Origin of the tall yunomi

[Octagon]

Does anyone know the history behind the tall yunomi? The Japanese teacup that’s roughly twice as high as it is wide.

As I understand it, infused tea (as opposed to whisked powdered tea) became popular in Japan with those who wanted to emulate Chinese literati culture and also to some extent in opposition to a chanoyu thought to have become too formalized and removed from the meaning of tea. At least this is the picture painted by Graham in Tea of the Sages (1998)

Graham says the side-handled teapot was an imitation of simple Chinese pots for boiling medicine and most teacups associated with sencha (at least early on) seem, from pictures I have seen, to have been quite low and wide, perhaps also being or wanting to resemble Chinese teaware used by the literati. Graham goes on to says that teacups for bancha were larger and that the water was boiled in a tetsubin (a kettle for sencha – the ginbin – would have been out of copper, silver or gold).

Are the tetsubin and the tall yunomi more sort of rustic teaware originally used with simpler everyday teas? I can see for example how a tall cup would keep the tea warm for longer and be easier to warm your hands on (stuff that may be important for a simple tea where the enjoyment isn’t primarily in the complex taste profile). Or what’s the history behind the tall yunomi?

[Baisao]

“Are the tetsubin and the tall yunomi more sort of rustic teaware originally used with simpler everyday teas?”

My understanding that yunomi are for enjoying tea informally and usually for bancha. They have a comforting feel to them like holding a coffee mug and might also serve the same comforting, casual purpose.

Your historical understanding agrees with what I have learned.

There are various forms of tetsubin. Obviously, some of these are for more or less formal occasions. I don’t see a unique relationship between these and yunomi.

[i_viter]

It’s interesting, I’ve been thinking about this topic previously and my research didn’t help to figure it out, so I will write my own theories here -
I see a kind of correlation between tall sobachoko and yunomi cup, similar to rice bowls and chawans. The shape of tall yunomi naturally evolved from more simple cylindrical utilitarian ware, it happened rather naturally with help of craftsmanship. And the other side of this issue is a simple ergonomic properties of a teacup - it’s easier and more comfortable to hold and use a tall cup of larger volume than a bowl if we speak about common tea drinking experience.
Oh, and one more moment - if I’d be there and get a request to make a teacup of smaller capacity than chanoyu teabowls but not as small as Chinese teacups - for a craftsman having a Japanese pottery background - in 70% it would be a “tall yunomi” kind of shape. Just combine all techniques for a classic rectangular profile chawan and you will get it right there.

[LeoFox]

.
Oh, and one more moment - if I’d be there and get a request to make a teacup of smaller capacity than chanoyu teabowls but not as small as Chinese teacups - for a craftsman having a Japanese pottery background - in 70% it would be a “tall yunomi” kind of shape. Just combine all techniques for a classic rectangular profile chawan and you will get it right there.

This is a deep insight.

[mbanu]

A useful thing is to work in reverse from the present, rather than to try to begin at the beginning. Many traditional tea-things go through periods of self-conscious resurrection by traditionalists in order to survive into a new era, rather than just sort of existing since the beginning (there is some of that too, although often for less-romantic reasons, such as that the change would be too expensive.) So if you tried going from the beginning but reached a dead end, try going from today and working backwards. Why are tall yunomi made today? Why were they made in the 2000s? Why were they made in the 1980s? Why were they made in postwar Japan? You may reach a dead-end along the way, but then you'll have a good new question, "What caused the gap?"

[Octagon]

I see a kind of correlation between tall sobachoko and yunomi cup, similar to rice bowls and chawans.

If the tall yunomi, like the chawan, takes its form from utilitarian tableware, does this betray a particularly japanese aesthetic preference (for simple, humble shapes) that may be at odds with a more sort of sinophile senchado aesthetic?

Would a tall yunomi be out of place at a senchado gathering and only used with sencha when consumed more informally?

And does anyone know if the drinking of bancha and other everyday types of tea developed in imitation of the drinking of sencha and the senchado?

[Bok]

If the tall yunomi, like the chawan, takes its form from utilitarian tableware, does this betray a particularly japanese aesthetic preference (for simple, humble shapes) that may be at odds with a more sort of sinophile senchado aesthetic?

I always thought the Japanese had a particular knack for mix-matching the wares they use, no? As I understand it, Chinese ware was en vogue at some point, but expensive and difficult to get, so they matched it with locally made things. I might be wrong though.

[Octagon]

I always thought the Japanese had a particular knack for mix-matching the wares they use, no? As I understand it, Chinese ware was en vogue at some point, but expensive and difficult to get, so they matched it with locally made things. I might be wrong though.

I think they definitely mixed what they could import with locally made stuff - teaware for sencha was at some point produced by Kyoto potters in particular. And I'm sure they mixed styles as well, I think you're right in pointing out the Japanese are good at this. But there are often subtle codes to mixing styles, and I'm unsure if the tall yunomi would ever be combined with teaware used for the senchado. I don't know though.

[LeoFox]

Works pretty well with a commoner tea like genmaicha

[Baisao]

If the tall yunomi, like the chawan, takes its form from utilitarian tableware, does this betray a particularly japanese aesthetic preference (for simple, humble shapes) that may be at odds with a more sort of sinophile senchado aesthetic?

I always thought the Japanese had a particular knack for mix-matching the wares they use, no? As I understand it, Chinese ware was en vogue at some point, but expensive and difficult to get, so they matched it with locally made things. I might be wrong though.

There are religious and political reasons— as well as status signaling— for including Chinese wares.

I cannot imagine a tall yunomi being present during a proper senchado session.

This is speculative but I have a hunch that bancha and sencha arose separately, with bancha being a rustic village preparation like we still sometimes find in Japan and Korea. This is a kind of tea that did not require elaborate manufacturing processes and could be used as a daily tea.