Japanese Ceramic - Part 4

A big part of our Japanese ceramics section is of course, the tea section. But have you ever known a teapot to be paired with dishware other than a cup or a mug? Introducing: Ochazuke.

Ochazuke is not limited to sencha (green tea); you could substitute genmaicha (brown rice tea) or hojicha (roasted green tea), or dashi (fish stock) - all of which we sell at Oomomo stores across Canada. Ochazuke can also be served with cold tea in warmer weather.

Notice how the ochazuke is served on a wooden tray? Serving meals on trays has always been typical of Japanese culture, due to the array of bowls and plates used for each part of the meal. Even the ‘shibori’ (warm towel) has its own miniature tray.

You can use various kinds of green tea such as Genmaicha, Sencha, Hojicha, etc to make Ochazuke. However, when you order Ochazuke in Japanese restaurants, it is typically made with dashi broth instead of green tea.

The Ochazuke served with green tea tends to be bland and relies on salty toppings to add flavors. But with good dashi, the dish can be very flavorful even with just a few simple toppings.

Japanese ceramics refer to pottery crafts made of clay, as well as kaolinite-made porcelain wares, which appear whiter and finer with higher degrees of density and hardness. Each of the 47 prefectures in Japan produces ceramics using locally available materials. For this reason, Japanese ceramics are named according to their places of origin including Karatsu ware, Mino ware and Imari ware.

The three most famous varieties: Imari ware (or Arita ware) from Saga Prefecture, Mino ware from Gifu Prefecture and Seto ware from Aichi Prefecture are the perfect starting points to understanding the art of Japanese ceramics.

Another staple to look out for amongst Japanese dishware is ‘mokuhanga’, or woodblock printing. This is a style of printing that was wildly adopted in the Edo era (1603 – 1868) and can be found on many of our ceramics.