Shinsha-Nagashi Yunomi, Japanese Teacup

Shinsha (辰砂) is the cinnabar-red copper glaze; nagashi (流し) means poured, or flowing. The name describes exactly what happened in the kiln.

The Shinsha-Nagashi Yunomi is a 160 ml cup from the Kasen kiln (花泉窯) in Arita, Saga Prefecture, thrown with a lightly textured surface and dipped in a copper-red glaze that runs from deep wine at the rim through purple and blue-violet streaks to a smoky brown near the base, stopping just short of the bare sandy foot. The inside is glazed in the same glossy dark red. Copper-red glazes change with every firing, so no two of these cups come out alike. It holds a generous serving of sencha, hojicha or genmaicha, and the 160 ml size also suits usucha poured from a spouted bowl.

Arita ware (有田焼, Arita-yaki) is the porcelain Japan is best known for, made in and around the town of Arita in Saga Prefecture, Kyushu. Clay fit for porcelain was found there by Korean potters brought to Japan at the end of the sixteenth century, and Arita soon led the country's porcelain making, with a long history of export to the world. Porcelain is non-absorbent, so a cup carries no flavour from one tea to the next.

Made by the Kasen kiln in Arita, Saga Prefecture, Japan.

Volume: 160 ml
Diameter: 7.5 cm
Height: 7 cm

Please note: shape, colour and capacity vary a little from piece to piece. That is the nature of handmade Japanese ceramics.

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