Collection: Tenmoku

About Tenmoku

"Tenmoku," originally known as "Jian ware," is one of the celebrated ceramics of the Song Dynasty. The name is derived from Tianmu Mountain in Hangzhou, Zhejiang Province, China, which resembles two eyes and is divided into East and West Tianmu. This mountain is a sacred site for Taoism and Buddhism. During the Song and Yuan dynasties, many Japanese monks traveled to Tianmu Mountain for study and brought back the local black-glazed tea bowls used in the temples, which became known as "Tenmoku" in Japan. During the Song era, Chinese tea competitions, known as "doucha," became popular, with tea enthusiasts favoring black-glazed bowls to accentuate the color of white tea. Bowls with hare’s fur and partridge feather patterns were particularly prized. The poet Su Dongpo praised these bowls, writing, "Round the Western Screen Mountain, monks master tea art; undisturbed by hare’s fur patterns, they serve spring wine from goose earthen jars." Today, Tenmoku-style teaware and sake vessels are widely used in Japan, preserving the aesthetic legacy of this ancient tea culture.