Of the 14 ceramic objects designated as national treasures in Japan, the fact that no fewer than eight are chawan (tea bowls) is a clear sign of their importance in the culture.
Of these eight, five are actually Chinese tenmoku brought here in the Kamakura (1185-1333) and Muromachi (1333-1568) periods; another is a Korean Ido ware from the Choson Period (1392-1910); one is Japanese Shino ware from the Momoyama Period (1568-1715); and one is Koetsu Honami's (1558-1637) "Fuji" chawan from the Edo Period (1603-1867).
It has, however, taken me years to even begin to be able to fathom what is going on with chawan in Japan; to understand their "spirit," in which simplicity is depth and intelligence, asymmetry is beauty and cracks and "flaws" are attractive. When I first came to Japan back in the 1980s, these concepts were as alien to me as having lunch on Mars. Yet all these graceful qualities are found in chawan.