A term used to refer to a wide range of arts and crafts imported from China during the Muromachi period (1336-1573), and meaning a fine article made in China.
However, the term karamono in the context of pottery mainly refers to tea containers, and small vases produced in southern China are classified into more than two dozen types, including eggplant, bunrin, kaju, round, oumi, and crane-necked vases. Also, when we refer to karamono tea bowls, we are usually referring to Koryo tea bowls such as Ido, Kuma, Kohiki, Kate, and Iraho, rather than Tenmoku and Eko-Koryo from China.
In this case, karamono was used in the sense of “made in a foreign country” rather than the original meaning of “made in China. In the tea ceremony, karamono became the subject of tea bets during the Nanbokucho period (1600-1868) as rare and precious objects of foreign origin, but by the Higashiyama period (1600-1868) they were increasingly appreciated and respected as decorative objects in shoin-style drawing rooms, It is known from the “Kimidai kanjyochouki” and “Goshiki” that the three generations of Noh, Gei, and Soami, all of whom were the shoguns, were exclusively responsible for collecting and identifying karamono. Even after the establishment of the tea ceremony, calligraphy, paintings, vases, tea containers, tea bowls, incense containers, and other Chinese artifacts were considered important, and possession of such objects was always considered the first requirement for tea ceremony masters. This is also known from the “Yamakami Souji Ki” of the Tensho period (1573-1928).
