Ode to the Kyusu

[Victoria]

great first post!
pretty crazy kyusu. amazing.
that's from AN, right? i was ogling it before.

Yes! I'm afraid to use it though. I can be pretty careless when it comes to handling things

That’s how I feel when a new expensive pot arrives. I had a very close call standing in my kitchen area cracking a glass pitcher with a new Jozan it took me days to recover and check if I’d cracked the pot. Luckily there was no damage to the pot. I now make sure I am sitting down for sessions with these, and am careful not to swing my kettle around carelessly, but rather I hold it with two hands while pouring and moving. Same goes for the teapot, two hands.

[debunix]

Starting out with style, Firens!

Such a lovely piece is meant to be used, not just admired. As a serial breaker of teawares and other delicate things, I have been working on making my home and tea setups friendlier to them. I have plastic laminate counters in the kitchen, a stainless steel sink, and a hardwood floor--so much better than the tile counters, porcelain sink, and tile floors in the house I rented as I was just starting out with teawares. And especially with those pieces that feel a little more delicate (Hagi wares, the Iga yunomi, and pieces with fragile glazes), I am more aware about putting them down in the middle of tables or desks and not near the edges of things, because: cats.

The longevity of my teawares has improved since all these changes, but still, sometimes things happen, and it's a good reminder to appreciate the long-surviving pieces even more, because they also are impermanent.

[Baisao]

+ 1 what ferg said about Taisuke Shiraiwa‘s kyusu. I picked up the sibling to his tall kyusu and have found that the reduction fired shudei clay lends a smoothness to water and teas unmatched by other clays I’ve used. I haven’t tried Banko yaki but have hard similar statements made about Banko’s affect on tea. The texture of the this clay is soft, almost creamy. It subtly changes the texture of teas brewed in it but it is a positive change.

The pour is not as magically perfect as Jozan Yamada IV’s teapots which cannot be forced to dribble but this teapot will not dribble if initially poured quickly to start the flow. Initiating a pour with a slow motion invites the water to cling to the lip of the spout and begin dribbling down the body. I don’t know many teapot makers who have spouts as perfectly designed as the Yamada family’s. I do wish other potters paid as much attention to this detail as the Yamadas. Nevertheless, it pours well.

The orange shudei clay can be seen on the inside rim where the lod was in contact with the body, otherwise it is a black-brown, slightly metallic looking color.

Regarding the unusual shape: it allows tea to be decanted from the pot while easily keeping the leaf mass below the ball filter, eliminating clogging and preventing leaf bits from coming through. The aesthetics are lovely but the shape is also functional.

I’ve brewed lots of asamushi senchas in it as well as kama-iri cha and Japanese oolongs. All tasted superb from this kyusu! I think his teapots are an excellent value.

Here are some quick snaps from my phone.

[ferg]

Haha, too cool Jim! I was wondering who snagged that guy. Glad it was you. Shout out to Victoria for letting me know.

I've been on a coffee kick as of late, but will have to get back into teas with the upcoming shincha season. Looking forward to giving fuka a whirl in this one. Think the smoothing effect will lend well to the deep-steamed variety.

I tend to have a bad effect on people's wallets.

[Baisao]

Haha, too cool Jim! I was wondering who snagged that guy. Glad it was you. Shout out to Victoria for letting me know.

I've been on a coffee kick as of late, but will have to get back into teas with the upcoming shincha season. Looking forward to giving fuka a whirl in this one. Think the smoothing effect will lend well to the deep-steamed variety.

I tend to have a bad effect on people's wallets.

I’m off FB so I was hoping you would see this. I thought you would want to know where the sibling kyusu went to. I haven’t been drinking fukamushi but this would be an ideal pot for it. It’s had a great influence on every Japanese tea I’ve tried in it. The result is not better or worse than from the Yamada clays but definitely different. I’ve found that some days I favor this Taisuke Shiraiwa teapot and other days I favor a Yamada pot, based solely on the affects of the clays.

As for having a bad effect on wallets: joking aside, you have great taste and I am grateful to you for finding such fine teapots.

[ferg]

Off FB for good? I go on my kicks from time to time. Your shots turned out great for phone pics! I would be too afraid to do any skating tricks with mine.

Happy to hear you like the clay, shape, and functionality of Taisuke's work. I understand the different clays on different days. I have a plain shudei rihi 'in the works', but it could be awhile before it happens. Something to look forward to I suppose.

