Skip to main content
Entoten
FacebookInstagramPinterestYouTube

Menu

Skip to content
  • Blog
  • Shop
  • Artists
  • Places
  • Press
Sign In Search

Recent Posts

  • POP UP CRAFT SHOW at the Den on Laurel Street Dec. 3rd & 4th November 23, 2022
  • Frost Falls Approximately October 23th – November 6th October 23, 2022
  • Harmony with Food: Ceramics by Kojima Yosuke in Iga October 18, 2022
  • Cold Dew
    Approximately October 8th – 22nd
    October 8, 2022
  • Autumn Equinox
    Approximately September 23rd – October 7th
    September 21, 2022
July 2020
M T W T F S S
 12345
6789101112
13141516171819
20212223242526
2728293031  
« Jun   Aug »

Top Posts & Pages

  • Kintsugi: An Ancient Japanese Repairing Technique Using Urushi Lacquer
    Kintsugi: An Ancient Japanese Repairing Technique Using Urushi Lacquer
  • Guide to Choosing Your Tea Whisk for Matcha
    Guide to Choosing Your Tea Whisk for Matcha
  • Wood Artist Nakaya Yoshitaka: Chronicling the Lives of Trees in His Work
    Wood Artist Nakaya Yoshitaka: Chronicling the Lives of Trees in His Work
  • A Very Particular Focus: A Love Affair With Tokoname Kyusu by Yamada Yutaro
    A Very Particular Focus: A Love Affair With Tokoname Kyusu by Yamada Yutaro
  • Please Use Often: The Philosophy of Wood Artist Maeda Mitsuru
    Please Use Often: The Philosophy of Wood Artist Maeda Mitsuru

Categories

  • 72 Seasons Essays
  • Events, Workshops and Webinars
  • People
    • Naru (Inoue Naruhito)
    • Kojima Yosuke
    • Ayumi Horie
    • Bill Geisinger
    • Chieko (Calligraphy)
    • Floresta Fabrica
    • Hanako Nakazato
    • Harada Fumiko
    • Hashizume Reiko
    • Hashizume Yasuo
    • Horihata Ran
    • Hoshino Gen
    • Ikushima Harumi
    • Inoue Shigeru
    • Ishida Tami
    • Jarrod Dahl
    • Kazu Oba
    • Kenneth Pincus
    • Kikuchi Yuka
    • Kitamura Tokusai
    • Kobayashi Katsuhisa
    • Kubota Kenji
    • Kuriya Masakatsu
    • Maeda Mitsuru
    • Marshall Scheetz
    • Mike Martino
    • Mitch Iburg
    • Muranaka Yasuhiko
    • Nakaya Yoshitaka
    • Nitta Yoshiko
    • Ontayaki
    • Sakai Mika
    • Samuel Johnson
    • Sarah Nishiura
    • Saratetsu
    • Sasaki Shoko
    • Shumpei Yamaki
    • Style Of Japan
    • Takahashi Nami
    • Takami Yasuhiro
    • Tanimura Tango
    • Watanabe Ai
    • Yamada Yutaro
    • Yamauchi Takeshi
    • Yokotsuka Yutaka
  • Baskets
  • Ceramics
  • Design
  • Glass
  • Kintsugi
  • Metal
  • Textiles
  • Urushi
  • Wood
  • Mingei
  • Research
  • Food and Craft
  • Topics
  • Tea (Chado)
  • Travels
    • Arita
    • Bizen
    • Hagi
    • Karatsu
    • Kuroe
    • Kyoto
    • Matsumoto
    • Mino / Tajimi
    • Onta
    • Shigaraki
    • Shizuoka
    • Sonoma County
    • Tokoname
    • Vietnam

A Group of Takayama Chasen is added to the collection of San Diego’s Mingei International Museum

By:
Ai Kanazawa
July 12, 2020Mingei Tea (Chado) Tanimura Tango

Takayama chasen by Tanimura Tango in our shop ->

Entoten is delighted to announce that the Mingei International Museum in San Diego has recently acquired a group of Takayama Chasen (tea whisks) by Tanimura Tango for its collection. This is ground-breaking because the story of the humble bamboo whisk, is hardly ever told in other museums, where much of the focus is given to the tea bowls and other utensils. But without the chasen, there will be no matcha nor other utensils, be it in your home or any school of tea.

A group of Takayama chasen acquired by the Mingei International Museum
The exhibit of tea whisks that includes many from the ancestors of Tanimura Tango at his showroom in Nara
(Photo Courtesy of Tanimura Tango)

The Tanimura family has been making chasen in Takayama, Nara prefecture, for nearly 500 years over 20 generations. During this pandemic, my awe and gratitude for the Tanimura family’s dedication to their craft was renewed because, the adversities that they must have overcome in their history of half a millennium was brought into perspective.

Chasen master Tanimura Tango making a tea whisk
(Photo courtesy of Tanimura Tango)

A chasen is made of a single piece of bamboo, and it is a highly renewable, natural material that is kind to the environment. It is flexible to be able to mix the powdered tea efficiently, but without damaging the bowl. So it is difficult to find a utensil that is as perfect as a chasen.

I hope that this consummate utensil will become a more familiar object to the people here, through the collection of the Mingei International Museum, soon to be reborn in the heart of San Diego’s beautiful Balboa Park. The Museum is currently closed to go through a major transformation and will reopen in 2021, continuing to shine a light on Mingei: the art of the people from all eras and cultures of the world since 1974.

The construction of the multi-purpose theater has begun at the Mingei International Museum.
Artist rendering of the new Mingei multipurpose theater space for lectures, concerts, films, dinners, and other events.
(Courtesy of Mingei International Museum, artist rendering by LUCE et studio)

Share this:

  • Click to share on Facebook (Opens in new window)
  • Click to share on Pinterest (Opens in new window)
  • Click to email a link to a friend (Opens in new window)

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

  • Terms & Conditions
  • Privacy & Security
  • Contact Us
  • ✉️ Newsletter Archive
  • About
  • えんとてんJapan

Subscribe To Our Newsletter

Our Mailing Address is

Entoten LLC
c/o The Den on Laurel St.
205 Laurel St. Suite 104
San Diego CA 92101

E-mail: hello@entoten.com

Copyright © 2022 ENTOTEN LLC

Studio Kotokoto is now closed. Thank you for your support over the years!
You have been redirected to Entoten, an online blog and shop that was created by one of Studio Kotokoto’s founders.