Ryoro (senchado charcoal stove)
A small white clay stove with a draught opening at the front, used in senchado to heat a water kettle over charcoal. It belongs to a different utensil set from chanoyu’s: senchado brews leaf tea in small pots and its equipment answers to that, which is why its stove is a table object rather than a hearth.
Identity
- Category
- Accessory
- Native name
- 涼炉
- Romanised
- ryoro, ryouro
- Also called
- sencha brazier, white clay stove
- Material
- White or unglazed fired clay, occasionally metal
- Skill level
- Advanced
Porosity
Not porous. It contributes nothing of its own to the liquor, so it can be moved between teas freely and washed with detergent without consequence.
Where it comes from
Japanese, and specific to senchado — the practice built around steeped leaf tea rather than whisked powder. Its forms derive from Chinese literati models, which is a visible difference from chanoyu’s equipment rather than an incidental one.
Named here rather than presented as generic equipment. The object belongs to a practice, and TeaHQ describes it from the outside.
If you do not own one
An electric plate, which reaches the same temperature with none of the ventilation problem. The stove is kept for the practice, not for the water.
This one is not marked essential. The tea can be made without it.
Brewing methods it is used for
- Low-temperature brewing (gyokuro style) — A great deal of shaded Japanese leaf in a very small volume of water that is deliberately far below boiling — cool enough that the vessel can be held bare-handed. It is the most extreme low-temperature steeping in common practice, and it exists to extract one part of the leaf while leaving another behind.
- Kyusu brewing (Japanese style) — The Japanese domestic approach to green tea: a moderate quantity of leaf, water well off the boil, short steeps, and two or three infusions from the same leaf with the times adjusted each time.
Tea types it suits
Care and maintenance
Ventilate properly whenever charcoal is burning indoors. Clay must be fully dry before lighting; a damp body cracks. Let ash cool completely before clearing it.
Other accessorys
- Alcohol burner
- Cha dao utensil set
- Cha he (tea presentation vessel)
- Charcoal brazier (fenglu)
- Cup stand (chatuo)
- Electric ceramic tea stove
- Futaoki (lid and ladle rest)
- Hishaku (bamboo water ladle)
- Induction plate
- Kensui (waste water vessel)
- Kusenaoshi (whisk stand)
- Mortar and pestle
- Podstakannik (glass holder)
- Ro and furo (hearth and brazier)
- Stone tea mill
- Tea boat
- Tea cloth
- Tea cosy
- Tea mat (chaxi cloth)
- Tea pet
- Tea pick (cha dao)
- Tea tongs
- Tea tray (cha pan)
- Teapot warmer
- Waste water bowl (jianshui)
- Water cooling bowl (sukwoo)
- Water filter jug
- Yuzamashi (water cooler)
Sources
This page is TeaHQ synthesis. No external source stands behind the description, the material or the account of how the object is cared for. Where the record names a tradition, that attribution is TeaHQ’s own reading of common practice rather than a citation.
In the chronology
- The eighteenth century — Senchadō, and the monk who sold tea in the street
TeaHQ names no maker, brand or shop and has nothing to sell. Nothing on this page should be read as advice to buy the object — the substitute note above exists because owning it is usually optional.