular one used in these pictures.