[Teachronicles]

Hokujo 120ml small kyusu with roasted oolong inside

https://imgur.com/gallery/Ut4fz

[pedant]

Hokujo 120ml small kyusu with roasted oolong inside

beautiful!
what's your impression of the pot so far?
also, how's the filter?

[Teachronicles]

Hokujo 120ml small kyusu with roasted oolong inside

beautiful!
what's your impression of the pot so far?
also, how's the filter?

I love the look of it. Results from my first session with roasted oolong were good. Nice aromatics and a long lasting aftertaste, which I didn't notice with porcelain, but I got my teeth cleaned today so I suspect it might be that instead of the pot.


It suffers the same pour/filter problem as yours. I'll leave it for now, as I don't mind too much, but I might attempt to do what you did at some point.

[pedant]

Hokujo 120ml small kyusu with roasted oolong inside

beautiful!
what's your impression of the pot so far?
also, how's the filter?

I love the look of it. Results from my first session with roasted oolong were good. Nice aromatics and a long lasting aftertaste, which I didn't notice with porcelain, but I got my teeth cleaned today so I suspect it might be that instead of the pot.


It suffers the same pour/filter problem as yours. I'll leave it for now, as I don't mind too much, but I might attempt to do what you did at some point.

you should have taken it with you to the dentist and used the drill on it when he wasn't looking

[Teachronicles]

beautiful!
what's your impression of the pot so far?
also, how's the filter?

I love the look of it. Results from my first session with roasted oolong were good. Nice aromatics and a long lasting aftertaste, which I didn't notice with porcelain, but I got my teeth cleaned today so I suspect it might be that instead of the pot.


It suffers the same pour/filter problem as yours. I'll leave it for now, as I don't mind too much, but I might attempt to do what you did at some point.

you should have taken it with you to the dentist and used the drill on it when he wasn't looking

Hahaha omg I actual thought about bringing it with me

[Victoria]

I love the look of it. Results from my first session with roasted oolong were good. Nice aromatics and a long lasting aftertaste, which I didn't notice with porcelain, but I got my teeth cleaned today so I suspect it might be that instead of the pot.


It suffers the same pour/filter problem as yours. I'll leave it for now, as I don't mind too much, but I might attempt to do what you did at some point.

you should have taken it with you to the dentist and used the drill on it when he wasn't looking

Hahaha omg I actual thought about bringing it with me

The proportions on your kyusu look nicely horizontal, very good texture too. Looks perfect. I’m assuming your pot has a multi-hole direct wall filter? Wasn’t this pot recently made by Hokujo as part of a special order? Curious, because I thought he wasn’t doing those kind of filters anymore. Congrats on a very nice kyusu.

[Teachronicles]

you should have taken it with you to the dentist and used the drill on it when he wasn't looking

Hahaha omg I actual thought about bringing it with me

The proportions on your kyusu look nicely horizontal, very good texture too. Looks perfect. I’m assuming your pot has a multi-hole direct wall filter? Wasn’t this pot recently made by Hokujo as part of a special order? Curious, because I thought he wasn’t doing those kind of filters anymore. Congrats on a very nice kyusu.

Yea, I really like the texture captured in the first image.

And yea it's a multi hole flat filter. To be honest I don't know which special order this one was made. Because I heard the new batch of his smaller kyusu's were sesame filter so I guess this one was part of an older batch. Anyhow, I'll have to look again more closely, but from my initial inspection, it seems the filter is not as blocked as pedants. In pedants picture of the filter you can see that behind a lot of the bottom filter holes appears to just be the teapot wall with very little space whereas in mine the bottom filter holes there is probably a centimeter or two of space behind the holes. I'll take a better look at it tonight.

[Janice]

I’ve been wanting to try banko for gyokuro for a while now. I found this 60 ml Kyushu by Iroku at Artistic Nippon and since it fit my artistic criteria as well as filling in a size niche I ordered it. While on the banko page I bought this yuzamashi by Tachi Masaki. Here they are in action:

084371C8-4F90-4559-B574-5C500A856041.jpeg (211.24 KiB) Viewed 19604 times

The jury is still out on whether the clay “improves” gym but it certainly isn’t detrimental.

[Fuut]

And a guinomi or small cup by Shawn McGuire if i'm not mistaken? Looks lovely together.