Chado chawan as lather bowl

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

Sounds great.Do you have a photo?Where could we get one in the U.S.?

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Originally Posted by aroliver59

Sounds great.Do you have a photo?Where could we get one in the U.S.?

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I don't have any experience with this vendor but they do have some detailed photos of chado chawan taken from a variety of angles on their website. I'm talking about the style of bowl with vertical sides (e.g., the tea ceremony bowls by Suzuki Tomio), not the ones with sides which flare out. Obviously, these particular pieces are works of art and have prices to match. The bowl I am using for lather was bought years ago and it cost less than $10 or $20 as I recall. (I have more expensive chado chawan but they never see the light of day.)

Tea Ceremony Bowls

If you want to buy one in the U.S., I think the best bet is to find a local store which carries Japanese arts and crafts. I saw a couple of vendors on Amazon but their bowls seemed overpriced to me.

ZE

I used to use a chawan when I first started and was bowl lathering. But eventually my wife got after me for using the good china and I had to stop. That was when I started face lathering. I haven't looked back since. It was a great bowl for lathering. I definately recommend them for bowl latherers.

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Originally Posted by ZethLent

I used to use a chawan when I first started and was bowl lathering. But eventually my wife got after me for using the good china and I had to stop. That was when I started face lathering. I haven't looked back since. It was a great bowl for lathering. I definately recommend them for bowl latherers.

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I hear you. I actually started with the same reasonably priced chado chawan and felt a little guilty so I switched to a two-piece scuttle. I eventually ended up using a small monkeypod bowl to hold soap and was, in essence, face lathering by that point. I recently started using more French shaving creams so I started lathering in a chawan again because it was easier for me.

Come to think of it, you could probably even use a chashaku (tea scoop) to get a dollop of monsavon, cella, etc. into your chawan. :)