Soderstrom Pottery Blog

In Japan, most tea is drunk out of small cups called Yunomi. These teacups don't have handles like their western counterparts. Instead, the cup is supported by a raised foot on its bottom.

While living in Japan and studying pottery, I had many opportunities to make Yunomi. In fact, one day after I had been studying with my teacher for some time, he told me that I would begin my “professional lesson.” He told me that my professional lesson was to make Yunomi. He went on to say that I would only make Yunomi. I would make only Yunomi, until I could make 100 in a day.

What follows is a series of photographs of me showing how Yunomi are made on my homemade Treadle Wheel in my studio:

Notice how the Yunomi is formed at the top of a large mass of clay.

The cup should be formed with as few steps as necessary.

After the cup is lifted from the mound of clay, the top of the mound will be re-centered and a new cup will be formed.

One difference between Japanese and Western methods is that the wheels in Japan rotate in the opposite direction from those in the U.S. and Europe. Therefore, my teachers in Minnesota assumed I was left handed when they saw my throwing style that I acquired in Japan.

Another major difference I noticed was that cups are "thrown off the hump" meaning many cups are made from a single mass of clay that is centered on the wheel. Here in the U.S. cups are usually made from small single balls of clay that are each centered individually.

Yunomi are a joy to drink Japanese green tea from. I have some of my cups available in the Teafox Shop. My wife likes to use them as stemless wine cups. If you want to learn more about my pottery, please visit my pottery website.

Daniel

Bringing you Japan's finest green tea
www.teafox.com