kashiki (candy holder) for summer sugar candy

satsubako (container for two chaires) with shifuku and chashaku

The ceramic objects used in tea were originally "ordinary" Asian mainland items, such as Korean rice bowls and Chinese medicine containers. Later, many Japanese kilns, each with its own special type of ceramic ware, produced objects for tea use.

chaki

Fubuki style chaki

T he chaki is a container, usually of lacquered wood, carrying the matcha used in usucha.  Chaki of many different colors, shapes and styles are used at various times. A tea ceremony using some kind of tana will often begin with the chaki displayed on the tana, but rarely is a chaki displayed in the tokonoma.

chaire

karamono chaire (Mar 99,31)

The chaire is a container, often ceramic, which carries the matcha used in koicha. It has a lid that is made of ivory with an underside of gold leaf. It is usually displayed at the beginning of koicha in a shifuku, or brocaded bag.  Special chaire may be displayed empty in the tokonoma for viewing.

chawan

Tea bowl made by Chojiro (c. 1700)

The chawan is a ceramic bowl used to serve tea. The first chawan were Chinese tenmoku bowls, then later Korean rice bowls, but soon chawan design expanded to include many shapes, styles and kilns. Chawan are designed to be seen and touched as well as to be used in drinking tea. Perhaps the best known chawan style is the light, slightly mis-shapen raku, a type of kiln firing said to have been invented by Sen no Rikyu himself.  A more modern invention in some schools of tea is to use glass bowls in summer.

mizusashi

kigochi style mizusashi

The mizusashi is a ceramic container holding unheated water for use in cleaning up and replenishing during the tea ceremony. Also, in some versions of the tea ceremony various handheld implements are displayed on the lid of the mizusashi prior to use. Mizusashi come in many different designs, from the wide bowls of summer to the tall, cylindrical water containers of autumn.

tana

mikimachi tana (shelf made of three types of wood) (Mar 99,7)

Tana is the generic term for all types of shelving used in the tea ceremony. Shelving allows for the display of implements prior to and during the tea ceremony. Not only does this add to the elegance of the ceremony itself; it also makes bringing in some or all of the implements unnecessary.

furosaki

furosaki (Nov 97,3)

A furosaki (literally "in front of the portable brazier") is used to mark the placement of the host seat or utensils in a larger tea room, but it occasionally has a design itself, and can be changed to fit the various seasons.  

kogo

Bizen style kogo

The kogo is a container holding incense. The tea ceremony uses two types of incense: neriko, made of pungent pellets, in the winter, and byakudan , or small pieces of sandalwood incense, in the summer. These are placed in the brazier just prior to the ceremony; the resultant scent acts to purify the room and calm the host and guests.  Kogo are usually ceramic in winter and wooden in summer, but paper, metal, shell, bamboo, etc. are also popular.

hana-ire

hana-ire made by Rikyu

The hana-ire is a container in which the flower arrangement is placed. Chabana , the flowers of the tea ceremony, differs from ikebana (traditional flower arrangement) in that only one or two flowers are placed in the hana-ire, and usually in a casual "thrown in" fashion.  While the hana-ire is often ceramic, it is just as likely to be made of other materials such as metal, basket work, or bamboo, as shown above.