This slightly distorted Kuro-Oribe spouted chawan was designed and produced as a collaboration between Tezumi and Hiroshige Katō of Kasen Kiln. Each bowl was hand-thrown and then manually distorted into a delightfully playful gourd shape before being hand-painted with an iron underglaze design which combines geometric patterns with naturalistic scrollwork. After glazing and firing, each bowl was soaked for two days in a solution called tochishibu (栃渋) which is made from horse chestnut caps. The result is a staining effect which softens the white of the glaze, emphasizes the crazing and darkens the exposed clay.
Specifications
Made in Japan. Ships from the United States.
Width: 15 cm (5.9 in)
Height: 8.2 cm (3.2 in)
Capacity: 350 ml
Please note that due to the organic nature of hand-carving, glazing, and painting, there are variations between pieces, with each bowl being unique in shape and design.
Akazu-yaki Ceramics
Akazu-yaki (赤津焼), from Akazu in Aichi Prefecture, is often seen as merely a subset of Seto-yaki, however Akazu is one of the oldest pottery sites in the region was also the official kiln site for the Tokugawa family in Nagoya castle, with Akazu potters also firing wares in the castle garden. Many of the styles associated with Mino-yaki were originally developed in Akazu. The turmoils of the Sengoku Era caused potters to flee the Seto region over the mountains to Mino. Today, the Akazu traditions are upheld by roughly a dozen potters.
About Kuro-Oribe
Kuro-Oribe (黒織部 - Black Oribe) bowls were developed by the visionary chajin Furuta Oribe (古田織部) in the late 1500s/early 1600s. Their free-flowing paintings and playfully distorted shapes epitomise Oribe's aesthetic philosophy of hyouge (ひょうげ/剽げ/へうげ) which roughly translates to ‘playful’, ‘charming’, ‘jocular’, etc.
Although Green Oribe is the most popular style of Oribe ware today, Kuro-Oribe chawan actually make up the majority of the famous Oribe bowls from the late Sengoku and early Edo periods as the black glaze contrasts elegantly with the green of matcha. Green Oribe, or Ao-Oribe was typically reserved for plates and serving wares.
Meet Katō Hiroshige (Kasen Kiln)About the Artist
Katō Hiroshige (加藤裕重) is a 14th generation potter, and the 12th head of Kitagama Kasen (喜多窯 霞仙), based in the Akazu hills in Seto. In the early Edo period, his family was one of four protected by the Tokugawa Shogunate in order to fire tea ceremony utensils for Nagoya Castle. These Oniwa-yaki (garden fired) wares for the Nagoya Tokugawa developed into a style called Ofukei (御深井). His family's kiln is the only remaining of those original four. Katō-san specializes in traditional Mino and Seto styles such as Shino and Oribe, as well as the Akazu-yaki speciality of Ofuke. In addition, Hiroshige-san loves developing new styles and pursuing his own unique artistic expression.
Katō-san specializes in traditional Mino and Seto styles such as Shino and Oribe, as well as the Akazu-yaki speciality of Ofukei. In addition, Katō-san loves developing new styles and pursuing his own unique artistic expression.
