Height 9.2cm, mouth diameter 2.7cm, bottom diameter 3.1cm
Yugi Art Museum
This tea caddy is renowned as the first masterpiece among all Tamba ware tea caddies. It is said to have been Enshu’s favorite, and its gentle appearance is certainly a graceful work reminiscent of Enshu’s taste. The rounded edge of the mouth is rounded at the edge, with small ears on either side of the stroked shoulder, and the body, which is almost hemmed, is slightly bulging, with a rounded waist and clear traces of thread cutting on the bottom. The body is rounded at the waist, and there are clear traces of itokiri (cutting by thread) on the bottom. This is a Japanese-style tea caddy modeled after the works of Chinese tea masters.
The lid is carved with two characters in the Enshu script “Ikuno” and the same script is also carved in gold and silver on the lid of the inner box. It is accompanied by a pouch made of Araiso Donshi, Tsurugaoka Koto, and Danryu design with gold columns, and the box of the pouch is said to have been handwritten by Enshu. The box of the pouch is also said to have been handwritten by Enshu. Since it was later handed down to Matsudaira Fumai, the character “Ikuno” on the inside box is inscribed by Fumai.
It is accompanied by a poem written by monk Etsuki for this tea container, which Enshu Kobori used for tea ceremonies on September 22 and October 2, Kan’ei 8, and other occasions.
