#侘寂 (わびさび)
"Wabi sabi", the traditional Japanese aesthetic sense

of imperfection, transience and incompleteness.

京都の授業で、先生に抹茶を点てる方を教えていただいた。その後、抹茶茶碗を買いたいので、店でもネットでも探し始まった。驚いたことに、何人か茶人は華やかな抹茶茶碗よりも、真ん中の写真での抹茶茶碗の方が好きそうだ。「侘寂の心を思い出させるような、素敵な茶碗からだ。」と言っていた。そんな深い考えが初めて聞いたけど、何となく自分が抹茶茶碗に対する審美観が変わって来た。

My teacher taught me how to make matcha during lessons in Kyoto. After that, I wanted to buy matcha bowls, so I started searching in stores and online. Surprisingly, several (Japanese) tea masters seem to prefer the matcha bowl (shown) in the centremost photo, rather than those that are gorgeous. “Because it's a nice bowl that invokes feelings of quiet simplicity and subdued refinement over time.”, they said. It was the first time that I heard of such a profound notion, but somehow, my aesthetic perception of matcha bowls had changed since.