Tea ceremony utensils

Tea utensils (, chadōgu) are tools or implements used in chadō, the art of Japanese tea. Chadōgu can be divided into five major categories: sōshoku dōgu (装飾道具; "decorative items"); temae dōgu (点前道具; "items for the tea-making and service"); kaiseki dōgu (懐石道具; "items for the chakaiseki meal"); mizuya dōgu (水屋道具; "items used in the preparation room"); and machiai dōgu / roji dōgu (待合道具・露地道具; "items for the waiting room" / "items for the roji garden"). A wide range of dōgu is necessary for even the most basic tea ceremony. Generally, items which guests prepare themselves with for attending a chanoyu gathering are not considered as chadōgu; rather, the term fundamentally applies to items involved to "host" a chanoyu gathering. This article, however, includes all forms of implements and paraphernalia involved in the practice of chanoyu.

Utensils used for sencha are different. Sencha uses small cups, normally in five pieces, a small pot and a small cup to pour hot water. They are normally made out of ceramic.

In Japan, cherished items are customarily stored in purpose-made wooden boxes. Valuable items for tea ceremony are usually stored in such a box, and in some cases, if the item has a long and distinguished history, several layers of boxes: an inner storage box (uchibako), middle storage box (nakabako), and outer storage box (sotobako). The storage boxes for tea implements are not tea equipment in themselves, but have a very important place in the practice of chanoyu for the inscriptions on them which serve to validate their history and other such important data.

Chabako (茶箱, literally "tea box[es]"). Special lidded boxes containing tea bowl, tea caddy, tea scoop and other equipment. They constitute portable tea-making sets for travel and making tea outdoors, and are available in many styles. The "Rikyū model" is of plain paulownia wood and comes in a large size and a small size. The interior dimensions of the large version are slightly smaller than 19 cm in length, 13 cm in width, and 11.5 cm in height. It has a shelf inside. Originally there were no rules for the tea-making procedure (temae). However, the 11th-generation head of the Urasenke school of tea created certain types of procedures. For the procedures, the box is carried into the place where the tea is to be made, sometimes on a tray, and the ceremony proceeds with each item being removed from, and finally returned to, the box.

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