Rakugo: The Tea Bowl of Questions

Even expensive antiques can be easily swayed by a single misconception.
If you listen to the rakugo story "The Questionable Tea Bowl," you will understand the whole story.

Superficial "brand myths" are scary
When he merely fiddled with the teacup and tilted his head, the bath merchant jumped on it, exclaiming, "This must be treasure!" and even going so far as to threaten him into paying the two ryo.
However, when you look into it, there is no evidence to support it. Whether it's investing or a suspicious positive review on the Internet, this is a typical example of how you can end up regretting your decision based on rumors alone.

It's meaningless if you don't have the ability to see the essence.
What Chakin was interested in was the strangeness of "water leaking even though there were no cracks," not the inscription or the design.

Stories drive up prices.
The regent's waka poem, the emperor's inscription on the box...with each additional anecdote, the price of the tea bowl skyrockets.
"Who said it" drives the market more than material or manufacturing costs.

Be generous and keep the profits flowing.
Even if a thousand ryo came into the pot, only half of it was returned to the oil shop, and the rest was given as charity and used for feasts for the household.
Recycling rather than monopolizing - Edokko's style is a match for modern SDGs.

He who does not learn stumbles twice: first the teacup, then the water pitcher.

Near Otowa Falls in Kiyomizu, Kyoto, an oil seller from Osaka was taking a break at a teahouse. Then, Kinbei, a famous Kyoto tea ceremony utensil merchant known as Chakin, appeared and tilted his head while fiddling with the tea bowls in the shop. Eventually, Chakin put the bowl down and left the shop. The oil shop owner, watching this, thought, "If it's a bowl that Chakin likes, it must be worth something," and offered to buy it from the shop owner. The shop owner, sensing the value, was also hesitant, but Aburaya pressed him, saying, "If you don't sell it, I'll accidentally break it," and he ended up buying the tea bowl for two ryo.

The oil merchant immediately wraps the tea bowl in damask and places it in a paulownia box before heading to Kanebee's shop. He tries to sell it to the storekeeper by saying it's worth a thousand ryo, but the storekeeper shakes his head, saying it's just a few tea bowls. The oil merchant keeps pushing and arguing, and finally Kanebee himself appears from the back of the store.

Kanebee explained the situation, saying, "There are no cracks or breaks, but water is seeping out from the bottom, so I was just puzzled." The Aburaya was instantly disheartened, and lamented that he had run out of funds to purchase tea. Kanebee bought the tea bowl from the Aburaya for three ryo, and advised him, "Work hard, steadily, so that you can make your parents happy someday."

Later, when the regent Takatsukasa saw the tea bowl in person, he composed a waka poem: "The sound of the clear water of Otowa Falls, the tea bowl also cracks, the dew under the forest." The story spread among the nobles, and eventually the emperor also showed interest. When the tea bowl was tilted in front of the emperor, the dripping water wetted the hem of the bowl, and the emperor was amused and wrote "I wonder" on the box. Eventually, Konoike Zen'emon, a wealthy merchant and tool lover, purchased the tea bowl under the guise of "deposit," attaching a deposit of 1,000 ryo.

Although this was an unexpected turn of events, Kanebee was not seeking any personal gain. He found Aburaya and handed him half of the 1,000 ryo -- 500 ryo -- and told him that he would donate the rest to charity and that if there was any left over, he would hold a banquet with everyone in his household. The Aburaya was deeply grateful and left. However, a few days later, Aburaya visited Kanebee again and told him, "This time I have an offer to make you 108,000 ryo." When Kanebee asked, "What is this?" Aburaya proudly replied:

"This time I found a leaking water jug."

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