Birds on a Plum Tree

Teahouses and traditional Japanese houses have built-in recessed display spaces, called tokonoma. The tokonoma is usually decorated with a hanging scroll, flower arrangement, and small items, like dolls or incense burners, depending on the season. For a tea ceremony, the host would consider the participants and occasion to create a special collection of objects, called toriawase, to commemorate the event. This assortment includes not only the objects in the tokonoma, but also the utensils and tools used in the ceremony, such as the teabowl, scoop, and freshwater container.