Chado chawan as lather bowl

[ZenEdge]

Gents,

Discovered something which might be of interest. I've been using a chado (tea ceremony) chawan (bowl) recently as a lather bowl and it works really well!

I use a reasonably priced chado chawan which has a pretty standard design. The chado chawan has sides which are vertical and slightly close in and this stops the lather from overflowing the bowl. The glaze on the inside of the bowl is smooth but has a mottled texture which helps to generate lather. Given that the chasen (tea wisk), used to wisk tea powder inside the chado chawan, is about the same size and shape as a shaving brush, it makes sense that it works so well.

You can use just about anything for a lather bowl but it's a nice match for those who use Japanese straights.

ZE