{"product_id":"kenninji-temple-chashaku-tea-scoop-mei-an-no-tomo-friend-of-the-hermitage-by-ekishu-smoked-bamboo-with-original-case-box","title":"Kenninji Temple Chashaku Tea Scoop — Mei 'An no Tomo' (Friend of the Hermitage) by Ekishu, Smoked Bamboo with Original Case \u0026 Box","description":"Experience Authentic Japan Art with this Kenninji Temple Tea Scoop. This Japanese Tea Ceremony Scoop serves as a Zen Buddhist Tea Utensil and Smoked Bamboo Chashaku, featuring a Temple Priest Carved Scoop and Named Tea Scoop Mei—a must-have for any Tea Ceremony Collector. Crafted by Ekishu of Kenninji, this Antique Japanese Chashaku offers the essence of Wabi Sabi Tea Art with its Traditional Chado Bamboo Tool character, completing a full Tea Ceremony Gift Set.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e🔹 [ BASIC DETAILS ]\u003cbr\u003e• Artist: Ekishu (益州), priest of the Kenninji temple lineage, Kyoto\u003cbr\u003e• Mei (Named Inscription): 庵の友 — An no Tomo \/ Friend of the Hermitage\u003cbr\u003e• Technique: Hand-carved smoked bamboo (susudake) with natural single-node formation; fushi-dome rest block in pale resin\/bone-tone material\u003cbr\u003e• Era: Late Showa to Heisei period (est. 1970s–2000s)\u003cbr\u003e• Origin: Kenninji, Kyoto, Japan — one of the Five Mountains (Gozan) Zen temples\u003cbr\u003e• Dimensions: Chashaku length approx. 18.4 cm; Tsutsui (tube case) length approx. 21.5 cm, diameter approx. 2.6 cm\u003cbr\u003e• Box: Original matching wooden hako (共箱) with brushed inscription naming the mei, temple affiliation, and artist — bold confident calligraphy in black ink\u003cbr\u003e• Condition: Excellent overall. No significant scratches or soiling on the chashaku itself. The wooden box shows very minor age-toning (yake) consistent with storage; no cracks or damage. Complete set: chashaku + tsutsui case + wooden box\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e🔹 [ CULTURAL \u0026amp; ARTISTIC INSIGHT ]\u003cbr\u003eThe chashaku — a slender, single-piece bamboo tea scoop — is among the most intimate and philosophically charged objects in the Japanese tea ceremony. Unlike ceramics or lacquerware, the chashaku is carved in a single sitting, and its mei (named inscription) is chosen by the maker to reflect a season, a place, a feeling, or a relationship. Here, Ekishu of Kenninji has given this scoop the name 庵の友 — \"Friend of the Hermitage\" — a phrase that evokes the solitary bamboo grove beside a tea hut, the quiet companionship of objects in a spare room, and the Zen monk's life of voluntary simplicity.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eKenninji (建仁寺) is Kyoto's oldest Zen temple, founded in 1202 by the monk Eisai who introduced both Rinzai Zen and the culture of tea to Japan from China. Tea and Zen have been inseparable at Kenninji ever since; the temple's monks have long produced chashaku as expressions of spiritual practice and aesthetic awareness rather than mere functional tools. A chashaku from Kenninji therefore carries not only the mark of individual authorship but the living weight of eight centuries of tea culture.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eThe bamboo used here is susudake — smoked bamboo — which develops its characteristic amber warmth and mottled patina from years of exposure to hearth smoke in traditional farmhouses or temple kitchens before harvesting. The resulting color is never uniform: it pools and shifts like light on water, darkening near the node, brightening toward the tip. This natural variety is precisely what tea masters prize, since no two susudake chashaku can ever look alike.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003ePoetic Line: \"The Friend of the Hermitage asks nothing and offers everything — a warmth held in bamboo smoke, waiting in silence for the next bowl of tea.\"\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e🔹 [ DEEP-DIVE COMMENTARY ]\u003cbr\u003eThe tradition of temple monks carving their own chashaku (dera-chashaku, 寺茶杓) represents one of the most direct intersections of Zen practice and material culture. Unlike chashaku made by professional lacquer or bamboo craftsmen for commercial sale, a temple-made scoop is carved as an act of mindfulness — a meditation in form. The carver selects the bamboo, finds the natural curve in the material, and coaxes the scoop's shape from what is already latent in the culm. The result is never perfectly symmetrical, and that imperfection is its virtue.