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(Created page with "<languages/> <translate></translate> <!--T:1--> <center>'''Pipe Accessories at home and in the shop (tabako-bon).'''</center> <center><span style="font-size:small">Copyright...")
 
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<center><span style="font-size:small">Copyright © 2001 & 2002 John C. Loring -- update 02/04/02</span></center>
<center><span style="font-size:small">Copyright © 2001 & 2002 John C. Loring -- update 02/04/02</span></center>
<center>''Contributed by Yang Forcióri''</center>
<center>''Contributed by Yang Forcióri''</center>
{| class="wikitable" style="margin: auto;"
|+Articles
|[[Tabako]]
|[[Kiseru]]
|[[Bon]]
|[[Ensem]]
|[[Tsutsu]]
|[[Ire]]
|[[Net]]
|[[Gloss]]
|[[Bib]]
|}




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<blockquote>“A guest should not carry his own tobacco [upon entering a host’s house on invitation].  He is to smoke the tobacco which has been prepared for guests by the host and which has been placed in the tray, regardless of its quality.  A guest should not smoke until his host has entered the room,  When the host offers tobacco, the guest should at first refuse to accept it, saying, ‘After you.’  This refusal should be made two or three times in the same way as is customarily observed when sake or tea is offered.  Then the host should pick up a kiseru and remove the guard. After wiping the kiseru, the host should then offer it to his guest, saying, ‘Please enjoy smoking with this kiseru.’  If the tobacco is of good quality, the guest is to praise it.  After taking a puff or two he is to replace the guard on the kiseru and put it in front of him.  Upon his departure he is to wipe the pipe clean with a paper handkerchief and return it to the tobacco tray.  However, when the host notices the guest cleaning it he is to say, ‘Please leave it as it is.’ Should the host be the guest’s supervisor or boss [or elderly], the guest should have the good manners to refuse the kiseru even if it is offered, saying ,’Tamaezu’ (‘I am too humble a person to accept it’).”  Shin-mi Rau-zhin, Yaso Okina Mukashi Gatari <span style="font-size:small">[I cannot help but add that every time I read this passage I wonder how many silent insults were given by failing to praise the tobacco and how many silent retorts followed by allowing the guest to finish cleaning the kiseru.]</span></blockquote>
<blockquote>“A guest should not carry his own tobacco [upon entering a host’s house on invitation].  He is to smoke the tobacco which has been prepared for guests by the host and which has been placed in the tray, regardless of its quality.  A guest should not smoke until his host has entered the room,  When the host offers tobacco, the guest should at first refuse to accept it, saying, ‘After you.’  This refusal should be made two or three times in the same way as is customarily observed when sake or tea is offered.  Then the host should pick up a kiseru and remove the guard. After wiping the kiseru, the host should then offer it to his guest, saying, ‘Please enjoy smoking with this kiseru.’  If the tobacco is of good quality, the guest is to praise it.  After taking a puff or two he is to replace the guard on the kiseru and put it in front of him.  Upon his departure he is to wipe the pipe clean with a paper handkerchief and return it to the tobacco tray.  However, when the host notices the guest cleaning it he is to say, ‘Please leave it as it is.’ Should the host be the guest’s supervisor or boss [or elderly], the guest should have the good manners to refuse the kiseru even if it is offered, saying ,’Tamaezu’ (‘I am too humble a person to accept it’).”  Shin-mi Rau-zhin, Yaso Okina Mukashi Gatari <span style="font-size:small">[I cannot help but add that every time I read this passage I wonder how many silent insults were given by failing to praise the tobacco and how many silent retorts followed by allowing the guest to finish cleaning the kiseru.]</span></blockquote>


   
As indicated by the foregoing pipe smoking was an integral part of the tea ceremony within the century of its introduction in Japan. For that ceremony one would probably find a seemingly simple tray, most likely in the shiyo-in tabako-bon, incense tray style, holding a ceramic uncovered hi-ire on the left, a hai-otoshi with a bit of water inside on the right, a tatohgami of kizami-tabako in the center, and a pair of kiseru.  If there were several participants there might well be as many such trays, each a bit different but still harmonious with the whole.  Upon closer inspection one might well discover that each piece of the ensemble is a significant work of art.  The following description from a contemporary tea master, Gary Cadwallader,  hints at the quiet complexities:


As indicated by the foregoing pipe smoking was an integral part of the tea ceremony within the century of its introduction in Japan. For that ceremony one would probably find a seemingly simple tray, most likely in the shiyo-in tabako-bon, incense tray style, holding a ceramic uncovered hi-ire on the left, a hai-otoshi with a bit of water inside on the right, a tatohgami of kizami-tabako in the center, and a pair of kiseru.  If there were several participants there might well be as many such trays, each a bit different but still harmonious with the whole.  Upon closer inspection one might well discover that each piece of the ensemble is a significant work of art.  The following description from a contemporary tea master, Gary Cadwallader, hints at the quiet complexities:
<blockquote>“The hi’ire… function is to hold a small lit charcoal with which to light the kiseru.  A small but perfectly shaped section of charcoal, about the size of a thumb joint is lit and set at a slight angle in a peak of carefully formed and smoothed ash, to give the kiseru easy access.  His care and skill in creating this miniature landscape … shows the host’s frame of mind.  More important than the exact form is the state of the charcoal when used. If the hi’ire is prepared too soon and left, a deep layer of ash will build up on the surface of the charcoal, making lighting up unpleasant.  So the hi’ire is a real test of the host’s practical and aesthetic knowledge. … [The] container for kizami is a large sheet of heavy paper, folded like an incense packet [a tatogami tabako-ire] … [You, as the guest then takes one of the two kiseru and] roll a ball of [kizami], not too loose nor too tight.  Upturn the bowl of the kiseru over the charcoal and inhales until the kizami is lit.  One only gets another couple of puffs.  When finished, pick up the bamboo tube [haifuki] and tap the kiseru gently on the edge, then return the tube to the tray.”</blockquote>


