Buying Guides
Choose well, once.
Buying guides for Japan’s table craft, written from the maker’s side.産地の視点で書いた、日本の食卓道具の買い方ガイド。
Choosing a Whetstone: Japan's Sharpening Stones
How to pick a Japanese sharpening stone — what the grit numbers mean, how many stones you really need, soaking vs splash-and-go, and keeping the stone flat.
Choosing a Kyusu: Japan's Everyday Teapot
How to pick the side-handled Japanese teapot that suits your tea — handle styles, clay versus porcelain, the strainer that actually matters, and the right size.
Choosing a Hinoki Cutting Board
Why Japanese cypress makes a cutting board that is kind to a knife edge — how to pick the size, thickness and grain, and the care habits that keep one flat and clean.
Choosing Japanese Chopsticks
How to pick Japanese chopsticks that fit your hand — the right length, what the wood and lacquer mean, and how to care for a pair so it lasts for years.
Donabe: Choosing and Breaking In a Japanese Clay Pot
How to pick a donabe, why the clay matters, and the one first-use step — medome — that stops it cracking and leaking. Plus the care habits that make it last.
Caring for a Japanese Knife: Sharpening, Rust and Daily Use
How to keep a Japanese knife sharp and rust-free — whetstones and angles, single vs double bevel, and the daily habits that let a good blade last decades.
Caring for Your Matcha Tools: Whisk, Bowl and Scoop
How to break in and look after a bamboo chasen, a matcha bowl and a scoop — the simple habits that keep your tea tools working and make the whisk last.
Gyuto vs Santoku vs Nakiri: Which Japanese Knife Do You Actually Need?
The three Japanese kitchen knives worth owning first — what each one is for, who it suits, and how to choose between them.
Choosing Japanese Ceramics for Everyday
A plain-language guide to Japanese tableware — the pieces worth owning first, what the main pottery towns are known for, and how to read a glaze.
How to Start with Matcha at Home
The three pieces that turn matcha from a café order into a two-minute ritual — the bowl, the whisk, the scoop — and which to buy first.
Nanbu Tetsubin: The Iron Kettle Worth Owning
What a Nanbu cast-iron kettle actually does to your tea, how it differs from an iron teapot, and how to care for one so it lasts generations.