A topic at a recent Ladies Night “show and tell” centered on teaware, the discussion was not which to use for what but simply, here are my favorites and why.

Several of us were experiencing technical difficulties so parts of the discussion was missed.  Since that last meeting I was asked to repost a photo of the gaiwan, that was a recent purchase of mine, as a few people missed it.

One participant, Gingko, was joining us for the first time and getting onto the meeting met with connection challenges and as she sorted them out missed my gaiwan reveal.

In our G+ conversation there was discussion of a recent post by Gingko, brewing green teas with Petr Novák shibo set | Life in Teacup » where she mentioned shiboridashi teaware.

The story behind my gaiwan is as follows, Jackie and I had a discussion about tea sources and she had recommended a vendor she used in the past. I found their website and was pleased with what I saw, especially the tea ware. One particular item “the easy gaiwan” had been on my “want list” for a while.  Once my cart was complete I noticed that the shipping charges were increasing the cost substantially to the extent I would be paying more for the shipping than the items value. I decided to forgo the order.

A few weeks later I was invited to accompany a client to Chinatown to look for tea ware, and low and behold there was the gaiwan I had seen and it was at a reasonable cost “SCORE!”

My “easy gaiwan” is not a shiboridashi but has a similar shallow and wide appearance.  The markings on the gaiwan are of bats, clouds and the symbol

“Fu” which is the character for luck.

According to the Cultural China website:

Bats-
One of the top symbols for good luck. The word “bat” in the Chinese language sounds identical to the word for “Good Fortune.” Often five bats are shown together to represent the Five Blessings; a long life, riches, health, love of virtue, and a natural death.

Clouds-
Symbolize good fortune and happiness, especially when they have more than one color.

In a previous post on teatra.de Gingko had featured some of the work of Petr Novák and I can remember viewing it many times as part of my “Wish List”.  The beauty and elegance of his work was captivating, the type of design where art meets functionality.

I was unfamiliar with shiboridashi teaware and after the discussion decided to do additional websearch.  Here’s what I found, a shiboridashi is shallow and wide and used for gyokuro green tea, as mentioned by Gingko at our meeting.

With the shibo’s I’ve seen, the  small holes for straining are in the cup of the bowl not the lid which facilitates the capture of the small leaves.

A Shiboridashi is different from a Hobin, which is used for Sencha. The Hobin  is taller and looks somewhat smaller.

A few other shiboridashi designers are Hakusan Katayama lll whose work can be seen by clicking the link and that of renowned potter Yoshikawa Setsudo,

There is an interesting post discussion about these two teaware styles on TeaChat 

I have yet to use my “easy gaiwan” maybe I will try it at the next Ladies Night.