Height 7.4 cm, mouth diameter 4.0 cm, bottom diameter 4.5 cm
This is a typical Momoyama-style tea bowl with a low spout and sharply twisted outward rim, two vertical spatulas on each of the three sides of the body, and a slightly taut waist with a flat surface. The bottom of the bowl is flat, and is marked with “Roku” and “C”. A thin layer of sesame glaze has been applied from the mouth to the ear and body of one side, while the other side has been fired to a brownish clay body with a faint reddish tinge.
According to legend, Oribe Furuta once owned this potter’s box and ordered Shinbei to have it fired, but this is only a legend. On the front and back of the inner box cover, there are inscriptions “Bizen RASHI-suke” and “Furuta Oribe-dono Gomochiryoku,” but “RASHI-suke” must have been an appropriate inscription for the manner in which it was made.
Hisashige Matsuya saw it at a tea ceremony held by Sakyo Nakanuma on February 5, Kan’ei 13, and wrote in his notes on the tea ceremony, “Iccha-iru Bizen koshagashoba Koori-den to wokau sama-den ni yu sahisuke yu” (Iccha-iru Bizen koshagashoba Koori-den to wokau sama-den ni yu sahisuke yu). Later, the box was lost in a fire that broke out in Takihonbo, so the author of the inner box may be another person. After the fire, Sakai Garakuto donated over 500 gold pieces to the Takihonbo, and the box was given to Garakuto as a gift in return, and then became the property of Lord Matsudaira Fumai. It is included in “Taisho Meikikan” (Taisho Meikikan).
