Tea Bowls of Japan: Raku Ware and Other Wares from Mino, Kyoto, Karatsu, and Takatori

This exhibition features Japanese-style tea bowls for use in the tea ceremony. Unlike imported Chinese tea bowls, which were brought from China along with the tea-drinking custom, and bowls made on the Korean peninsula, which, as the esthetic sense of the Japanese people changed during the late Muromachi period (1392–1573), began to be used for the Japanese tea ceremony, Japanese-style tea bowls were crafted particularly for wabicha, a new style of the Japanese tea ceremony perfected during the Azuchi-Momoyama period (1573–1603). These Japanese-style tea bowls later evolved into various forms.

Visitors are invited to appreciate the charm of Japanese-style tea bowls from some of the most prominent kilns that added uniqueness to the tea ceremony.