Clay and Fire: The Vessels of Japan

Yōhen tenmoku are held to be the highest class of tenmoku bowl: in firing, the black glaze changes and spots appear. They are thought to have been made in Southern Song China, yet the only three accepted as authentic and complete are in Japan — and all three are National Treasures.

From everyday ware to a named bowl

Ido bowls are the Japanese name for tea bowls made on the Korean peninsula in the early Joseon dynasty. Probably ordinary ware where they were made, they were treasured in Japanese tea for embodying wabi — “first Ido, second Raku, third Karatsu”. The great Ido bowl Kizaemon is a National Treasure, kept at Kohō-an in Daitoku-ji, Kyoto.

First Ido, second Raku, third Karatsu.

White glaze, the shape of a hand

Shino ware is the white-glazed pottery fired in Mino during the Momoyama period; the Shino bowl Unohanagaki is a National Treasure. Raku is shaped without a wheel, by hand and spatula alone, and fired at low temperature; Hon'ami Kōetsu's raku bowl Fujisan is a National Treasure too.

Vessels that crossed the sea and vessels born of Japanese clay were looked at in the same way within tea, and given names. Clay and fire make chance; the human eye turns it into necessity. The beauty of Japanese vessels lives in that exchange.