Chapter II · The Implements · Section 3: At a contemporary tea table — reading “甑或木或瓦匪腰而泥篮以箅之篾以系之始其蒸也入”

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Thesis

“甑或木或瓦匪腰而泥篮以箅之篾以系之始其蒸也入” still has operational value at a contemporary tea table, provided Tang conditions are not silently universalised.

Text

“The zeng steamer is made of wood or earthenware, narrowed at the waist and sealed with clay. A bamboo tray serves as the grate, tied with bamboo strips. When steaming begins, the leaves enter the grate; when done, they are taken out.”

Context

甑（zèng）：蒸器，古蒸茶用。匪腰而泥：腰部收束并用泥封。箅（bì）：蒸屉。

Evidence

• Collation: “匪腰而泥"之"匪”，有学者校读为"非"（即"腰部收束"），百川学海本作"匪"，属通假用字；四库本同。
• Existing readings: 吴觉农指出：甑为唐代蒸青核心工具，今日本蒸青玉露所用甑器仍存古制；"匪腰而泥"的收腰泥封设计，是为了让蒸汽在甑内回流不散，是古代"以器定味"的巧思。

Analysis

To repeat this section today is not to copy a Tang utensil list. It is to keep its order of judgment: leaf first, then water and fire, then the table.

Conclusion

The section does not give a universal rule. It demonstrates a method: read the text, the annotation and the Tang context together before making a modern claim.

Source: The Classic of Tea, Chapter II · The Implements, section 3; the original is in the public domain.

Modern tea science would split the sentence into cultivar, soil, light and plucking variables. 吴觉农指出：甑为唐代蒸青核心工具，今日本蒸青玉露所用甑器仍存古制；"匪腰而泥"的收腰泥封设计，是为了让蒸汽在甑内回流不散，是古代"以器定味"的巧思。 The variables remain useful, but none of them alone explains the cup.

Storage adds another variable: moisture and temperature. “匪腰而泥"之"匪”，有学者校读为"非"（即"腰部收束"），百川学海本作"匪"，属通假用字；四库本同。 Old and young tea do not share one shelf life, so “the older the better” is not a rule.

As a new reader, I first took “甑或木或瓦匪腰而泥篮以箅之篾以系之始其蒸也入” as a conclusion. Reading the annotation to section 3 again, it is clearly a judgment with conditions attached.