Outline of Oribe
It is needless to say that the name “Oribe-yaki” comes from Furuta Oribe Shigenori (1544-1615), who was the most famous tea master under Oribe Shigeru Sen no Rikyu, and is said to have been a favorite of Furuta Oribe. However, there is no reliable information on the actual relationship between Oribe and Furuta Oribe, or how Furuta Oribe guided Oribe’s style, if he did at all. Oribe Furuta was active as a tea master for about 30 years from the late Tensho period until his death in 1615, but the term “Oribe ware” is not found in the major tea ceremony records of the time. It is thought that Oribe ware gradually spread among people through hearsay. It is not clear when the name “Oribe” came to be used in the Edo period, but there is an incense container inscribed with “Oribe” by Katagiri Ishizhou, who died in 1673, and an Oribe ware Tebachi (Fig. 144) in a box inscribed with “Oribe ware Tebachi, September of the 5th year Boshin, Jokyo” (1688 in Jokyo), so it was already known as “Oribe ware” by then. Although it is not known when it started, the continuous kilns that produced green-glazed Oribe ware were commonly called Oribe kilns, and the green glaze was also called Oribe glaze.
From the late Momoyama Period to the early Edo Period, tea ceramics favored by Furuta Oribe were fired not only in Mino but also in Iga, Shigaraki, Bizen, Karatsu Takatori, Hagi, etc. Although the origin of the name Oribe for only Mino ceramics is not clear, it is likely because people knew that there was a particularly close relationship with the Mino ceramic area. It is thought that it is because people knew that it had a particularly close relationship with the Mino ceramic area. As already mentioned, it is not clear when and in what way Furuta Oribe became involved with the Mino ceramic area and began to have his favorite works fired. Furuta Oribe first appeared in the world of tea around 1582, but his activities as a tea master are thought to have begun around 1513, when he was appointed Oribe-suke, a fifth rank subordinate, and became the lord of Nishioka in Yamashiro Province.
According to “Tsuda Munenoyu Chanoyu Nikki” (Diary of Tea Ceremony at Tennojiya), one of the major tea ceremony chronicles in Momoyama, he first appeared as the master of the tea ceremony on February 13 of the same year, and used “Seto tea bowl and Seto water jar” for this tea ceremony. Seto in this case must have been one of Setoguro, Shino, or Kosedo produced in Mino, and probably had a close relationship with the Mino kilns due to his association with Sen no Rikyu (1522-91), a master of the tea ceremony. Moreover, according to a reading of Momoyama’s tea ceremony chronicles, “Seto” (Seto) wares came into rapid use around Tensho 14, and demand in the tea ceremony world was rapidly increasing, and it is likely that Sen no Rikyu and Furuta Oribe showed a preference for these wares as their predecessors and had them made.
It is thought that Furuta Oribe began to have a great influence on the tastes of the times around the Bunkei period. It is not a guess based on reliable data, of course, but most of the tea ceramics called Oribe ware in later periods were made during the Keicho period (1596-1615), and Oribe black and black Oribe shoe-shaped tea bowls, which symbolize Oribe’s taste, also became popular during the Keicho period, according to the Chakai-ki (Chakai-ki) and Ko-Oribe-ki (Ko-Oribe-ki). It is clear from tea ceremony records and pottery shards excavated from old kiln sites that Oribe’s favorite tea bowls in the shape of a shoe came into fashion in the Keicho period. When talking about Oribe’s favorite kutsu-shape tea bowls, the tea bowl used by Furuta Oribe at his own tea party on February 28, Keicho 4 is always quoted. It is not clear whether it was Shino, Oribe Black, or Black Oribe, but the fact that it is a distorted and haughty bowl reminds us of the kutsu chawan (tea bowls) that were mass-produced in kilns such as Motoyashiki afterwards. It is interesting that Furuta Oribe used such a tea bowl. It is interesting that Furuta Oribe used those tea bowls, and they were in such vogue that “Tea bowls are made from Seto every eight years,” was written in “Kosojinki” in 1626, ten years after Furuta Oribe’s death, and we can certainly guess the situation from the pottery shards excavated from the old kiln site, and people in later generations regarded them as Oribe’s favorite, It is true that the situation can be inferred from the pottery shards excavated from the old kiln site, and later generations considered these pieces to be Oribe’s favorites. However, we do not know under what circumstances Furuta Oribe put his favorite pieces on the production process.
Oribe ware produced in Mino kilns from Keicho to Genna was enormous in quantity and variety, including Oribe black, black Oribe, Oribe, etc., as illustrated in this book, as well as flower vases, tea caddies, incense containers, tea bowls, candlesticks, large and small plates, bowls, and vases, etc., in a great variety of vessel forms and patterns, and is not something that could be considered a single individual’s taste. The pottery was produced by a collective group of potters. They were produced by a group of potters on an industrial basis. However, although there are various variations in expression, there is one commonality. Although there is a difference between black- and green-glazed Oribe and black- and green-glazed Oribe, they share the same pattern structure, in which the glaze is applied separately and a pictorial pattern is expressed in the space between them. The characteristic is that the entire ceramic production area of a region is based on a common theme.
