Asahiyaki Matcha Chawan - Kashiba Glaze

Asahiyaki has been throwing tea ware in Uji, just south of Kyoto, since the early 1600s, and was one of the original "Enshu Seven Kilns" chosen by the tea master Kobori Enshu. This bowl carries on that lineage in miniature: a single-serving chawan built for a solitary bowl of matcha rather than formal tea gatherings.

What sets the color is kashi-bai, ash from oak, gathered and worked into the glaze recipe. Where camellia or pine ash tends toward warmer, ambery tones, oak ash pulls the surface toward a quieter, greener-white cast. The bowl is fired the old way, inside Asahiyaki's wood-burning noborigama (climbing kiln), nicknamed "Genkama." Placement inside that kiln matters: bowls set nearer the firebox, where heat runs hottest, pick up deeper, more saturated color than those further back.

Product Details

• Size: Roughly 122mm across, 65mm tall
• Clay body: Uji stoneware
• Glaze: Kashi-baiyu (oak ash glaze)
• Kiln: Wood-fired in "Genkama," Asahiyaki's traditional climbing kiln

Before First Use

Let the bowl soak in water for roughly 10 minutes before its first matcha. Straight out of the kiln, the surface can be more prone to picking up stains if used dry right away. After each use, wash and let it dry completely before putting it away.