Koppu by Soichiro Maruta

This is “Koppu” made by Soichiro Maruta. I purchased two at exhibition titled “Koppu.” Koppu usually means a glass tumbler but at this exhibition ceramics shaped like tumbler ware lined up together with them. Maruta’s this cup would usually be called “Yunomi (a sup for green tea) ” but this cylinder shape is simple and well designed to go well with western style table wares which a lot of times accompanied by glasses. A friend of mine served me cold water in this cup as if it were a glass cup, and the view was so nice that I imitated her and got the same one. It was the first time for me to taste the coolness of water with ice floating on celadon in the hot and humid midsummer. This is a good example of a vessel that, thanks to the suggestion of a different name, has loosened the stereotypes of its use and expanded its usage. It is also suitable for fragrant tea in the sense that the aroma trapped in the cylindrical shape rises straight up. For example, fukugi-cha (black tea).

Artist: Soichiro Maruta
Year: 2021
Place of purchase: lapinart

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これは丸田宗一廊さんのコップ。湯のみだけれど「コップ展」に出ていたのでコップと呼んでいる。友人がこれで冷水をふるまってくれた景色がとてもよく、真似して同じものを購入した。蒸し暑い真夏にこの青磁に水を張り氷を浮かべると、水が文字通り水色に見えるような気がした。はじめて経験する清涼感だった。ギャラリーの店主が「湯のみ」から「コップ」に呼び名を変えて紹介してくれたおかげで、用途の固定観念がほぐれ、使い方がひろがったうつわのいい例だ。細長い筒型なので、香りが真上に立ち上がるという意味では、すこし主張のあるお茶にも適している。たとえば、ふくぎ茶（くろもじのお茶）とかね。

作り手：丸田宗一廊
購入した年：2021年
購入場所：lapinart

With Fukugicha, a thicker tea. I like to match the cups with a kataguchi (by Taro Tabuchi) and small plates (by Ikumi Matsumoto), also made of porcelain.
濃いめにいれたふくぎ茶と。同じく磁器の片口（田淵太郎）や小皿（松本郁美）に合わせるのが好き。