Hokujo Teaware

User avatar
Victoria
Admin
Posts: 3043
Joined: Sat Sep 30, 2017 3:33 pm
Location: Santa Monica, CA
Contact:

Sun Aug 12, 2018 3:55 pm

gatmcm wrote:
Sun Aug 12, 2018 2:49 pm
Everytime you guys post those beautiful pots I end up windowshopping at artistic nippon for hours, I don't even drink a lot of japanese teas :lol:
++1 and buying too...
User avatar
Bok
Vendor
Posts: 5782
Joined: Wed Oct 04, 2017 8:55 am
Location: Taiwan

Sun Aug 12, 2018 8:04 pm

Victoria wrote:
Sun Aug 12, 2018 11:30 am
Nice instructional images Bok. I see you got Hokujo because of material used, now I hope you will come to appreciate superb Japanese craftsmanship as well :)
I do already!

I would say that next to a porcelain pot/gaiwan a Hokujo is probably your best and safest investment if you are after getting the most out of your teas.

I say safe, because of course you could go for a Yixing, but with a Hokujo you know the clay is always good and the has the same properties. Yixing is a guessing game and one is probably going to dump money worth a multitude of Hokujos, before you find a pot that has the same properties. And you might never do so.
User avatar
Bok
Vendor
Posts: 5782
Joined: Wed Oct 04, 2017 8:55 am
Location: Taiwan

Sun Aug 12, 2018 8:05 pm

AozoraE wrote:
Sun Aug 12, 2018 2:33 pm
^ Very instructional!
But that last pic is a little scary! :lol:
Hope the lid is secure enough holding it that way
quite safe I assure you!
User avatar
Bok
Vendor
Posts: 5782
Joined: Wed Oct 04, 2017 8:55 am
Location: Taiwan

Mon Aug 20, 2018 8:25 am

So after repeated test-brewing all sorts of teas and also side-by-sides I come to a slightly divergent conclusion as to what others thought of tea pairing for Hokujo.

As it is apparently preferable to stick to one kind of tea for Hokujo clay, I will most likely go for Taiwan High mountain. The reason being that the difference in taste was the most obvious and also clearly better than other kinds of pot.

Other teas like roasted in different intensity and black tea, while not being inferior at all, had not seen a clear improvement either. A tiny weeny bit different, but I would say not enough to justify dedicating it to those teas exclusively. I just seem to like the effect Hokujo has on greener oolong more.

On the other hand my other pots do not as clearly improve a high mountain as a Hokujo does.

With the exception of thin walled, wood fired Taiwanese pots which do also improve high mountain, albeit in a different way.
User avatar
ShuShu
Posts: 335
Joined: Mon Dec 04, 2017 9:36 pm
Location: New York

Mon Aug 20, 2018 8:38 am

Bok wrote:
Mon Aug 20, 2018 8:25 am
So after repeated test-brewing all sorts of teas and also side-by-sides I come to a slightly divergent conclusion as to what others thought of tea pairing for Hokujo.

As it is apparently preferable to stick to one kind of tea for Hokujo clay, I will most likely go for Taiwan High mountain. The reason being that the difference in taste was the most obvious and also clearly better than other kinds of pot.

Other teas like roasted in different intensity and black tea, while not being inferior at all, had not seen a clear improvement either. A tiny weeny bit different, but I would say not enough to justify dedicating it to those teas exclusively. I just seem to like the effect Hokujo has on greener oolong more.

On the other hand my other pots do not as clearly improve a high mountain as a Hokujo does.

With the exception of thin walled, wood fired Taiwanese pots which do also improve high mountain, albeit in a different way.
Have you tried it with sencha?
User avatar
Bok
Vendor
Posts: 5782
Joined: Wed Oct 04, 2017 8:55 am
Location: Taiwan

Mon Aug 20, 2018 8:57 am

ShuShu wrote:
Mon Aug 20, 2018 8:38 am
Have you tried it with sencha?
No, I do not drink Sencha at all :oops:
Oolong only.
User avatar
pedant
Admin
Posts: 1516
Joined: Fri Sep 29, 2017 4:35 am
Location: Chicago
Contact:

Wed Jul 31, 2019 2:45 am

i wanted to share a couple videos featuring this artist.





look at him go. it's mesmerizing.

i thought there was at least one more video on youtube about him but can't find it now. please share if you can find more :mrgreen:
User avatar
Bok
Vendor
Posts: 5782
Joined: Wed Oct 04, 2017 8:55 am
Location: Taiwan

Wed Jul 31, 2019 3:13 am

Nice videos, always mesmerising to watch this kind of skills!

Shame that the hype of Hokujo seems to have dried up...
User avatar
pedant
Admin
Posts: 1516
Joined: Fri Sep 29, 2017 4:35 am
Location: Chicago
Contact:

Wed Jul 31, 2019 3:21 am

dunno, is any japanese teaware artist being hyped right now?

perhaps it's more like "shame kz's hyping has dried up". who will be our new hype man? :lol:
User avatar
Bok
Vendor
Posts: 5782
Joined: Wed Oct 04, 2017 8:55 am
Location: Taiwan

Wed Jul 31, 2019 9:18 am

pedant wrote:
Wed Jul 31, 2019 3:21 am
dunno, is any japanese teaware artist being hyped right now?

perhaps it's more like "shame kz's hyping has dried up". who will be our new hype man? :lol:
good one! :mrgreen:

The Hokujo hype did even make it until Beijing including CHY tea in the backpack :lol:

From my side in terms of Japanese clay, worth a hype would only be the Kobiwako clay, as it really makes a big obvious difference with a lot of teas. The one most other clays make are subtle/barely noticeable/only noticeable after a while of seasoning etc.

