Lily of the Valley Kuro-Oribe Yunomi - 150ml

Name: Lily of the Valley Kuro-Oribe Yunomi - 150ml
Brand: Katō Hiroshige (Kasen Kiln)
SKU: US-T177
Price: 42.00 USD
Availability: OutOfStock

Katō Hiroshige (Kasen Kiln)

★★★★★ (2)

$42.00

This Akazu-yaki Kuro-Oribe yunomi (teacup) has a classic cylindrical shape that narrows towards the top. The front features a hand-painted suzuran (すずらん - lily of the valley), while the back features a geometric basketweave design. These cups were designed and produced as a collaboration between Tezumi and Hiroshige Katō of Kasen Kiln. The shape and designs of this cup were inspired by the cylindrical styles of Kuro-Oribe chawan that were made in the late 1500s-early 1600s, rendered into cup form.

Each cup was hand-thrown and then hand-painted with the iron oxide underglaze design (鉄絵 - tetsu-e). The front and back are then covered with a translucent white glaze, while the rest of the cup is coated in the iron-rich Kuro-Oribe glaze. After firing in oxidation, each cup was soaked for two-three 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.

Each cup is handmade, glazed, and painted by Katō Hiroshige, using natural materials from the area surrounding his workshop.

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.

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.

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.