In Japan, few things are left to chance, and cooking and table setting are certainly not among them! Harmony and refined Japanese aesthetic minimalism combine with comfort and functionality, giving rise to a rich array of products designed to delight the senses with food, even before tasting a bite.

Traditional, natural materials are adapted to the characteristics of the dishes: thus, to enjoy soups, wooden Shiru-wan (or Owan) are used. These lightweight and functional bowls benefit from the heat-insulating nature of wood, allowing the container to be handled by hand without burning. The wood can also be lacquered, adding a touch of opulence to the bowl.

Rice is served in a small bowl called a Chawan (or Ochawan), allowing diners to hold it easily with one hand.

Japanese cuisine, as anyone who has ever dined in a Japanese restaurant knows, makes abundant use of sauces and small delicacies: therefore, these items are served on small plates, called Mame-zara or Kozara.

Some Japanese dishes are truly one-pot meals and require large containers: ceramic Donburi-bachi are used, which hold the inevitable rice, or noodles (ramen, udon), along with their condiments.

Solid foods, such as fish dishes or tempura, are served on flat, often rectangular, containers called Yakimono-zara.

Today, in Japanese restaurants, it's not uncommon for a waiter to approach you as soon as you're seated and offer you a glass of water (as a welcome gift), along with a bowl and a towel for washing your hands, but this is a custom imported from the West. Traditionally, the accompanying beverages for meals have been green tea, served in a Yunomi-jawan—a small, handleless cup—and sake, served in a tokkuri (a sort of small bottle) and consumed in ochoko (small cups) or masu (larger wooden glasses). Masu have a fascinating history, having originally served as a unit of measurement for capacity and also being used for commercial or fiscal transactions (taxes were paid in terms of masu of rice, or other products). Today, masu is associated with abundance, so its use has a propitiatory function since—by definition—it wishes the user "to obtain more."

Finally, a must-have on the Japanese table are the Hashi (wooden chopsticks, sometimes elegantly lacquered), resting on their ceramic, glass, or metal holders called Hashi-oki.

The historical memory of traditional tableware production has been passed down by regional artisan schools that have jealously guarded procedures and secrets, with obsessive attention to the selection of materials, as well as a reinterpretation of the design capable of innovating the (always!) minimalist approach to typical Japanese elegance, expressed through simple, clean lines.

Thus, Yuka Noritake, acclaimed designer, has "reinvented" the traditional shape of the masu by tilting it and lending dynamism to her Sla-Set of tokkuri and ochoko (a set for serving sake, therefore), which takes on momentum and dynamic plasticity, seeming to emerge from the table on which it is placed. The lines have been so well received by the public and experts that her Sla-Set, in addition to being featured on Wabi Takumi, has been chosen by the MoMA store in New York.

The most striking aspect of Japanese tableware style is precisely the temporal fusion of ancient and modern, which constantly animates it, allowing the coexistence on the same table of the precious urushi of Wajima-nuri (輪島塗) (here you can find, for example, the traditional and precious gold-decorated bowls for a couple from Ishikawa), the modern minimalism of Noritake, and the Yakimono-zara revisited with the traditional hanakumiko in Yoshino cypress wood (like this dessert plate).

It is the essence of the Japanese table: a thousand-year-old tradition that discovers its modernity and innovation...