Height 8.7 cm, mouth diameter 11.5 cm, base diameter 5.7 cm
Omotesenke
This tea bowl is quite different from those shown so far. The entire body is thickly made, the body is distorted into an oval shape, and the mouth is not held in but rather warped outward. The middle of the body has a step like a body string, and a large tea bowl is shallowly decorated in the prospective. The height is also distorted like Shino or Oribe, and the triangular shape with the height in the center is also common to Mino tea bowls. The glazed surface is brownish, but it is well melted. The same Raku seal as “Sansai Shishi Koroso” (Fig. 91), which is engraved with the inscription “Tenkaichi Tanaka Sokei” (fig. 91), is stamped inside the stand, but since it is not clear whether this seal was Sokei’s own regular seal or a common seal for Chojiro ware, this tea bowl cannot be determined to be by Sokei. However, the Raku seal on this tea bowl is slightly larger than the seal on the piece that is said to be by Sokei.
The shape of the characters is also different, and it may be assumed that this seal was a gold seal given by Lord Toyo. On the front of the lid of the inner box, Sotan inscribed “Black Tea Bowl, Tengu, Zangetsu Kuchiguchi, Fu-shin”.
