Small Bowls (Kobachi)

A kobachi is what you reach for when a meal is one dish short. Dressed vegetables, pickles, something sweet at the end. The size exists only to hold a small amount, and that limit is what pulls a table together.

Some have eight faces cut around them; some have the rim brought up straight; some are eased into a triangle; some take the shape of a flower still in bud; some are carved so the glaze gathers in the cuts and becomes the pattern. Being small, the marks of the hand read clearly, and no two from the same maker come out quite alike. Porcelain ones are thin at the rim; stoneware ones leave their weight in the palm.

Most are 8–12cm across — for anything with liquor that a small plate cannot hold, and anything a serving bowl would make too much of. The names for bowls are in kinds of Japanese bowls, and what to buy first in Japanese tableware basics.