Kogei
What the listing does not tell you
The part the listing leaves out.
Japanese craft objects are sold worldwide with beautiful photographs of the outside and very little about what will destroy them. These guides cover the differences that cost people the piece — each one checkable, each one sourced.
Tetsubin or tetsu-kyusu?
Two Nambu cast iron vessels that look identical from outside. One boils water and gives you iron; putting the other on heat cracks its lining for good. You can tell them apart in one look.
The step before a new donabe cooks anything
Unglazed clay is porous. Used straight from the box it seeps, stains and holds odours — and the fix is twenty minutes and a bowl of leftover rice.
What destroys lacquerware
Dishwasher, microwave, sunlight. All of them normal things to do with tableware, all of them irreversible on urushi.
Why this site exists. It is written in Japan by someone who spent twenty years in
manufacturing — metal, surfaces and finishing — which is useful background for reading
how these pieces are made and why they fail. It is not a claim to be a craftsman or a tea
specialist. We do not own or test the pieces described here, and every claim carries its sources.