Height 26.7 cm, mouth diameter 13.6 cm, bottom diameter 10.2 cm
This is an unparalleled example of Iga ware in the form of a pure Buddhist vase. The front has a grass-green glaze with a thin layer of ash, and the back is reddish brown with scattered feldspar grains. Unusually, a floral seal is spatula-engraved on the bottom. The seal is extremely similar to that of Tsutsui Sadatsugu, a lord of Iga from Tensho 13 to Keicho 13, and can probably be recognized as Sadatsugu’s seal. The fact that this Buddhist vase-shaped vase bears the hanaseki of Sadatsugu, who was the lord of Iga, suggests that it may have been made to commemorate the firing of the kiln in the castle. The appearance of the vase is similar to that of a Shigaraki ware, and it seems to have been made in the early stages of Imao ware. On the back of the lid of the inner box, there is an inscription by the fifth generation of Omotesenke, Goryusai Sosa: “Kagura (Shigaraki) Hanahito in the possession of Rikyu,” which is even more interesting if the piece was in Rikyu’s possession.
It is considered more valuable as a document of such Iga ware than as a tea ceremony ware.
