Starry Wanderer or Name That Bowl!

One of the steps in the tea ceremony ritual is to take time to admire the tools used. Called haiken, it's a chance for the guests to take a close look at the items and for the guest to explain a bit about them, how they were made, their history, etc. The last tea ceremony practice I went to I had a chance to bring in a bowl I bought. And it definitely had a story behind it.

I first fell in love with this bowl while browsing the net when my friend Oolong was over.

The picture is from the Etsy shop I bought it from, Art To Hold


 I have a weakness for things with a celestial or star motif and this bowl just called to me. Tea bowls are not exactly inexpensive things, and at the time, I thought I'd put off getting it. But when a few weeks later I was in need of retail therapy (this was about the time my family got the news a very close friend of the family was nearing the end of his battle with Lou Gherig's Disease) I remembered this bowl. My friend loved the night sky as much as I did but for very different reasons (mine more metaphysical and his very strictly scientific). So I bought it.

And I waited...and waited...and waited...

Somehow, for some reason still unknown to me, Etsy grabbed an old address to send it to, my parents' old home half a fair sized state away. Never mind that I had placed an order just a week before and it came to my home just fine, as had the all the other orders I had ever made through Etsy.

I contacted the seller, who was super sweet about the whole thing (really I can't plug his store, Art To Hold enough - if anyone out there is in the market for a Japanese chawan or tea bowl, do check his shop out). He helped me track down phone numbers for the post office to try to sort things out. I got a hold of an actual human being at the post office near my folks old place and she found the package and pulled it so it could be sent to the correct address, no additional charge to me or the Etsy seller.

And then I waited...and waited...and waited...

Somehow, for reasons slightly less obscure but no less frustrating, my bowl got caught up in some strange sorting process based on the bar codes on it and kept pinging back and forth between a few different post offices. It got as close as Philadelphia before it got bounced back to somewhere else it wasn't supposed to go. I got to be quite friendly with the postal employee I has contacted initially. We apparently were both big tea lovers. She collected tea pots and one of her most cherished pieces had come from Japan. I actually talked to her the day my friend died and her kindness then, as well as throughout the whole thing, is something that will stay with me.

Finally - on my son's birthday which happened to coincide with a full moon no less - the bowl arrived in one piece at my home. The first person to drink from it? My friend's daughter, who loves Japan the way I and her mother do and loves the stars the way her father did.

My cha-do set, with it's snazzy new bowl.

So I related this whole story to my tea class and finished with "It really needs a name after all it's been through." (It's pretty common for distinctive tea tools to be given names). I asked the Japanese speakers how they might translate "Starry Wanderer" in Japanese - and got blank looks. Some concepts are hard to translate, but I may play with it it until I find a good translation. In the meanwhile, although it doesn't have a Japanese name, it does have a song.


Song Choice: The Wanderer by Dion

8 comments:

  1. "Starry Wanderer" sounds brilliant. And I love the fact that admiring the bowl is part of the ritual. We should know (and appreciate) the details of the things that get so close to our souls; let them, so that they, too, get to know us. Also, that bowl is so beautiful that not to admire it for extended periods of times would be a crime.

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    1. There are points where you can admire all the tools, down to the custom made pouches that hold them (though "pouch" really seems to be an inadequate word for some of the beautifully sewn things that protect the tools. Fabrics and thread are chosen with such care and thoughtfulness). I also love how seasonal tea can be with different tools, deserts and so on reflecting what nature is doing. My bowl is somewhat all seasonal. A beautiful night can happen any time of year. :)

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  2. The Saki drinking ritual is of equal interest. And the little cups and saucers make fine decorations when not in use. I like the Cha-do set. I wasn't aware of the ceremony AS a ceremony, so thank you for sharing. Another thank you for joining my blog and a big Welcome to you!

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    1. Yes, it is! :) I've read a bit about sake drinking in weddings and other things (san san kudo, meaning 3, 3, 9 which refers to the number of sips taken in a ceremony to seal a promise). I don't know too much more than that though, but I have seen sets for that ceremony and they are lovely.

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  3. Tracking numbers can be fascinating things, as we watch items wander the globe, apparently under some divine law, before they arrive at their destination. It's something that wouldn't be possible without the internet. It also mean the items arrive with stories to tell, as yours did, and at a time that is wholly appropriate.

    As for a name, is there a character in Japanese folklore who is a wanderer?

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  4. That is an awesome place to start looking Rhissana. LOL, any excuse to go immerse myself in more folklore is a good one. :)

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  5. It is indeed very beautiful and worth the wait!

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    1. Thank you. LOL, I was so taken by how pretty it was when the green tea was properly frothed in it, that I forgot my place when practicing the ceremony once!

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