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Chawan
The bowl appears humble, even simple, yet it is the core of the tea ceremony and charged with ritual significance. A chawan is always irregular and never perfectly symmetrical. This is deliberate and linked to the wabi sabi.
It is important that the Chawan fits well in the hand. The curvature on the outside makes a Chawan pleasant to hold with two hands and to drink from. The inside and the edge are smooth. The edge for drinking comfort and the inside to properly beat the matcha tea with the bamboo beater (Chasen).
A dimple has been modeled in the bottom for the tea sediment.
The bottom is carefully finished, often with a stamp or initials of the maker and the studio.
After drinking the tea, the Chawan is watched and admired by the guest.
After being heated to a thousand degrees, the bowls can come out. If you're quiet enough, you can hear the glaze tinkle and crackle with fright. Sawdust ignites from the heat and the cracks blacken.
Water washes away the remains and shows its surprise. This evening is about the interplay of air, fire, earth and water. Self made and yet amazing. Never the same, always wonderful. Simple and robust but endlessly complex. Exhale.
Wabi-Sabi
Wabi-sabi is a Japanese philosophy that respects the transient, the weathered and the imperfect. It is an art of living and aesthetics focused on simplicity, the influence of nature and human modesty. Finding beauty in the imperfect, the temporary and the incomplete. Acceptance of impermanence and imperfection as it is central to Buddhism.
You don't have to become a Buddhist Zen monk to bring Wabi Sabi into your life. It only needs a calm, courageous mind, open to the temporariness of the environment and ourselves with attention to the quiet and the small.