Attachment
Box with calligraphy by Soyasu Kusumi
Attributed to
Hirase Family, Osaka
Dimensions
Height 5.0cm
Mouth diameter 5.0cm
Body diameter 5.9cm
Bottom diameter 3.2cm
Weight 76g
Originally, the design of kojiki incense containers was quite eccentric considering today’s tastes. This incense container also has a prone figure of a deer in yellow glaze on the lid and a blue glaze on the body. Deer were prized as auspicious animals in ancient China. The body is blue-glazed. It is called “yellow deer.
I have not had the opportunity to see more than a few incense containers of the same shape, but I have not seen more than two with a yellow glazed deer body and a blue glazed body like this incense container. Even if we include other types such as purple deer, there must have been no more than about ten pieces of this type handed down in Japan.
This piece was passed down to the Hirase family in Osaka, and has become the envy of Osaka’s “kuju” (curious) people. The box label of Hirase Rokoh has a calligraphy by Kusumi Sosayasu (a tea ceremony master of 300 years ago).
The shape of this incense container makes me wonder who made it and for what purpose. Looking back over the past several hundred years, I wonder if it was used for other purposes in the region where it was produced.
