USED JAPANESE TEA UTENSILS — 中古茶道具ポータル
Easy to understand. Easy to hold. Easy to buy.
A guide to the beautiful, bewildering world of Japanese tea utensils — and to giving old pieces a new hand.
One utensil is enough
to begin the pleasure of tea.— YUSANDO ANTIQUE GALLERY
ABOUT THIS SITE
"Tea utensils seem… difficult." Unreadable names, unguessable prices, intricate etiquette — it can feel like a world with no front door.
Yusando Antique Gallery exists to open one. For each utensil we explain the name and its reading, the history, the parts, how it is used — and what to look for when buying secondhand — in plain language for first-timers.
The difficult parts can wait. Find one piece you like, keep it near your daily life, and tea utensils quickly become friendly. An online shop connection is on its way.
THE UTENSILS
The indispensable utensils of the tea procedure. Each detail page covers history, parts, use, and secondhand buying points.
茶碗 — Tea Bowl
The bowl in which tea is whisked and drunk — the utensil that most reveals the host's taste, chosen anew with every season.
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02茶筅 — Tea Whisk
A whisk carved from a single piece of bamboo. Takayama in Nara has made them for five hundred years.
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03茶杓 — Tea Scoop
A slender bamboo scoop for matcha. Small as it is, a named chashaku can carry the theme of an entire gathering.
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04棗 — Tea Caddy
A lacquered caddy for thin-tea matcha, named for its jujube-fruit silhouette.
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READING
GUIDE
Raku, Hagi and Karatsu; tenmoku and ido. The lineages, kilns and shapes — sorted for choosing.
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HISTORY
How one cup of medicine from China became, over a thousand years, a Way. A timeline in seven eras.
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GUIDE
Tine counts, bamboo colors, schools. How to choose your chasen, explained for beginners.
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SEASON
From Risshun to Daikan — a year-round calendar of seasonal utensil pairings.
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CARE
Warm water only, no detergent. Dry fully before boxing; soak new ceramics overnight before first use.
Rinse in hot water and air-dry tines-up. A shaping stand keeps its curve.
Never wash with water — a soft dry cloth only. Store in its paulownia box, away from sun.
Empty and dry with residual heat. The mineral scale protects it — never scrub, never soap.
SHOP
This site is built to connect to an online shop, so each utensil page will show pre-loved pieces available right now. The listing slots on the detail pages are waiting for it.