Shigaraki Hanzutsu Chawan – Mist Gray Matcha Bowl

Morning mist over a mountain lake. This Shigaraki chawan wears a soft, glassy glaze of blue-gray and pale celadon, clouded in places with smoky gray and scattered with dark iron spots that bleed gently into the glaze like ink on wet paper. A fine crackle runs through the surface, and a pair of throwing grooves circle the lower body.

Turn it over and the bowl reveals a bold stroke of bare, rust-red clay: a wide wedge left unglazed where the potter dipped the bowl at an angle, sweeping from the foot up the side. The coarse, sparkling texture of the clay against the smooth gray glaze is this bowl's signature moment.

We selected this piece in person in Shigaraki.

Origin: Shigaraki, Shiga Prefecture, Japan
Form: Hanzutsu (half-cylinder) chawan with throwing grooves
Glaze: Blue-gray to pale celadon with iron spotting and fine crackle; angled dip leaves exposed clay on the lower body
Dimensions: 11.6 cm × 7.8 cm H
Weight: 389 g
Clay: Coarse, iron-rich Shigaraki stoneware
Marks: None
Condition: New, handmade — iron spots, crackle, and the exposed clay are inherent to the piece
Box: Kraft box

Tea bowls change with the seasons. In summer, wide and shallow bowls let tea cool quickly; in deep winter, tall cylindrical tsutsu bowls hold the heat. Between them sits the hanzutsu (半筒), or "half-cylinder": straighter and taller-walled than a summer bowl, but not as deep as a full cylinder.

That makes the hanzutsu a natural bowl for autumn and early spring, when the air turns cool and tea is best kept warm a little longer. Its upright walls also make it comfortable to hold and easy to whisk in, so it works well as an everyday bowl year-round.

Japanese potters have a word for the unglazed areas of a pot: tsuchimi (土見), "seeing the clay." Rather than covering every surface, the potter leaves a window where the raw body shows through, so the bowl tells you what it is made of.

Here that window is dramatic. The angled dip leaves a broad sweep of coarse, rust-red Shigaraki clay, its grains glinting, set against the smooth mist-gray glaze. It's a contrast of earth and water that tea people have loved for centuries.

Hand wash with warm water and a soft cloth. Avoid dishwashers, microwaves, and abrasive scrubbing. Dry fully before storing.

Over years of use, tea may gradually settle into the fine crackle and the bare clay, deepening their tone. This slow change is valued in Japan as part of a bowl's life.

This is the exact bowl photographed. Once sold, it will not be restocked.

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