Crockery and Cutlery

Appears in
The Japanese Cookbook
The Japanese Cookbook

By Emi Kazuko and Yasuko Fukuoka

Published 2024

  • About

The appearance and presentation of food is very important to the Japanese, so serving dishes play an important part in Japanese cooking. Japan has been renowned as producers of fine china and porcelain for many centuries and great works of art have been developed around the kaiseki tea ceremony and formal banquets.

Japanese tableware is probably the most varied in the world. Even a simple family supper requires individual rice bowls, soup bowls, plates and sauce dishes, as well as serving plates and bowls, and of course sake cups. Lacquer is widely used not only for trays but also for bowls intended for soup or simmered dishes, and for sake vessels. Wooden dishes, as well as utensils, are also popular not only because they are pleasing to look at but also because the natural material complements so well the country’s food philosophy.