By Sōtetsu Nakamura
Edo Period (17–19C)
Donated by the Homma family
A nakatsugi is a type of matcha container used for usucha (thin tea), with a joint midway through the body. This particular tea caddy has been beveled such as to present the sky and the earth as one, literally expressing the way snowstorms––after which it is named––blur the lines between heaven and earth. The Japanese characters for snowstorm or ‘fubuki’ 雪吹 are written upside-down, as a playful way of suggesting the impossibility of distinguishing between heaven and earth.