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Hello everyone - was just wondering if anyone is familiar with Jin's yellow clay and can perhaps say a few words on its performance with Sencha. Also, I consider buying this one here, but not sure how comfortable it will be to handle. Would be happy to hear your thoughts!

I have a 1950s or 60s mogake set by Chitoshi Morita who ran Koudou Studio in Tokoname. The creamy clay is very very fine and does not seem to alter the flavor profile of sencha or gyokuro, if anything it might smooth sencha a little bit. Although, I think this is possibly psychological, that I’m making an aesthetic transfer from visual and tactile into taste.

I would ask Toru at Artistic Nippon how he thinks it handles, although Jin is a very accomplished artist, so he won’t be selling a kyusu that isn’t both functional and aesthetically perfect, matching his high standards.

I just saw this similar Jin houhin for sale on eBay from a reputable vendor.

It certainly is a funky little thing, caught my eye in his listings too but don't worry there's no chance I'll be snapping it up. With regards to handling, I'd make the same assumption as Victoria that the potter knows what he's doing and really in terms of form just change the spout style and it seems fairly normal for a houhin. I quite like my "carbonized" kyusu from the same artist, I don't know if it's the same clay and the difference is reduction/oxidation or if they're totally distinct clay.