   
Beyond the deceptively simple tabako-bon for tea ceremonies, the Japanese well-to-do home would also contain several tobako-bon in the form of small chests and quite identifiable as a pipe smoking accessory. These tabako-bon were for both personal use and to entertain visitors (indeed one 19th century print shows a semi circle of nine seated women, each with an elegant and different lacquered tabako-bon before her). Rather than open boxes they were miniature chests (sometimes referred to as tabako-dansu) often with finely decorated, covered and matched metal hi-ire and hai-otoshi; metal handles or insets for carrying the bon that continued the design;  hooks or insets to hold one or usually two kiseru; and two or more drawers to hold tatohgami  and pipe tools.  Typically the kiseru (almost always rao-kiseru) associated with a  tabako-bon were 10" to 12" (or about 2" to 5" longer then a kiseru one would carry when going out of the house).  The chest itself was most often either of fine grained woods or would be finely lacquered (most often black with gold design) with some  qualifying as being among the finest examples of Japanese lacquer work.  Variations of tabako-bon of this style include formal, and often quite beautiful 'picnic' boxes without side drawers or pipe hooks;  elongated narrow boxes of a plainer sort intended to rest by a sleeping mat; chests with additional drawers to hold writing implements (brush, ink blocks, paper etc); and larger multi drawered chests with a removable tabako-bon.


“The hi’ire … function is to hold a small lit charcoal with which to light the kiseru.  A small but perfectly shaped section of charcoal, about the size of a thumb joint is lit and set at a slight angle in a peak of carefully formed and smoothed ash, to give the kiseru easy access.  His care and skill in creating this miniature landscape … shows the host’s frame of mind. More important than the exact form is the state of the charcoal when used.  If the hi’ire is prepared too soon and left, a deep layer of ash will build up on the surface of the charcoal, making lighting up unpleasant.  So the hi’ire is a real test of the host’s practical and aesthetic knowledge. … [The] container for kizami is a large sheet of heavy paper, folded like an incense packet [a tatogami tabako-ire] … [You, as the guest then takes one of the two kiseru and] roll a ball of [kizami], not too loose nor too tight.  Upturn the bowl of the kiseru over the charcoal and inhales until the kizami is lit.  One only gets another couple of puffs.  When finished, pick up the bamboo tube [haifuki] and tap the kiseru gently on the edge, then return the tube to the tray.”
In short, given that one of the primary purposes of a tabako-bon in a wealthier home was to  honor and impress guests, the tabako-bon of the 19th century Japan was likely among that home's finest possessions.  It follows naturally that they are quite collectable today.




Beyond the deceptively simple tabako-bon for tea ceremonies, the Japanese well-to-do home would also contain several tobako-bon in the form of small chests and quite identifiable as a pipe smoking accessory. These tabako-bon were for both personal use and to entertain visitors (indeed one 19th century print shows a semi circle of nine seated women, each with an elegant and different lacquered tabako-bon before her). Rather than open boxes they were miniature chests (sometimes referred to as tabako-dansu) often with finely decorated, covered and matched metal hi-ire and hai-otoshi; metal handles or insets for carrying the bon that continued the design;  hooks or insets to hold one or usually two kiseru; and two or more drawers to hold tatohgami  and pipe tools.  Typically the kiseru (almost always rao-kiseru) associated with a  tabako-bon were 10" to 12" (or about 2" to 5" longer then a kiseru one would carry when going out of the house).  The chest itself was most often either of fine grained woods or would be finely lacquered (most often black with gold design) with some  qualifying as being among the finest examples of Japanese lacquer work.  Variations of tabako-bon of this style include formal, and often quite beautiful 'picnic' boxes without side drawers or pipe hooks;  elongated narrow boxes of a plainer sort intended to rest by a sleeping mat; chests with additional drawers to hold writing implements (brush, ink blocks, paper etc); and larger multi drawered chests with a removable tabako-bon.
Back to Loring's page [https://pipedia.org/wiki/John_C._Loring '''here''']




In short, given that one of the primary purposes of a tabako-bon in a wealthier home was to  honor and impress guests, the tabako-bon of the 19th century Japan was likely among that home's finest possessions.  It follows naturally that they are quite collectable today.
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[[User:Yang|Yang]] ([[User talk:Yang|talk]]) 08:43, 20 August 2019 (CDT)
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