2021Journal article
Meghen Jones
Tea bowls hold profound significance in Japan today as loci of tea ceremony aesthetics and ideology. While tea bowls have come to be understood as embodiments of particular Japanese national aesthetics and value systems, their status as the most significant objects within tea rituals is a modern phenomenon. This essay explores the cultural iconicity of the eight tea bowls that were designated Japanese National Treasures in the 1950s and that continue to draw much attention. Each signifies something beyond the ordinary and encapsulates a particular aspect of Japanese national identity. As a group, they manifest idealized aesthetics of the Japanese tea ceremony, reinforce power structures, and inspire contemporary potters to reproduce them. Keywords: national icons, national aesthetics, chawan , material culture, symbolic power, ceramics Introduction In the spring of 2017, crowds clamored to the Tokyo National Museum of Art's exhibition Chanoyu – The Arts of Tea Ceremony, The Essence of Japan . Viewers beheld prized paintings and precious utensils associated with a cultural practice that rose to prominence in Japan in the sixteenth century, the ritualistic drinking of tea ( chanoyu , literally ‘hot water for tea’). As 37 years had passed since Japan's largest, oldest, and most prominent museum had staged an exhibition of tea-related arts, for some visitors it was the first time in their lives to encounter an exhibition of such an exceptional scale and scope. Sponsorship came from two of the nation's main media outlets, the NHK and the Mainichi newspaper, and several of its largest companies, including Toyota Motor Corporation and Mitsui & Co. Four of the most influential Japanese schools of tea – Omotesenke, Urasenke, Mushakōjisenke, and Yabunouchi – were also involved.…
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Food science / processing
Making, milling, storing or using matcha in foods.
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Matcha is mentioned in passing here (named in the abstract).
Meghen Jones. (2021). National Treasure Tea Bowls as Cultural Icons in Modern Japan. https://doi.org/10.1017/9789048550838.008
DOI: 10.1017/9789048550838.008
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