Height: 8.7 cm, Mouth Diameter: 9.8 cm, Foot Diameter: 5.0 cm
This is a semi-cylindrical tea bowl with a strongly flared body and a slightly thick construction. The foot is taller than in works by Sōnyu or Sanyu, and the foot rim is flat; the interior features a small but deep tea pool carved out. The black glaze applied over the entire piece has fired to a texture resembling the skin of a yuzu fruit, and on one side of the exterior, the black glaze has been scraped away to reveal two plum blossom motifs. A seal is stamped inside the foot, and three marks remain on the foot’s base. The lid of the accompanying box bears the inscription “Black Tea Bowl with Plum Design, Raku ‘Kichizaemon’ Seal,” indicating that this tea bowl was created before the artist took monastic vows at the age of forty-nine.
