Yunomi/Tea Cup (Sakura Crackle Glaze)

Pale cherry blossom, surface smooth and luminous — the cracks are where the character lives.

The Sakura Crackle Yunomi from NANKEI POTTERY (南景製陶園) is a small, palm-fitting tea cup made in the Banko-yaki tradition of Yokkaichi, Mie Prefecture. The glaze is a soft cherry-blossom pink that gives the cup a gentle warmth on the table. The surface carries kannyu — fine cracks that form naturally where the clay and glaze shrink at different rates during cooling. These cracks are not flaws; they deepen the character of the cup, and more appear with use. Because the glaze has some water absorption, darker liquids can gradually tint the kannyu lines. This is a cup that keeps changing.

At 100ml, it holds a single pour of gyokuro or concentrated sencha. The footed base gives it a quiet formality — right for hosting, right for a careful moment alone.

Shipping

• Japan: ¥800 flat rate — free shipping on orders over ¥15,000.
• Asia: from ¥2,500 — free on orders over ¥25,000.
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South of Nagoya, along the shore of Ise Bay, Yokkaichi in Mie Prefecture has been a centre for Banko-yaki since the eighteenth century. The city's iron-rich clay and long firing tradition gave rise to a distinct stoneware character — dense, unglazed surfaces that age quietly with use. 南景製陶園 (Nankei Pottery) has worked within this tradition for decades, using a proprietary clay formula that has remained unchanged for more than fifty years. High-temperature yakishime firing drives off virtually all porosity, leaving a body that is hard, smooth to the touch, and subtly warm in colour.

The forms Nankei designs are spare and considered — nothing added that does not serve the tea. A kyusu pours cleanly; a yunomi sits without fuss in the hand. That restraint comes not from minimal effort but from sustained attention to proportion and weight. If you want to learn more about the people behind the work, our Behind the Sip article on Nankei Pottery goes further: Nankei Pottery — Banko-yaki in Yokkaichi.