Hakeme Hira-Chawan – Summer Matcha Bowl

A summer sky in slip and clay. This wide, low hira-chawan — the classic warm-weather tea bowl — is swept inside and out with white brush strokes over a dark, iron-rich body, drifting like clouds across a dusk landscape. Fine speckles and soft gray pooling give the surface remarkable depth for such a quiet palette.

The generous open form shows off the interior brushwork the moment tea is whisked, and the dark clay foot — carved with deliberate notches in the traditional split-foot style — anchors the piece with wabi character. It comes with a wooden storage box inscribed "Hakeme Chawan."

Acquired in Kyoto, where the seller attributed it to a local kiln.

Form: Hira-chawan (shallow summer tea bowl) with notched foot (wari-kōdai)
Decoration: White slip in the hakeme (brushed slip) technique over iron-rich stoneware
Origin: Kyoto (per seller attribution)
Dimensions: 15.3 cm × 5.6 cm H
Weight: 244 g
Marks: Impressed seal on the lower body (unread); box inscribed "Hakeme Chawan" (刷毛目茶碗) with red seal
Condition: Pre-owned, excellent vintage condition — note that the foot notch is a deliberate design feature
Box: Inscribed wooden storage box with ribbon

In the tea room, the seasons choose the bowl. Winter calls for deep, cylindrical forms that hold heat; summer calls for the hira-chawan — wide, shallow, and open, so the tea spreads thin, cools quickly, and greets the guest with a sense of airiness on a hot day.

Whisking in a hira-chawan takes a slightly gentler hand than in a standard bowl, and rewards it: the broad surface turns every serving of matcha into a small green pond, framed here by drifting white brushwork.

Hakeme (刷毛目) — "brush marks" — is the technique of sweeping white slip over dark clay with a coarse brush, each stroke final and unrepeatable. Born in Korean Buncheong ware and embraced by Japanese tea masters centuries ago, hakeme embodies the wabi taste for spontaneity and chance.

On this bowl the brushwork runs both inside and out, so the "scenery" continues from the first glance to the last sip.

Hand wash with warm water and a soft cloth. Avoid dishwashers, microwaves, and abrasive scrubbing. Dry fully before returning to the box.

Slip-decorated stoneware may deepen slightly in tone with regular tea use — a patina long treasured by tea practitioners.

This is the exact bowl and box photographed — a unique vintage find that will not be restocked.

Carefully packed and shipped directly from our Kyoto studio via Japan Post EMS, fully tracked and insured.