Height: 8.5 – 8.9 cm
Diameter: 11.0 – 12.0 cm
Outer diameter of foot: 5.4 – 5.5 cm
Height of foot: 0.5 – 0.8 cm
This is a tea bowl with a rich, generous feel that is very much like Koetsu’s. It was owned by Shozaburo Kamiya of Kaga, and so it bears his name.
The clay is a rough clay with a little iron in it, and it has a thick, dark brown Raku glaze on the inside and outside.
The shape is reminiscent of a bowl with a plump, well-rounded body, and of a cast-iron bowl, and of the various works by Koetsu that have survived, this tea bowl is the only one with a different shape. In terms of shape, there is nothing that better expresses Koetsu’s generous spirit.
It is hand-made and thick and solid. The rim is also thick and has several gentle undulations, giving this tea bowl a soft feel. The bottom is flat, with a slight dent in the center, and the rim and waist have several cracks, adding to the charm.
The inside is full and wide, and there are two places where the glaze does not cover the inside.
Kamiya is listed as one of Koetsu’s seven types of tea bowls, along with Kaga, Amagumo, Shigure, Tekketsu, Ariake, and Kugai. This means that people’s preferences vary. Some people say that Fujiyama is the best, while others say that Bishamon-do is the best, but during the time of Okochi Masatoshi, the opinion was that there was nothing like Kamiya. This is probably because it was deeply loved for its rich appearance.
The accompanying item is a white crepe bag, the inner box is black lacquered, and the writing on the front of the lid is in gold powder characters that say “Koetsu ware”. On the back of one of the lids is written “Hon’ami Koetsu handmade tea bowl. I have been asked to write this in response to the long-standing request of a person who has long possessed this tea bowl, which was made by Hon’ami Koetsu, and who has been invited to tea ceremonies by Koetsu’s descendant, Koetsu Yosai. I have written this in response to the request of the person who has long possessed this tea bowl, which was made by Hon’ami Koetsu, and who has been invited to tea ceremonies by Koetsu’s descendant, Koetsu Yosai. The inner box is made of paulownia wood, and on the front of the lid is written in black ink “Takamine ware, tea bowl of sorrow”, and on the upper left is a paper label with the words “Koetsu tea bowl”.
There is also a label on the inside of the lid of the inner box that says “Koetsu tea bowl paper shop delivery arrival record for two sets, to be kept separately and stored in secret, and to be presented to the lord of the house. The outer box is paulownia wood with a steel lock.
According to the oral tradition of the elderly people of Kaga, the priest Tayama, who was highly regarded as a great priest and lived in Daishoji, moved to Takanomine in Kyoto in his later years and was close to Koetsu’s residence, so they became friends. It is said that when he was asked by the wealthy merchant Shozaburo Kamiya of Kanazawa to make a Raku tea bowl for him, Koetsu readily agreed and made one, which he then gave to Shozaburo. After that, it was passed down through the generations of the Kamiya family, and came to be called Kamiya Koetsu, and when it came to the time of Kamiya Fusai, it was given to someone else at their request, and in 1831 it was returned to the possession of Isshian, and Fusai’s son Ressen wrote the inscription on the box. After that, the owners changed hands, with Sakaeemon Sakeya, Kazo Yamada, and Yaichiro Ichida all owning it, and when it was in the possession of the Ichida family, it was designated as an important art object, but after the war, it left the Ichida family and changed hands again.
