Joyce Lee on sun 25 jan 98
After rereading great responses to teabowl/mug posting, I realize that
there was no information concerning LITERATURE about mugs, or about any
sort of ceremony concerning the use of mugs. I fear that this original
request for literature was obfuscated by the emotional reactions we
potters (and we near-potters) assign to most discussions of pots. Thank
goodness for individual emotions/feelings/beliefs, including my own.
Anybody know of poems, stories etc with mug references? Have any of you
written such? Would love to read them. Thank you.
Joyce
In the Mojave pondering how this struggling potter (I) became "fooled
into thinking that everything Japanese is somehow better than everything
American." I'm less shallow than I thought. Didn't even know I was
"political." What one learns on Clayart...
Jeffrey J. Taylor on mon 26 jan 98
I recall seeing an article somewhere that discussed aspects of the (now
seldom seen) barber shop. It spoke of each patron having his (perhaps
on rare occasions her) own mug which contained shaving cream.
The accompanying photo showed a wall of a shop covered in personalized
shaving mugs.
One would have to admit that shaving, in the past, had a great deal of
cerimony attached to it. The mug played an integral part in this.
How the cerimony of shaving and the use of personalized mugs relates to
the deep symbolism and cerimony of tea is going to be a stretch, but I
am sure some of you may have Ideas? :)
(personally I'm growing a beard)
Jeffrey J Taylor
Saskatchewan Canada
ClayArt77 on wed 28 jan 98
" Communion with a friend"
Morning coffee, morning ritual.
Staring blurry eyed at a wall of mugs.
The first big decision of the day.
Formed by the hands of friends.
By my own hands.
By the hands of unknown craftsmen.
One with a handle so comfortable it seems an extension of my arm.
One with a rim as soft and delicate as a tender kiss.
One with a glaze so rich I see new subtleties with every use.
I am not just choosing a mug.
Each one has a different story to tell.
I am selecting a friend with whom to commune.
Lili Krakowski on thu 29 jan 98
Well, now that several people have had fun with the idea that I change my
clothes, and shower daily--why not entertain with my views on the tea
ceremony? Clayart goes round he world. There must be people who get
it to whom the tea ceremony is a quasi-religious spiritual experience,
deeply ingrained in their culture. its aesthetic and spiritual values.
Or so I gather from reading Leach, books on Japan, and especially
Okakura's Book of Tea.
Now shaving--except things like tonsuring, and the shaving of nun's heads
when they take their final vows (is that still done after Vatican II?) the
head-shaving of some Orthodox Jewish brides, as well
as Buddhist monks and nuns (though I do not know if
that is part of a [sacred] ceremony) is a serious rite to some
religions, at certain times.And some of those people gt Clayart.
HOWEVER going down to the barbershop for a
weekly shave, was a social/sociable thing that, if memory serves was part
of a ritual, related to the straight or cut-throat razor. It went
out mostly when safety razors came in. Richer men had their own mugs and
brushes for hygienic reasons. And many men had a mug at home, because the
shaving soap came in a cake and had to be kind of beaten into a foam with
the brush--it was a process akin to whipping up the milk in cappucino. Or
beating egg whites.
Now while I seem to recall that the tea is whipped, I can see no other
resemblance, similarity, analogy between the tea ceremony and shaving.
And I find it as troubling that this is suggested as I find it troubling
when people who don't know a thing about Native American religions adorn
their pseudo-NA pots with feathers and beads, without a thought that this
may be sacred to another. Likewise I am troubled when half-naked rock
stars appear on stage, wearing pectoral crosses. I guess I not only wash,
I get troubled...
On Mon, 26 Jan 1998, Jeffrey J. Taylor
wrote:
> ----------------------------Original message----------------------------
> I recall seeing an article somewhere that discussed aspects of the (now
> seldom seen) barber shop. It spoke of each patron having his (perhaps
> on rare occasions her) own mug which contained shaving cream.
> The accompanying photo showed a wall of a shop covered in personalized
> shaving mugs.
> One would have to admit that shaving, in the past, had a great deal of
> cerimony attached to it. The mug played an integral part in this.
> How the cerimony of shaving and the use of personalized mugs relates t
> the deep symbolism and cerimony of tea is going to be a stretch, but I
> am sure some of you may have Ideas? :)
>
> (personally I'm growing a beard)
>
> Jeffrey J Taylor
> Saskatchewan Canada
>
Lili Krakowski
JLHclay on sat 21 feb 98
Re Lili K. Amen. Take that from an anthiest sic. I'm in the process of
developing a "Politically correct" series that encompuses sic, many issues
including the tacky use of native American symbols for profit. So many
cultural sybmols are turned into cliches, some by people who claim to have an
Indian Princess as their great grandmother. Well some ancester of mine was a
lady in waiting to some English queen but it didn't improve my housekeeping
abilities & I'm still puzzled by that 3rd fork at good resturants.
| |
|