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eIn formal tea practice (chado), the chashaku occupies a specific role in the ritual sequence: it is used to transfer powdered matcha from the natsume (tea caddy) into the bowl. Its length, curvature, and the angle of its tip all influence the feel of the motion — practiced tea masters can identify a scoop's character by touch alone, without looking. A scoop with a gently arcing tip and moderate flexibility, as seen here, is suited to both usucha (thin tea) and koicha (thick tea) style gatherings.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eThe fushi (node) of the bamboo — the raised joint that divides sections of the culm — is an important aesthetic element in chashaku classification. A single-node scoop (hitofu-chashaku) is considered more refined in many schools of tea than multi-node examples. The node here is positioned in the lower third of the scoop, which follows the classical proportion favored in Urasenke and related Kyoto-school lineages.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eThe tsutsui (tube case) and wooden hako (box) inscribed with the mei and maker's name transform this chashaku from a utensil into a documented work of art. In the tea world, provenance is carried not by paperwork but by inscription — the brushed characters on the lid of the box serve as both signature and poem, and their calligraphic quality is considered inseparable from the value of the object inside. Ekishu's brushwork here is unhesitating and bold, with the fluid confidence of a practiced hand.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eFor collectors and practitioners of Japanese tea ceremony, a named temple chashaku with original case and box represents the most complete and authentic form of the object. Such pieces are displayed in tokonoma alcoves during chakai (tea gatherings), displayed alongside the scroll and flower arrangement as objects worthy of contemplation in their own right.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e🔹 [ 日本語解説 ]\u003cbr\u003e【詳細スペック】\u003cbr\u003e・作者：益州（建仁寺ゆかりの僧侶）\u003cbr\u003e・銘：庵の友\u003cbr\u003e・素材・技法：煤竹（すすだけ）一節、手削り。節止めは淡色の樹脂製。\u003cbr\u003e・年代：昭和後期〜平成期推定\u003cbr\u003e・産地：京都・建仁寺（禅宗五山の一）\u003cbr\u003e・寸法：茶杓 約18.4cm、共筒 長さ約21.5cm・径約2.6cm\u003cbr\u003e・付属品：共箱（銘・寺名・作者の墨書入り）\u003cbr\u003e・状態：茶杓本体に目立つ傷・汚れなく良好。共箱に微かな焼けが見られるが、全体に健全。\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e【文化・美術的解説】\u003cbr\u003e茶杓は、茶の湯における道具のなかでも、最もたおやかで哲学的な存在である。陶器や漆器とは異なり、一節の竹から一気に削り出される茶杓は、作者の一期一会の息遣いをそのまま形に閉じ込める。銘「庵の友」は、茶室に隣接する質素な庵を静かに訪れる竹の佇まいを思わせ、禅の簡素と孤独の中にある深い友情を詩的に表現している。\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e建仁寺は1202年、栄西禅師によって開かれた京都最古の禅刹であり、禅と茶を中国からこの地へ伝えた原点ともいうべき場所である。以来、建仁寺の僧侶たちは茶道具を単なる用具としてではなく、精神修行と美的実践の一形として制作し続けてきた。本茶杓はその伝統の中に位置する寺茶杓であり、八百年の茶の歴史の重みを静かに纏っている。\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e素材の煤竹は、農家や寺院の囲炉裏の煙に長年さらされることで、あの独特の琥珀色と斑模様の景色を宿す。均一ではなく、節の近くで深みを増し、先端へ向かって明るくなるその色調は、まさに火と時間が共同制作した景色であり、どの一本とも同じものは存在しない。\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e詩的一言：「庵の友は問わず、ただそこにある。煤の温もりを竹に湛え、次の一碗を静かに待つ。」\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e【深掘り解説】\u003cbr\u003e寺茶杓（dera-chashaku）の伝統は、禅修行と物質文化が最も直接的に交差する場のひとつである。商業的な職人の作とは異なり、僧侶の手による茶杓は、竹の選定から削り出しまでの全工程が、禅的な集中のあり方と切り離せない。竹の中にすでに潜む曲線を読み、それを「発見する」行為として茶杓を削る——そこには計算より感応がある。\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e茶道の点前において、茶杓は棗から抹茶を茶碗へ移すための道具である。その長さと曲率と先端の角度が、動作全体の感触を左右する。穏やかに弧を描く先端を持つ本茶杓は、薄茶・濃茶どちらの席にも対応できる佇まいをもっている。\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e一節茶杓（ひとふ茶杓）は、多節のものに比べて格調があるとされる流派も多く、本品はその正統な形を備えている。節の位置が茶杓下三分の一に置かれているのは、裏千家をはじめとする京流儀に倣った古典的な均衡である。\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e共筒と共箱への墨書は、本品をただの道具から、文書化された作品へと高める。茶の世界では、箱書きこそが来歴の証明であり、その筆跡の質も鑑賞の対象となる。益州の文字は、躊躇なく力強く、熟達した手の流れを伝えている。\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e茶会の場では、銘を持つ寺茶杓は床の間に飾られ、掛け軸や花と並んで観賞の対象となる。完品（茶杓・共筒・共箱揃い）は、コレクターにとっても実践者にとっても、茶杓の最も完全な形として高く評価される。\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e🔹 [ SHIPPING \u0026amp; PACKAGING ]\u003cbr\u003e• Dispatch: Within 1-6 business days\u003cbr\u003e• Carrier: Japan Post EMS \/ UPS (with tracking)\u003cbr\u003e• Packaging: Carefully wrapped with protective materials","brand":"The Modern Zen Archive","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":61954408546674,"sku":"260618_a_2970","price":631.0,"currency_code":"AED","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0960\/5680\/3698\/files\/m86453149291_1.jpg?v=1781795694","url":"https:\/\/checkout.themodernzenarchive.com\/products\/kenninji-temple-chashaku-tea-scoop-mei-an-no-tomo-friend-of-the-hermitage-by-ekishu-smoked-bamboo-with-original-case-box","provider":"The Modern Zen Archive","version":"1.0","type":"link"}