Hokujo Teaware

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Victoria
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Mon Aug 26, 2019 5:33 pm

@lUKAV28 nice Hokujo. I have a backhandle one as well. It travels with me because it feels more compact than his side handle kyusu. Interesting how the handle is slightly askew, for ease of pour, and the handles clay color is slightly darker than the body. Will you use with sencha, roasted oolong?
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Bok
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Mon Aug 26, 2019 7:32 pm

I always notices how the parts where he is trimming the clay is dark, while the only raises parts has the typical salmon blend colour.

Oh well, seems like the Hokujo hype is over, the small sizes which sold out in days are now available quite some time. Doubt he will make more Chinese-sized items in the future...
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Victoria
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Mon Aug 26, 2019 8:06 pm

Bok wrote:
Mon Aug 26, 2019 7:32 pm
Oh well, seems like the Hokujo hype is over, the small sizes which sold out in days are now available quite some time. Doubt he will make more Chinese-sized items in the future...
Hey @Bok you on a mission the knock Hokujo off his well deserved pedestal. :lol:
May not be your thing, but many of us here love using his kyusu. Reduced interest may be an indication that this is a small community of teaware aficionados that enjoy using Hokujo kyusu with Taiwan and Chinese teas as well as Japanese. Or it is possible Hokujo prefers making kyusu that are a bit larger since he is not a youngster anymore.
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Bok
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Mon Aug 26, 2019 8:28 pm

Victoria wrote:
Mon Aug 26, 2019 8:06 pm
Hey Bok you on a mission the knock Hokujo off his well deserved pedestal. :lol:
Far from it! I still do love my tiny Hokujo and the craftsmanship is very good. A joy to use.

If I remember correctly Hokujo was more almost forced into making them so tiny, not of his own preference at all. I admit only jumping on the wagon once they were available in sizes small enough to justify the purchase for the kind of teas I like.

I am just someone not a fan of hypes and fads, more into long-term enjoyment and fine tuning equipment for best performance. It was faceted Banko pots, then Shigaraki pots, Petr Novak tree bark pots, then Hokujo, what is next? Same could be applied to certain teas.
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Victoria
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Mon Aug 26, 2019 9:05 pm

@Bok glad to hear you’re still on board :) 🍃
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lUKAV28
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Tue Aug 27, 2019 1:28 am

Bok wrote:
Mon Aug 26, 2019 7:32 pm
Oh well, seems like the Hokujo hype is over, the small sizes which sold out in days are now available quite some time. Doubt he will make more Chinese-sized items in the future...
There must be some truth in your statement as even Toru doesn’t believe he could get new ones. His willingness to reserve a pot for me for 1month+ is also leaning towards that direction. But in favor of Hokujo, the last batch of these small 70-75ml pots Toru offered was indeed sold out for quite some time. I contacted Toru just to find out if there will be any restocking in the future and then he told me that probably not but that he has last one in his shop in Japan. It was now or never so I decided to go with it. I know someone offered small backhanded pot on this forum few months back but I missed it and wasn’t sure if I ever had that chance again.
Victoria wrote:
Mon Aug 26, 2019 5:33 pm
@lUKAV28 nice Hokujo. I have a backhandle one as well. It travels with me because it feels more compact than his side handle kyusu. Interesting how the handle is slightly askew, for ease of pour, and the handles clay color is slightly darker than the body. Will you use with sencha, roasted oolong?
It seems like a good travel pot indeed. I will dedicate it for oolongs as I already have a sencha pot. But would probably make the final decision after getting kobiwako pot and compare them side by side.
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Tue Aug 27, 2019 2:15 am

Also -wishing him a long and happy life- but Hokujo is going to retire at some point in the not so distant future, what is he now 70-something? So the number of pieces made by him will reach an end overall.

Time to get some while he is still in shape!

His sons stuff is not as nice I feel, has a tendency to add “kitschy” adornments to his pots, less balanced as well.
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d.manuk
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Tue Aug 27, 2019 6:59 am

Does he have an online store?
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Bok
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Tue Aug 27, 2019 8:43 am

Shine Magical wrote:
Tue Aug 27, 2019 6:59 am
Does he have an online store?
Most get his pots via Artistic Nippon or Tokoname.isobe.ya

AN has stellar service and the most intelligent packing method I have ever seen for fragile objects!
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Tue Aug 27, 2019 8:47 am

@Shine Magical I would like to add a little caveat: with your preference for aroma rather than body, Hokujo might not be the ideal choice. I do like the effect it has on my greener teas, but I do prefer body.

In terms of clay you might be better served with Zhuni.
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d.manuk
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Tue Aug 27, 2019 10:42 am

How does it pair with aged puer?
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lUKAV28
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Tue Aug 27, 2019 2:45 pm

Bok wrote:
Tue Aug 27, 2019 2:15 am
His sons stuff is not as nice I feel, has a tendency to add “kitschy” adornments to his pots, less balanced as well.
Haven’t seen nor feel them in person but judging from the pictures alone they always seemed odd to me. When you add the fact that he uses the same clay and values the pots similarly too I don’t see the point in getting one as Hokujo’s craftsmanship is so much better.

Hokujo really perfected his style that will surely be missed once he stops producing. He created its own island on the Japanese pottery map and when brewing with his pots it really means experiencing Hokujo.

I also like his playfulness he shows in his work like curved yuzamashis or dots he likes to leave on kyusus. Something that would feel totally off on his son’s works here feels so natural, unforced and unique.
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nasalfrog
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Tue Aug 27, 2019 5:26 pm

lUKAV28 wrote:
Tue Aug 27, 2019 2:45 pm
Haven’t seen nor feel them in person but judging from the pictures alone they always seemed odd to me. When you add the fact that he uses the same clay and values the pots similarly too I don’t see the point in getting one as Hokujo’s craftsmanship is so much better.
I agree that Hokujo's craftsmanship appears better for the most part, but I thought I would say why I ended up going with his son's pot instead.

At the time (about 2 years ago) there were no Hokujo pots I could find that were about 150ml with a ball filter. They were all direct hole. Considering the Kohokujo pot met those criteria, I liked the way it looked (mine seems to be a direct copy of his father's), and it was $70+ less than his father's pots, I went with his.

As luck would have it, soon after purchasing that pot, smaller Hokujo pots with ball filters started appearing. You can thank me. :lol:
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Thu Aug 29, 2019 5:39 am

regarding his son, kohokujo or 小北條 (the 'ko' [小] means small or jr)..

i am impressed with his work overall actually, but like @Bok said, sometimes the adornments are just too much imho. e.g. i'm not into those braided handles or the wavy rim skirts.

i've seen/handled several in person. pretty nice. some of them seemed kinda shiny, but i don't think they were actually glazed.

also, some of them had rather pointy lid knobs, and i would advise against getting one of those. not only was it uncomfortable, but the pointedness actually made it adhere to my fingertip because it kinda dug in. after doing a mock pour and removing my hand, my finger actually pulled the lid off of the pot. never experienced something like that before. i nearly broke the lid! :oops:
AozoraE
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Thu Dec 31, 2020 12:03 am

Does anyone happen to have a Hokujo that they would be willing to part with? I accidentally broke the inner wall of mine trying to add more holes in one of his older slow pouring direct hole pots :( Any one of his side-handle pots around 150ml+ I think would be ideal for me since I would only be using sencha with it really.
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