Tea Utensils (Chadōgu 茶道具),

1819

<p> <em>Surimono</em>, meaning “printed thing,” are privately produced woodblock prints often commissioned by poetry groups and exchanged at New Year. Unlike commercial prints, which are produced in the thousands, surimono were printed in smaller numbers using high-quality pigments. This surimono depicts objects used in tea practice—a tea caddy wrapped in a silk pouch, a red lacquer incense container, and a bundle of charcoal for heating the water to brew tea. The rabbit pattern on the silk wrapper suggests it was commissioned for 1819, a Year of the Rabbit in the Chinese zodiac. The inscribed poem reads in English: </p> <p><em> With the spring wind <br> the New Year’s tea <br> rises with the mist <br> this morning together <br> with my heart. </em><br> —Dokurakutei Yamanoie no Wabibito </p> <p> The text plays on the word “to rise,” referring both to the powdered green tea that is made to rise by <br> whisking it, and the mist that rises from the ground on a spring morning. </p>