Practical guides to choosing, using and caring for Japanese craft, with a glossary of terms from our articles.
Care & UseWashing, storing and everyday use.Buying GuidesWhat to look at before you choose.GlossaryJapanese terms from our articles, one line each.
Care & Use
Washing, storing and everyday use.
How to Care for Japanese Lacquerware: Washing, Storage, and Everyday UseHow to wash lacquerware, what heat it tolerates, how to store it, and what to do about white marks.
How to Care for Japanese Wooden and Lacquered ChopsticksWashing and drying, oiling bare wood, protecting the lacquered surface, and when to replace a pair.
Why Kutani Asks for Special CareThe extra care Kutani's overglaze enamel asks for, and how to keep its colors luminous.
How to Use a Rin Bell: The Calming Power of Buddhist SoundThe bell sits on its cushion and the wooden striker does the work, at the rim or drawn slowly around it.
How to Hang and Care for a Noren: The Complete GuideChoosing the rod and hooks, hanging it straight, and caring for indigo, linen and cotton.Buying Guides
What to look at before you choose.
Tableware
How to Choose a Japanese Sake Cup: A Guide to Shapes, Materials, and Giving One WellOchoko, guinomi and sakazuki shapes, and what porcelain, stoneware, glass and tin do to the drink.
Japanese Tea Gifts: How to Choose Yunomi, Kyusu, and Matcha BowlsChoosing between a yunomi, a kyusu and a matcha bowl when the teaware is the gift.
Handmade vs Factory-Made Japanese Tableware: How to Tell the DifferenceThrowing lines, mold seams, brushwork and transfer prints, and what each one tells you about how a piece was made.
Your First Japanese Sake Set: A Quiet Map of Vessels, Materials, and TemperatureTokkuri, ochoko, guinomi, katakuchi and sakazuki, with the materials and temperatures each one suits.
Hand-painted vs Printed Japanese Pottery: How to Tell the Difference and Choose with ConfidenceWhat a fingertip picks up on raised enamel, what to look for in Arita, Kutani and Kiyomizu, and how to start.Gifts
How to Choose Japanese Chopsticks as a Gift: Meanings, Sizes, and PairsWhat giving chopsticks means in Japan, meoto-bashi pairs, and getting the length right.
How to Choose a Meaningful Japanese Gift: A Guide to Occasions, Symbols, and Gift EtiquetteReading the occasion, the symbolism of color and motif, and the etiquette of giving in Japan.Prayer Beads
Kyoto Juzu: A Guide to Japanese Prayer Beads — Meaning, Men’s and Women’s, and How to ChooseKyoto juzu in detail: the parts, formal and informal strands, men's and women's, and how to choose.
Beginner’s Guide to Juzu (Japanese Buddhist Prayer Beads): Meaning & UsageWhat juzu are made of, how they are held, and what the parts of a strand mean.Glossary
Japanese terms from our articles, one line each.
GlossaryWares and kilns, firing marks, motifs, vessels, and the days of the Japanese year.Open the glossaryThe reading — makers, meaning, the table, the year — is in the Journal →