KOUSYUHAI Cup (Large), Flowers, Birds, Wind and Moon

At a glance

- Arita-yaki (有田焼), Saga Prefecture; by Kihara (キハラ), Arita
- Classical sometsuke (染付): gosu blue hand-painted underglaze, fired in reduction at 1,300°C
- Large (300ml); fragrance-concentrating interior; dishwasher and microwave safe

The cup that carries four centuries of Japanese poetry on its surface.

Flowers, birds, wind and moon (Hana-cho-fugetsu) is a classical Japanese aesthetic concept describing the beauty of the natural world. It is the landscape you find in every great Japanese ink painting, lacquerware, and porcelain from the Edo period. Here it is rendered as a sometsuke (blue-and-white underglaze) illustration that wraps the full body of the KOUSYUHAI. The seemingly random brush strokes are actually the Kanji character of Hana-cho-fugetsu, 花-鳥-風-月.

The painting is done by hand in the classical gosu tradition, meaning the blue carries the characteristic slight blur and tonal variation of mineral pigment that printed blue-and-white cannot achieve.

For whisky, sake, shochu, or green tea the KOUSYUHAI's curved interior concentrates fragrance before it reaches the nose. A cup that makes the last drink of the evening feel like a proper ending.

Made in Arita, Saga Prefecture. Dishwasher safe.