Mrs. Kajiwara at Yamamaru Kiln magically turned Acorn Fairy into a mini-giant with a job as a tea burner, aka aromatic diffuser.  ”CHAKORO” 茶香炉 Tea burner, or tea incense burner is common in Japan.  Instead of putting aromatic essential oil, tea leaves are placed on the surface.  Let the tealight heated up the ceramics surface, and  you'll get a very mellow and pleasant smell of roast tea.  The fragrant is natural, toasty and zen.  Something no aromatic oil can give. 
 
XMAS SPECIAL:  we will include a bag of quality Japanese green-tea loose leaves for use with the diffuser, and to brew for drinking. 
 
Brought back memory of once I lived near a tea roaster and every time I walked past the shop, I smelled the nutty aroma of roast green tea.  It works with other tea leaves or even ground coffee.  But regular Japanese sencha green tea is my favorite of all.  
 
TEA AROMA DIFFUSER Unit:
The unit is made entirely out of ceramics, hand-thrown, and glazed with all local natural mineral that the kiln hand crafted.  It is composed of a removable cap, the acorn chubby body, and a leaf-shape tea-candle holder.   Watch the video on how to use it. 
 
The works of Yamamaru are inspired by the beautiful nature in the mountain.  Every morning the Kajiwara walked into the cedar forest (literally 500 feet away from their kiln) for morning fresh air and to absorb everything nature offers.  Feeling inspired, they start their day at the kiln, hand-throwing pottery, making all sorts of nature-inspired pottery just as how their ancesters did 400 years ago.  
 
In this historic pottery town, the clay and glaze are all proudly hand-processed using only local natural minerals and burnt straw from the mountains and the rice field.  As nature sings in harmony, please help yourself and pair your favorite cup and plate.  And enjoy the "functional beauty" of Koishiwara-ware, as named by the founding father of Japanese Mingei craft, Soetsu Yanagi. 
 
As things are all handmade, each one is different.  
 
ABOUT KOISHIWARA-WARE
Koishiwara-ware takes pride in carrying over 300 years of pottery history, making "mingei" humble utilitarian works, using only locally harvested raw material.  Up in the remote mountain,  potters escavate rocks and minerals to process their own clay and glazes.  Everything is hand-thrown and handbuilt.  And many use their beautiful surrounding as their inspiration.    Their work was praised by Masters Yanagi Muneyoshi and Bernard Leach during the Mingei Movement in the early 1900s as "Functional Beauty".   Read the stories about Koishiwara-ware and Yamamaru Kiln. 
 
HAND MADE, HAND-THROWN in JAPAN