1 General term for tea ceremony utensils. See *chanoyu-no-dōgu 茶湯の道具.
2 Also *usuchaki 薄茶器, *natsume 棗. A tea caddy or container for storing powdered weak green tea. The weak-tea container is frequently made of lacquered wood with matching lid, but bamboo and ceramic examples also exist. The oldest type was cylindrical with the top and bottom rounded. Many chaki resemble the shape of a ripe olive or a Chinese date and therefore called natsume. The usual size is 7 cm high and 7 cm in diameter. However, there are some chaki, called hiranatsume 平棗, which are larger in diameter but shallow. Many chaki are lacquered with gold and silver designs. Therefore, to protect the surface they are kept in special bags called shifuku 仕覆. A container for keeping strong tea is called *chaire 茶入.