The nakatsugi is a cylindrical thin-tea container that separates into upper and lower halves at around the middle of the body, transmitting a form older than the natsume. Lid and body overlapping at the same dimension gives it an antique quality; it lacks the brilliance of a decorated natsume but has a distinctly wabi bearing.
Origins and character
Its origins lie in cylindrical containers for medicine and incense, and it is held to preserve the form of thin-tea containers from before the natsume. It is thought to have been in use in wabi tea practice before Rikyu, and it remains in use as a classical thin-tea container.
In practice
Choosing a nakatsugi over a natsume is a deliberate statement of preference for the older and plainer form — one of the ways a host can indicate a wabi register without any special utensil.
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Related terms
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The general term for vessels holding matcha, divided into thin-tea containers and thick-tea jars.
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A low, flattened natsume used to build cool-feeling arrangements for summer thin tea.
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A thin-tea container with a wider mouth and fuller body, suited to large decorative surfaces.
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A natsume whose scattered gold and silver decoration suggests driving snow; a winter container.
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