Important Cultural Property
Dimensions
Height: 28.0 cm, Mouth Diameter: 13.0–13.5 cm, Width: 15.0 cm, Weight: 2,650 g
Collection: Hatakeyama Memorial Museum, Tokyo
Perhaps it could be called a “converging rim”—the left side of the front has crumbled like an earthen embankment, and star-shaped fragments are scattered from the rim to the shoulder. One of the larger triangular fragments, viewed from directly in front, appears to be precariously perched on the edge of a cliff, as if about to fall. Moreover, the rim’s collapse does not stop there.
On the right side as well, a hole has been pierced through it like a crescent moon.
The opening at the base, with its angular ears and hexagonal chamfered edges, is covered in vitrified glaze down to about seven-tenths of the way down the lower half, radiating a lustrous sheen; the vitrified glaze flows in a pale yellow hue, blending with the red clay body on the left side.
The back is also beautiful; if, at a tea ceremony, the front were shown to those seated in front and the back to those seated behind, gasps of admiration would surely be heard on both occasions.
The name “Karatachi” derives from the fruit of the bitter orange or goji berry, which resembles a tangerine. The tree has trifoliate leaves and many thorns on its branches; the name refers to the triangular fragments resembling the thorns of the karatachi.
Hereditary possession of the Maeda family.
