On December 18, 2004, following the close of the official talks at the Japan-Republic of Korea summit meeting held in Ibusuki City, Kagoshima Prefecture, the leaders took part in a chanoyu get-together that was arranged for them at the Ibusuki Hakusuikan hotel. At this event, Urasenke
Iemoto SEN Soshitsu XVI prepared matcha for Prime Minister KOIZUMI Jun'ichiro of Japan and President ROH Moo-hyun of the Republic of Korea. The other attendees were Japanese Foreign Minister MACHIMURA Nobutaka, Japanese Ambassador to Korea TAKANO Toshiyuki, Korean Minister of Foreign Affairs
and Trade BAN Ki-moon, Korean Ambassador to Japan RA Jong-yil, and also the head of the Naeshirogawa Satsuma-ware Chin Ju-kan ceramics kiln, CHIN Ju-kan XV, who comes from a long line of Korean potters in Japan who have contributed enormously to Japan's ceramics tradition
The teabowl that the Iemoto used for Prime Minister Koizumi was a Black Raku one made by the founder of the Raku pottery line, Chojiro (d. 1589), who was the son of a Korean immigrant. For President Roh, he used a Komogai teabowl believed to have been brought to Japan from the Korean Peninsula
five centuries ago. Afterwards, President Roh, Prime Minister Koizumi, and the Iemoto prepared a bowl of matcha together, and the two national leaders shared in drinking this "Japan-Republic of Korea collaborative tea."
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