Height: 7.2 cm, Mouth Diameter: 14.0 cm, Foot Diameter: 6.0 cm
On the underside of the inner box lid, Kaku Kaku Sai Genso has inscribed “Kisi Ippei (seal).” This “Kisi” refers to the third year of the Shōtoku era. When Sōnyū was fifty years old, he made two hundred black tea bowls to celebrate his “half-white” milestone and had Gen’sō of Fushin-an inscribe them. Since the characters ‘Kisi’ are written on all the boxes, these are called “Kisi Tea Bowls” or “Sōnyū’s Two Hundred Tea Bowls.” However, it is unclear exactly how many of them still exist today.
Precisely because they were created to celebrate So-nyu’s fiftieth birthday and his “half-white” milestone, these tea bowls are considered to most distinctly embody So-nyu’s characteristic style. As the adopted son of Ichi-nyu, he too based his work on the Chojiryo-yaki tradition while expressing his own unique characteristics in the form and glaze texture. Sōnyū’s work is generally characterized by its thick walls, and this large, flat tea bowl is no exception. The rim, which curves inward, possesses a natural undulation, and the body has a rounded waist. The small, circular footring has a slightly wide base, and the indentation inside the footring is shallow. The outer edge of the foot is rounded with a groove running around it, and there is a shallow, swirl-shaped tea pool in the interior. It is covered entirely in Sōnyū’s distinctive kaseglaze, giving it a visibly substantial and dignified appearance, yet the glaze is well-fused. Three marks remain on the foot’s base.
