[Tea utensils/tea ceremony tools tobacco tray] Tobacco tray with handle, gourd-transparent tobacco tray, black Ikkan, with drawer, copy of Hounsai's favorite, made by Kosaka Shusai

●What is a tobacco tray? It is a tool for storing a set of smoking equipment, such as a fire holder, ash blower, tobacco case, tobacco pipe, and incense chopsticks.
Also written as "tobacco tray," a set consisting of a tobacco tray, fire box, cupellator, tobacco box, and a pair of tobacco pipes is called a complete tobacco tray or a set of tobacco trays.
During the tea ceremony, it is served at the end of the ceremony, on the bench, or during the ceremony before the usucha tea begins.
It is not served during thick tea or kaiseki meals.
Also, at large tea ceremonies, it is placed in the seat of the main guest from the beginning.
A tobacco tray always has a fire bowl and an ash blower, and in the Sen school, the fire bowl is placed on the left and the ash blower on the right.
A tobacco case and a pipe are used as a pair, and when in use, the two pipes are hung formally in front of the tobacco tray, over the edge.
In the Mushakoji Senke school, an incense stick (kohashi) is also placed to the right of the cupellation.
In Omotesenke, paper is laid out, but in Urasenke, it is not.
At Mushakoji Senke, it is only placed under the firebox.
Originally, it was designed to resemble an incense tray, with an incense burner as a fire holder, an incense shell holder as an ash blower, and an incense box as a tobacco holder, and two tobacco pipes placed in front of the tray were said to resemble incense chopsticks.
During Rikyu's time, tobacco trays were not used at tea ceremonies, but in the Edo period, tobacco trays began to appear as a favorite item among Sotan, Enshu, and Sowa, and it is said that tobacco trays became a common item used at tea ceremonies in the late Edo period.
They come in a variety of shapes, but can be broadly divided into two types: with and without a deposit.
Chinese items include konjac sauce, abalone, lacquerware, and wisteria arrangements, while Japanese items include Chinese wood, lacquerware, woodwork, Ikkanbari, and baskets.
While the items favored by feudal lords tend to be elaborately crafted with decorative metal fittings, lacquered lacquerware, openwork carvings, and Chinese wood carvings, the items favored by tea masters are mostly simple in shape and made from wood such as paulownia or mulberry.

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Size: Approx. 14.6cm long x 26.4cm wide x 11cm high (excluding handle)
Approx. height including handle: 19.2cm
Author: Shusai Kosaka
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Resides in Kaga City, Ishikawa Prefecture
Born in 1950
We carry on the techniques of Mr. Matsunaga, an Ikkan lacquer artist from Kyoto who has inherited the tradition that began with Hirai Ikkan.
In 1971, he became independent in Kaga and has been studying since then.
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Box: Wooden box