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This is a really fun little
棚! Originally, it was used in the 水谷, but
利休 took it to the Odawara campaign in 1590, and that's that. Now we use it often in March or April. It's so big that it wouldn't be very suitable for
風炉, but it gives an outside feeling, so late
炉 is a good time to use it.
遠州流 use the 短冊箪笥 similarly, and that one you could use in
風炉 (in fact, I've done that for one of the early konomi presentations 🤫)
Make
It is usually made of paulownia (which is what
利休 would've used), but there are also models made of
桑, lacquered ones with maple leaves (淡々斎) or, very pretty, one made from cedar and reed covers (玄々斎好み, of course).
It has two boards in it:
仙叟 preferred a style with only one board that both held the 薄茶器 and
柄杓.
Similarities
Opening
L holds the top left corner of the door. With R, remove the pin, insert it from the side, then pull the door forward. L holds the lower L part of it, R moves to hold the upper L part of it. With both hands, lean it against the L side of the box.
I've not seen this documented somewhere, but I presume if there was a calligraphy at the back of the lid, you could lean it against the R side (probably holding L upper left, R upper right, L lower right).
点前
濃茶: Door is already open,
水指 half-way out (similar to 紹鴎棚).
The
仕覆 lives in the middle of the 天板 (that means, on top of the box, in plain sight — I find this a pity, you could use the
柄杓 board for it; but it's consistent with the 徒然棚, for example. But what if you had a pin instead of a board…? 😎)
Remember that in
濃茶 with a
棚, the
柄杓 and
蓋置 first go near the wall, and get placed on the
棚 after the 拝見物 are sorted.
芝点(じてん): For
薄茶, you can either leave the middle board in, in which case you need to pull the
水指 forward before getting out the 薄茶器; or you can leave the
水指 where it is and remove the board before purifying the 薄茶器 to use as a space to put 薄茶器 and
茶筅 on similar to
茶箱! For
濃茶, you can't do 芝点.
You don't use the
古帛紗 for the
茶碗 with this
棚 (according to the book, I need to verify that 🤩).
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