If Instagram is anything to go by, no Japanese artist seems to jump out in particular. Old hands like the Yamadas do not really count, they are classics and always will be.

More noticeable is that a new generation of experimental Chinese potters is coming out of the heavy shadows of Yixings dominance, with some interesting - heavily Japanese inspired if I dare say so - wabisabi-like creations.
User avatar
Victoria
Admin
Posts: 3043
Joined: Sat Sep 30, 2017 3:33 pm
Location: Santa Monica, CA
Contact:

Wed Jul 31, 2019 12:51 pm

pedant wrote:
Wed Jul 31, 2019 3:21 am
dunno, is any japanese teaware artist being hyped right now?

perhaps it's more like "shame kz's hyping has dried up". who will be our new hype man? :lol:
Hilarious. Had me rolling in laughter. Always nice to have a pollinator sprinkling tea magic around the community. KyaraZen’s love of Hokujo ware was infectious, and rightly so. His pieces are masterfully made, beautiful proportioned and a pleasure to use. Most days I’m using one of his kyusu for either roasted oolong or sencha. They get so much use, they are like my army of work horses.

We forgot to mention another teaware pollinator @Chip :). He has inspired many collections, over many years, in this community. He also has quite a large Hokujo collection himself.
User avatar
Victoria
Admin
Posts: 3043
Joined: Sat Sep 30, 2017 3:33 pm
Location: Santa Monica, CA
Contact:

Wed Jul 31, 2019 1:03 pm

Bok wrote:
Wed Jul 31, 2019 9:18 am
......
If Instagram is anything to go by, no Japanese artist seems to jump out in particular. Old hands like the Yamadas do not really count, they are classics and always will be.

More noticeable is that a new generation of experimental Chinese potters is coming out of the heavy shadows of Yixings dominance, with some interesting - heavily Japanese inspired if I dare say so - wabisabi-like creations.
I think Instagram will be a blip in history. Japanese artists have been around for centuries. Collectors and everyday users have their favorites, region by region in Japan, some have reached National Treasure status (to preserve a traditional craft) while many other exemplary craftsmen like Yohei Konishi, and his disciple Taisuke Shiraiwa, produce incredible work that is highly collectible.

@Bok, maybe in another thread you can share these new Chinese potters that you consider more noticeable.
User avatar
Bok
Vendor
Posts: 5782
Joined: Wed Oct 04, 2017 8:55 am
Location: Taiwan

Wed Jul 31, 2019 8:35 pm

Victoria wrote:
Wed Jul 31, 2019 1:03 pm
exemplary craftsmen like Yohei Konishi, and his disciple Taisuke Shiraiwa, produce incredible work that is highly collectible.

Bok, maybe in another thread you can share these new Chinese potters that you consider more noticeable.
Agreed that the pottery itself will survive digital fads. Also agree on the greatness of those potters mentioned. A hype they will still not become, simply by being above the threshold that most tea aficionados are willing to pay for tea ware.

The magic number seems to be 500$, anything above is for the hardcore community, or the tea ware/art collectors that are not into tea, it seems (talking Western market here).

I think that was the key as to why Hokujo was so popular: Singular clay with great properties, great workmanship and a very reasonable price. On the other hand, Japanese workmanship is rarely bad or even mediocre, so Hokujo is not standing out that much in that department.

While I do really like Konishi Yoheis work, the material in itself is not a big enough improvement or stand-alone that I would consider the considerable price. Most wood-fired tea ware performs very similar, be it Japanese, Taiwanese or other.

Gotta look up the names of those new Chinese potters, I have just been loosely following their works and their spread among various tea houses. Also not to confuse noticeable, with notable. My meaning is that I suddenly see them on various sources, as to how good they are to use, I have no idea.

Edit: new topic created for above mentioned potters: viewtopic.php?f=19&t=1075
User avatar
lUKAV28
Posts: 108
Joined: Fri May 03, 2019 2:00 pm
Location: Ljubljana, Slovenia

Mon Aug 26, 2019 2:40 pm

This beauty was waiting for me in the office today. It is a Hokujo’s 75ml backhanded pot I picked from Toru. I decided to buy it because of two reasons. One is the looks as I really like the shape of the pot and I always wanted to have a smaller Hokujo pot. Two is that Toru told me he probably won’t be able to stock backhanded pots again and that this was the last one he kept in the actual shop. First impression? God it is tiny :D
Attachments
0106F87F-BF8B-4F6A-9935-0CD0E49367FA.jpeg
0106F87F-BF8B-4F6A-9935-0CD0E49367FA.jpeg (225.78 KiB) Viewed 7113 times
User avatar
d.manuk
Posts: 655
Joined: Wed Nov 01, 2017 4:13 pm
Location: Dallas

Mon Aug 26, 2019 3:08 pm

wow, looks amazing

75ml was good info, it looks a lot larger in your pic but that's because there's no perspective :D
Post Reply