Table Setting #110
 Welcome the New Year with a Bowl of Matcha Tea  

In the world of Chado, the way of tea, the first tea ceremony of the year is celebrated at a special gathering called "Hatsugama."  Hatsugama is the first tea ceremony held in the new year and is a special event that marks the beginning of the new year's Chado lessons. 

Enjoy your first cup of matcha tea of the new year with this elegant table setting and celebrate a new start with friends and family.

Contents

• Matcha Tea at the Table 
• Lacquerware with "Chinkin" Designs
• Festive Matcha Bowls 
• A Touch of Season
• Featured Items

Key points of this table setting

1. Matcha Tea at the Table 

Set beautiful Matcha bowl Chawans and side plates on your dining table and enjoy a freshly made bowl of matcha tea. 
With our suggested table setting, you and your guests can sit down to a table decorated with the stunning designs of matcha bowls and the matte vermillion of Aizu Lacquerware plates.
An easy-to do setting for a gathering to savor the aroma and flavor of matcha tea and enjoy pleasant conversations about the holiday season.

To enjoy the colors and shapes of the Japanese sweets, we used a basic black lacquerware tray to serve the confectionaries. 

We gathered the tea utensils on a simple wooden tray along with some Japanese dried sweets.

2.  Aizu Lacquerware with "Chinkin" Designs

Impress guests with these Aizu Lacquerware plates decorated with the artisanal technique of "Chinkin." Chinkin designs are made by making thin grooves on the top coat of the lacquer and then carefully filling them with gold leaves and powder. 

The thin and even lines of gold and a splash of silver beautifully depict the image of pine needles on the matte coat of red lacquer.

3. Festive Matcha Bowls  

From our wide selection of Matcha bowls, we chose 3 that are perfect for get-togethers. The first one is the dashing Mt. Fuji and Sakura Kutani Matcha Bowl Chawan created by Yoshinori Fukuda, a renowned Kutani Ware artist. Cherry blossoms and the red Mt. Fuji are said to bring good luck and are auspicious designs suited for the new year.

The popular "Hanazume" and "Chibu" design on a black base lights up the table with its gorgeous decorations. A very colorful and luxurious item that beautifully represents the high quality of Kutani Ware craftsmanship.

This Matcha bowl Chawan is decorated with the Hanazume design with an added touch of gold and warm colors. An exquisite piece that delivers refined elegance to the table.   

4.  A Touch of Season  

The meaning of "Hatsugama" in Chado is "to light the kettle for the first time in the new year," and serve tea using water drawn early in the morning on New Year's Day (wakamizu). We set a very simplified version of this tradition with a Nambu Ironware cast iron kettle for the hot water to make the matcha tea.
To enhance the atmosphere for this special occasion, we placed a floral arrangement with traditional Japanese greeneries used for traditional Japanese New Year celebrations.
Use different kinds of flowers for different seasons or place a table ornament like a Lucky Cat or a folding screen.

A daily cup of matcha tea in your favorite mug can be very relaxing, but drinking matcha tea from an authentic Japanese Matcha bowl Chawan can give the flavors a whole new dimension. 
We hope you try this table setting and make drinking your first bowl of matcha tea in the new year an enjoyable experience.

Featured items

"Chinkin" Artist - Ritsuzan Tomita

Ritsuzan Tomita is a renowned and an award-winning "Chinkin" craftsman. Chinkin is a traditional technique where thin grooves made on lacquerware surfaces are delicately filled with gold leaves and powder. He succeeded his father's name of Ritsuzan in 2017 and the Chinkin Tomita Ritsuzan Workshop located in Fukui Prefecture. He did his apprenticeship of Chinkin in Wajima, and then studied under his father the first generation Ritsuzan Tomita who was an award-winning master craftsman of Chinkin.