Colophon

A note on how the site is made, in the spirit of the subject: the materials should be as considered as the writing.

Type

The text is set in EB Garamond, a warm literary serif, with Shippori Mincho carrying the Japanese — the mincho register is the correct one for the language, and its Latin letters descend from Garamond, so a mixed line like gyokuro · 玉露 stays of a piece. Both faces are self-hosted; the site makes no third-party font request.

Colour

The palette is three things: washi, the warm off-white of handmade paper; matcha, a muted, restrained green; and sumi, the warm near-black of ink. The light room is paper-first. The dark room is sumi ground with the same green. One accent per view; gold, the colour of kintsugi, appears rarely and on purpose.

Space

Negative space is treated as a material, not as leftover — the principle of ma. Generous leading, hairline rules, one idea to a view. The layout breaks the grid where asymmetry reads as more considered than symmetry would.

Build

Static pages built with Astro and served from the edge. Search runs entirely in the browser. There are no analytics that follow you between sites and no third-party fonts. The aim is a page that loads like paper: immediate, quiet, and yours to read.

Image credits

Public-domain and CC0 images are used without credit; their sources are on file. The images below are licensed CC-BY or CC-BY-SA and are reproduced with the attribution their licences require.

Tea leaf 八十八夜 - Flickr - 4510waza — 4510waza, Wikimedia Commons · CC BY-SA 2.0
Green tea leaves and a cloudy sky 02 — BalukuBrian, Wikimedia Commons · CC BY-SA 4.0
Tatami Alcove (45063444665) — Benh LIEU SONG from Torcy, France, Wikimedia Commons · CC BY-SA 2.0
(Stone path leading to tsukubai in Katsura Imperial Villa, Japan) - DPLA - 7479174774c296111d9dc3884ee8aa3b — Carlquist, Sherwin John, 1930-2021, Wikimedia Commons · CC BY 4.0
(Tsukubai in Katsura Imperial Villa, Japan) - DPLA - 15325c52c9ec3d8f170f0b3598230dd1 — Carlquist, Sherwin John, 1930-2021, Wikimedia Commons · CC BY 4.0
Zhu-Ye-Qing-Tea-03 — CEphoto, Uwe Aranas, Wikimedia Commons · CC BY-SA 4.0
Zhu-Ye-Qing-Tea-02 — CEphoto, Uwe Aranas, Wikimedia Commons · CC BY-SA 4.0
Tea bowl, Kuroraku type, Raku Ware — Chōnyū, Wikimedia Commons · CC BY 4.0
Matcha (6328677556) — cyclonebill from Copenhagen, Denmark, Wikimedia Commons · CC BY-SA 2.0
Chasen-side thread-ar-16to10-fs PNr°0502 — D-Kuru, Wikimedia Commons · CC BY-SA 4.0
Chasen-top-ar-1to1 PNr°0496 — D-Kuru, Wikimedia Commons · CC BY-SA 4.0
Chasen-top oblique-fs PNr°0500 — D-Kuru, Wikimedia Commons · CC BY-SA 4.0
Kintsugi on broken Kyūsu lid-top PNr°1257 — D-Kuru, Wikimedia Commons · CC BY-SA 4.0
Kintsugi on broken Kyūsu lid-bottom PNr°1259 — D-Kuru, Wikimedia Commons · CC BY-SA 4.0
Chasen kusenaoshi with chasen-top oblique-fs PNr°0504 — D-Kuru, Wikimedia Commons · CC BY-SA 4.0
Chasen-side PNr°0498 — D-Kuru, Wikimedia Commons · CC BY-SA 4.0
Chasen kusenaoshi with and without chasen-top oblique-fs PNr°0506 — D-Kuru, Wikimedia Commons · CC BY-SA 4.0
Morikami Museum and Gardens - Interior Garden of Tea House — Daniel Di Palma, Wikimedia Commons · CC BY-SA 4.0
Moss-Covered Lantern (11348654285) — daryl_mitchell from Saskatoon, Saskatchewan, Canada, Wikimedia Commons · CC BY-SA 2.0
Darjeeling-tea-first-flush-leaf-dry — David J. Fred, Wikimedia Commons · CC BY-SA 2.5
Matcha stone mill grinding tencha into powder — Derjochenmeyer, Wikimedia Commons · CC BY-SA 4.0
Matcha latte in tall glass — Derjochenmeyer, Wikimedia Commons · CC BY-SA 4.0
2017 Kagoshima sencha — Difference engine, Wikimedia Commons · CC BY-SA 4.0
Camellia Sinensis — Dipayan Choudhury, Wikimedia Commons · CC BY-SA 4.0
Matcha Scoop — Evanhoever, Wikimedia Commons · CC BY-SA 4.0
Houjicha — FCartegnie, Wikimedia Commons · CC BY-SA 3.0
Usucha — FCartegnie, Wikimedia Commons · CC BY-SA 3.0
Starr-120620-7480-Camellia sinensis-leaves-Kula Agriculture Station-Maui (24515087404) — Forest and Kim Starr, Wikimedia Commons · CC BY 3.0 us
Starr-120620-7487-Camellia sinensis-leaves-Kula Agriculture Station-Maui (24518921843) — Forest and Kim Starr, Wikimedia Commons · CC BY 3.0 us
Hojicha Dark Roast — Francois Mathieu, Wikimedia Commons · CC BY-SA 4.0
Raku ware tea bowl plum blossom Edo period — Gryffindor, Wikimedia Commons · CC BY-SA 4.0
Samurai helmet with half face mask side Asian Art Museum SF noBG — https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/User:BrokenSphere, Wikimedia Commons · CC BY-SA 4.0
Corn silk tea cup teapot 02 — KQuhen, Wikimedia Commons · CC BY-SA 4.0
Matcha tea — Matcha Tea, Wikimedia Commons · CC BY-SA 3.0
Matcha kit for two — MatchaKari1, Wikimedia Commons · CC BY-SA 4.0
Matcha Late — MichaellaaRubio, Wikimedia Commons · CC BY 4.0
Matcha Beverage — mike from New York, NY, US, Wikimedia Commons · CC BY-SA 2.0
Tetsubin 2005 — No machine-readable author provided. Blanu assumed (based on copyright claims)., Wikimedia Commons · CC BY-SA 3.0
Gyokuro img 0067 — Rama, Wikimedia Commons · CC BY-SA 2.0 fr
Matcha (5026245674) — rumpleteaser from Nagoya, Japan, Wikimedia Commons · CC BY 2.0
Red Raku tea bowl by Sanyū VI — Sanyū, Wikimedia Commons · CC BY 4.0
Four treasures of the study (chinese calligraphy set to the uninitiated), Gurgaon, near Delhi — Tarunpant, Wikimedia Commons · CC BY-SA 3.0
Tea plant (Camellia sinensis); flowering stem with sectioned Wellcome V0044086, Wikimedia Commons · CC BY 4.0
Whisk and spoon (Japanese) (AM 1994.17-4) — Unknown authorUnknown author, Wikimedia Commons · CC BY 4.0
桜と茶畑の小道(静岡県雁公園付近) - panoramio — vault006, Wikimedia Commons · CC BY 3.0
Seihi Yokomizo - Sokaitaku (Room) — エヴァンズの秘書, Wikimedia Commons · CC BY-SA 4.0
神戸の茶畑 - panoramio (1) — くろふね, Wikimedia Commons · CC BY 3.0