This phenomenon is probably due to the control of the style by an influential kiln master, who received orders from customers, and it is assumed that Furuta Oribe existed as a predecessor on the customers’ side. There was a theme of Oribe’s taste, so to speak, and individual potters probably devised their own pottery based on that theme. It can be said that Oribe ware was produced by a group of potters who accepted the unique style favored by Furuta Oribe. Therefore, it is impossible to find Furuta Oribe’s personal taste in a single piece, and if we dare to give a name to the style in later times, it must have been called Oribe-yaki all together.
I guessed that it was in the late Tensho period that Furuta Oribe came to have relations with the Mino ceramic area. Therefore, he must have shown his taste for Shino, Kosedo, Setoguro, etc., which were being produced at that time. If the symbol of his taste was a distortion that emphasized artifice, it could be recognized on Shino, and in fact, Oribe black, a distorted addition to Seto black, was fired in the same kiln as Shino, and the artifice shown there is similar.
77 However, the overwhelming majority of what is generally called Oribe was produced after the Karatsu-style continuous climbing kiln was built by Kato Kage-nobu, a kiln master in Kusiri, at his former residence, instead of Shino, Kiseto, and Setoguro, which were fired in a half-ground cellar kiln. The change in kiln style encouraged the production of green-glazed Oribe ware in place of Shino and Yellow Seto, but the green-glazed ware that newly appeared at tea ceremonies was extremely striking, and the impression that it was made according to the taste of Oribe Furuta is strong. The green-glazed ceramics that newly appeared at the tea ceremony were extremely vivid, which may have given the impression that they were made according to Furuta Oribe’s taste. The continuous climbing kilns were much larger than cellar kilns and could produce a large amount of work at a time, so the city was rapidly filled with so-called Oribe ware. The bright, varied, and decorative style was much favored by the people of the time, and Oribe ware was produced in great numbers for two or three decades.
Oribe ware, which uses green glaze, white mud, and iron pigments to express designs, has been produced since the middle of the Muromachi period (1336-1573), and it is evident that Oribe ware shares the same taste as the Tsujigahana dyeing technique, which was very popular during the Keicho period (1596-1596). Oribe ware is characterized by bold ideas and varied forms, which produced excellent tableware.
However, recent excavations of old kiln sites in Mino have revealed that the production of green glaze pottery, which is the origin of Oribe ware, was conducted in the Myodo-gama kiln in the first half of the 16th century during the Muromachi period (1333-1568).
The green glaze did not expand greatly after that, and gallstone was used only as a decoration method for yellow-seto, but with the advent of the continuous climbing kiln, green glaze came to be used as a glaze for mass production.
Next, let us look at the types of Oribe ware produced in Momoyama and their techniques.
Oribe Black
Most of the works are black-glazed, unglazed tea bowls, which are drawer black like Seto black, and are often distorted and made in the shape of a shoe. Some of them are covered with feldspar glaze over black glaze, and a few tea caddies are also seen.
Black Oribe
Oribe black with a pattern added to make it more decorative. This type is also used mainly for tea bowls. The black glaze is partially removed and left white, and patterns are painted on it with iron pigments. Most of them were fired in climbing kilns such as Motoyashiki.
Oribe (Blue Oribe)
Oribe is generally divided into copper green glaze and white glaze in the design composition of vessels, and patterns are painted under the white glaze using iron pigments to create a free and unrestrained decorative effect. Some pieces are decorated with inlaid floral designs or line engravings under the green glaze. The variety of wares varies from kiln to kiln. The most common types of wares are hand bowls, lidded bowls, plates, dishes, incense bowls, incense containers, and incense containers, which are further classified as Narumi Oribe, Aka Oribe, and So Oribe.
Narumi Oribe is a type of Oribe ware in which white clay and red clay are jointed and molded together, with a green glaze over the white clay and a white glaze over the red clay with a pattern drawn in white mud or iron pigment lines. The contrast between the bright green glaze and the pale red ground is beautiful. The origin of the term Narumi Oribe is not clear, but it may be due to its similarity in color tone to Narumi shibori.
Aka Oribe is a type of oribe, molded with red clay, decorated with patterns in white mud and iron pigments, and partly glazed with green glaze. Oribe is often used for mukozuke (tea bowls), incense containers, and tea bowls.
Oribe: A type of pottery in which the entire surface of the vessel is covered with a green glaze. Plates fired at Myodo-gama in the first half of the 16th century were also entirely covered with green glaze, so they can be regarded as total oribe, Some of them are unglazed and whitewashed to show the design. Plates, bowls, incense burners, incense containers, and boar-shaped containers were produced, but few tea bowls were made.
Shino Oribe
Oribe is made using the same technique as Shino, but it was produced after the Shino ware was mass-produced in a climbing kiln. It is often seen in bowls and mukozuke. It was already called “shino-oribe” during the Kyoho period.
Karatsu Oribe
Similar to Karatsu ware was produced in Motoyashiki and Takane. It is called Karatsu Oribe, meaning “Oribe ware in the Karatsu style,” but there are very few works of Oribe ware.
Mino Iga: Similar to Iga ware, this type of pottery is produced in the kilns of Motoyashiki and Ohira, and is called Mino Iga. The technique is quite detailed, with white feldspar glaze on some parts of the surface and iron glaze on others.
