Height 8.1cm, mouth diameter 10.6cm, base diameter 4.7cm
On the front of the lid of the inner box, Sotan Sen wrote “Chojiro Red Tea Bowl, Sotan (flower seal)” and on the back of the lid, Tarobo was inscribed by Youken Fujimura, and on the left, Saso wrote “Rikyu’s red tea bowl with Sotan’s name seal on the box, which is in Sotan’s possession and always kept secret. According to legend, Rikyu sent it to Tarobo on Mt. Atago, who later took possession of it again and passed it on to Sotan. However, since Saso did not write the origin of the Tarobo transmission, we do not know what happened between the two. However, it is certain that the Tarobo was passed from Rikyu to Sotan and then to Youken, and the accompanying letter states that it was transferred from Youken to Konoike Michikazu for 87 ryo in the 10th year of the Genroku era, under the patronage of Raku Kichizaemon So-iru. It was later transferred to the Konoike Zen’emon family, where it remained until after World War II.
The shape of the body is similar to that of the “Okuro,” with the waist bent round, the mouth held slightly inward, and the body slightly rounded, but the swing is a little weaker. The small height of the stand is rounded, and the inside of the stand is carved with a low spiral helmet with a thin layer of white yuzu on the red polychrome clay, but it is not well melted due to low fire temperatures. The overall workmanship is slightly thinner than that of “Muichimono,” and a tea tamenuri has been created in the wide prospective area. Five eye marks remain on the tatami, and like the “tsutsumi-kaki”, five are also placed on the prospective. The name is found in both the Chojiro shichitate and the Shinsei shichitate.
