Say Hello to My Little Cup (Patreon)

Hello there! 👋 

(🙏 So sorry. I scheduled this and got the date wrong. It was meant to go out a day earlier than it did.)

I wanted to share with you my special little cup. 

My cup.

My mom is awesome, but she's of a generation where it was important to buy things as cheaply as possible and as many of them as you can get. Because you can never have too many bedsheets and pillow cases.

Except for books (and notebooks and pens), I really try to not buy a lot of anything (easy because no money), and if I do buy something, I try to get something nice that will last and that I'll really enjoy using. Richard and I aren't big on gifts for birthdays or Christmas, so I can save up until I really need something or find some absolute gem. 

My cup.

So save up I did! I forget what I was rewarding myself for, but last year I bought myself the above beauty. Okay, actually, I just looked it up and did the math. In US dollars it was around 25 bucks. But 3,400 yen for a small cup just sounds insane to me. 

I told my Japanese friend about it, described it, and told her how much I just loved using it and looking at it. She laughed and said, "Here, let me show my own set of dishes that I eat on every day."  

Hers and mine are all the same type of porcelain called Kutani Yaki (九谷焼). Kutani meaning "9 valleys" and yaki being "ware." 

It originated in the southern part of Ishikawa Prefecture with the first firings in 1655.  Then in the early 1700s the kilns were closed suddenly for some mysterious reason. Everything made before the closing is called Ko-Kutani (古九谷) old Kutani. 

Cue a hundred years later and they were reopened and firing up again. Everything from that era is called Saikō-Kutani. Recently, I see it called Shin-Kutani (new Kutani). 

Although there are quite a few styles through the ages, they often use gosai (五彩), or  five classical colors: green, blue, yellow, purple, and red.

But there's also Ao-Kutani (blue Kutani) that never uses red paint. 

And Aka-Kutani (red Kutani) that mostly uses only red and sometimes gold paint.

Below, too, are six of older Kutani styles. The year in parenthesis is how long ago that style was being made.

So it's not surprise that Ko-Kutani is rare and very valuable and you can find old plates and vases and such in museums. 

Part of me thinks the style is so very UN-Japanese, more Chinese-inspired perhaps. But I did read, too, that the winters were bleak and these bright bold colors were used to contrast all that dull humdrum.

I just found they have their own website. I'm not sure my thoughts on Snoopy-themed Kutani though. 

But, look! There's Doraemon!

And Moomin, too.

To show a little of how much time and careful attention is put into even one plate...

Here's a little video. 

Does anyone else have some cup, mug, plate, saucer, chopsticks that they love dearly and always use? I do have a pair of chopsticks and a couple platters I cherish. Not Kutaniyaki though. 

While my little cup will never find it's way into a museum, I love it just the same.

XO,

t