Important Cultural Property
Height: 8.3-8.5cm
Diameter: 12.1cm
Outside diameter of foot ring: 4.9cm
Height of foot ring: 0.7-0.8cm
This tea bowl has long been acclaimed as a masterpiece of the Chojiro ware black tea bowls, and is one of the seven types of Chojiro ware, along with the Daikoku and Koguro.
The name comes from the legend that it was a tea bowl used by the priest Toyobo, who lived at Shinnyodo Temple in Kyoto during the Keicho period of the Momoyama period and made the sound of the pine trees by the hearth his companion. Toyobo was a member of a family of Shinto priests called Nagamori, and it is said that he passed away in 1608, but the exact details are unknown.
The shape of this tea bowl, with its distinct division between the body and the waist, is similar to that of a half-cut tortoise shell, and can be seen in the red tea bowls with the “Hayafune” (fast-moving boat) mark, so it can be said that it is a shape that would have been favored by Rikyu. The body is thinly made, and shallow vertical lines can faintly be seen on the side of the body. The rim is made in the so-called ichimonji style, with no change in height or depth, as well as having a cut-around from the inside to the outside. The foot ring, which forms a round circle, is relatively high and wide, so the back of the foot ring is deep and narrow, but there is no particularly noticeable artificiality.
The interior, which has a spacious feel, has a depression at the bottom that seems to be a precursor to the tea pool, and there are also traces of the potter’s tools on the body. The entire interior and exterior are covered in a black glaze with light brown patches here and there, but the interior glaze has less gloss than the black exterior glaze. It has been handed down in a near-perfect state, with only one lacquered repair on the rim and a single thin vertical groove.
The glaze color and foot style can also be seen in Koetsu tea bowls, so it can be said that the characteristics of Koetsu tea bowls were already present in Chojiro ware.
Konoike Michio, who had a great knowledge of Chojiro ware, recognized this “Toyobo” tea bowl as a fine example of Chojiro ware, and it was passed down from Takeda Kyosen Hoin with the following memorandum attached.
Memorandum
- I hereby present to you the Toiyobo black tea bowl that has been handed down in this family, as requested. I have received 15 gold coins for this tea bowl, and I hereby present it to you. I hereby present this tea bowl to you, and I ask that you do not interfere with it in any way.
Takeda Kyosen Hoin
Mori Sukenobu
January 22, 1708
Konoi Michioku
Other items included:
Inner box, paulownia wood, inscription on the lid, “Toyobo” by Rikyu
Inscription on the reverse of the lid, “Toyobo Kuro Chawan, Rikyu’s possession, inscription on the lid, written by Sosen, Soshitsu (signature)” by Rikyu, “Soei (signature)” by Rikyu
Outer box, black lacquer, inscription on the lid, “Toyobo”
etc.
