Japanese chawans: one? more?

I’m thinking of adding a special Japanese tea bowl (chawan) to my tea paraphernalia collection. But…just one? Is that unlucky? Should I get more than one, so I have them for guests? I haven’t been able to find anything online about the proper number of chawans to own.

6 Replies

It’s all up to you!

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Whatever you do, don’t buy a set of four of anything Japanese. Four means death :]

All of my Japanese tea sets have five place settings because of this :)

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I always say to wait until you find a piece you fall in love with. I have a glass chawan that I loved and used for years. Last year, I became completely obsessed with an usually patterned one that I spotted online. It is now my new favorite :)

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At the very least you’re gonna need a summer-, winter- and all purpose chawan. ;P

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I would say five is the minimum acceptable amount ;) But only because then you have an excuse to buy more.

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