Iga tea bowl

In the hot summer, tea practitioners often choose shallow tea bowls to dissipate the heat of the tea as their guests drink. For this summer tea bowl, Nara-based ceramic artist Tsujimura Shiro used the reddish, granular clay of the Iga region, in present-day Mie prefecture, partially coated with thick greenish ash glaze. The irregular shape seems spontaneous, but in fact it is carefully considered, with a shape that fits comfortably into two hands and a smooth lip for drinking.