I am not sure how many of the bowls attributed to Chojiro are still in existence, but I have had at least seventy or eighty of them in the past thirty years or so. Unlike the old days, when one could rarely see a Chojiro. After World War II, even a person like me was able to see almost all of the famous Chojiro teacups from the old days, so I can say that I was very fortunate to have encountered this era.
Although it can be said that all of Chojiro’s tea bowls were made by hand, one by one, with great care and attention, there are still only a few truly excellent tea bowls that were made with great effort. However, what is interesting is that each of Chojiro’s tea bowls has its own unique style and character, and while there are some outstandingly well-made masterpieces among Setoguro, Kizeto, Shino, Oribe and other tea bowls made in Mino at the same time, there are also some mediocre ones with no character at all, ranging from virtuosity to craftsmanship. In contrast, Chojiro’s tea bowls are individually superior or inferior in quality, but all have a single framework. This may be due to the fact that in the case of Mino, various potters made tea bowls in kilns scattered throughout the region, while in the case of Chojiro, tea bowls were made in a single family workshop, and the basic form was based on the taste of Sen no Rikyu (1522-91). However, from a different point of view, in the case of Mino, the number of potters was large and the area was wide, so there were excellent potters who worked freely and openly, and while there are some mediocre works, there are also some exceptional masterpieces left.
Since Chojiro’s workshop was small in scale and based on Rikyu’s taste, there are few interesting and fun tea bowls that are rich in artifice like the famous Shino bowls. Probably, the artist tried to follow Rikyu’s taste without expressing his own individuality, and that is why he was able to create works with a common framework.
Among Chojiro’s existing tea bowls, I am most attracted to “Muichimono,” “Ichimonji,” and “Daikokuro,” which are all related to Rikyu, and “Daikokuro” was handed down from Rikyu to Shoan, Sotan, and then to Echen Soza, while “Ichimonji” has a trace of Rikyu’s writing “I” and a seal (hanaseki) on the surface of the tea bowl. We do not know if “Muichimono” was owned by Rikyu or not, but it is the same type of tea bowls, and both of them were typical of Rikyu’s taste.
Fortunately, these tea bowls have already been frequently introduced in exhibitions and books, so anyone who is interested in tea bowls has probably seen one or more of them. And those who have seen them at least once must have been deeply impressed. If it is called a masterpiece, it will impress people, but the impression from “Okuro” or “Muichimono” is different from “Ubagaki” of Shino Tea Bowl or “Fujisan” of Koetsu Tea Bowl (Fig. 102) in quality, not because it directly conveys the interest and beauty of the workmanship, but because it creates a quiet atmosphere around the tea bowl. It is not directly appealing to us with its interesting and splendid artistry, but rather, it creates a quiet and still atmosphere around the tea bowl, where it stands alone and unobtrusively.
And in my experience, this impression is stronger when you look at it from a distance. However, when you pick it up in your hand, you will see that it is just an ordinary tea bowl with a straightforward appearance, which has been handmade with its function as a tea bowl as the first priority. Then, when you take it out of your hand and put it back on the tatami mat, it becomes a tea bowl again, quietly positioned, with a taste that does not allow for easy compromise.
It has been often discussed about the unique shape of Chojiro tea bowl with “Ookuro” and “Ichimonji” at the top, but the conclusion can only be linked to the philosophy of Sen no Rikyu’s apology for tea ceremony in his later years. Therefore, it is not the work of a single potter, Chojiro, but the embodiment of Rikyu’s thoughts on Wabi-cha, or Wabi-tea, in the form of a tea bowl. And although the appearance is seemingly random and ordinary, it is not mere ordinary, and one cannot help but perceive it as the true form after all fictions have been discarded. In other words, it is not a mere vessel, but a “tool” for Rikyu’s tea ceremony, or to borrow an old expression, it was made as a “tool” for the tea ceremony. Therefore, when Chojiro’s tea bowls, which were favored by Rikyu, appeared at tea ceremonies, people called them “Soyei-shaped” tea bowls, and they were used at many tea ceremonies thereafter.
It was in 1586 (Tensho 14) that the first record of a tea bowl presumed to be Chojiro ware was made in a Momoyama period tea ceremony record, and it was a “Soyei-shaped tea bowl” used by a man named Inoue Gengo of Nara Nakabo, as described in “Matsuya Kaikki. The “Soyei-shaped” tea bowls, or tea bowls favored by Rikyu, were highly regarded in the tea ceremony world of the time as tea bowls of unusual beauty, and in a tea book written in Tensho 16 by Yamakami Soji, Rikyu’s senior disciple, he wrote, “Sobetsu chaburi no koto to karacha chaburi no koto ni taruya, korai chawan, imayaki chawan, seto chawan, and so on in this age, and in the next, kara sahe naku he ha suki gutsu no nisakuya” ( The “Imayaki tea inkstone” was the name given to Chojiro ware tea bowls by the tea ceremony world during the Tensho period (1573-92), and after it was described as a “Soyei-type tea bowl” in the 14th year of the same period, it often appeared in tea ceremony records as an “Imayaki tea bowl”. After it was published as “Soyei-shaped Tea Bowl” in the 14th year of the same year, it often appeared in tea ceremony records as “Imayaki Tea Bowl”. However, Chojiro’s tea bowls were only appreciated as Rikyu’s favorite tea bowls.
It is not clear whether Chojiro’s tea bowls first appeared in the tea ceremony world in Tensho 14 as “Soyei-shiki” or whether he started to bake tea bowls earlier in his association with Rikyu and his people. However, if we look at the tea ceremony records of the Momoyama period, a tea bowl that may have been made by Chojiro is mentioned three times in the “Tennojiya Kaikki” by Tsuda Munenori.
The most noteworthy of these is the “red-colored tea bowl,” which appears in a tea ceremony held by Soji Yamagami on October 17, Tensho 7, the “hatano-soritaru tea bowl” used in a Senjo Soyakai on December 9, Tensho 8, and the “sleigh tea bowl” also used by Soji Yamagami on February 13, Tensho 11.
Among the tea bowls used at that time, the “red” ones are Karamono tenmoku with a reddish-brown glaze, which should have been marked as Karamono tenmoku. However, here, the only mention of “reddish-brown glazed bowl” is unusually abrupt in the tea ceremony notes of the time, and for this reason, I suspect the appearance of something different from the conventional description. And the fact that a red tea bowl could have been produced in Chojiro’s workshop at that time is proven by the fact that a karashishi tile (owned by the Raku Museum of Art) with the inscription “Tensho Nisshun Yorimei Chojiro made” is known, and the clay and glaze used for it are exactly the same as those used for “Shirasagi”, “Muichimono”, “Ichimonji” and red tea bowls such as “Dojoji”, etc. It can be assumed that technically it was possible to produce red tea bowls after Tensho 2 (1574).
As for the “hatano-sori-taru chawan” and “sori chawan,” it is possible to find many edge-surrounded tea bowls in Korai tea bowls, but in such cases, they are still labeled as “Korai tea bowls” as was customary in the tea ceremony records of the time. However, here, only the shape is described as “hatano solitaru,” and it seems that something different must have been used, and it must have been a tea bowl like “Dojoji,” and considering that the shape of “Dojoji” is similar to that of Kumagawa, a Korai tea bowl, it is possible that the shape favored by Rikyu was not established until the tea ceremony was finished. In addition, considering that the shape of “Dojoji” is similar to Kumagawa of Korai tea bowl, it tells us that there were times when Chôjirô ware was made similar to Korai tea bowl before the shape preferred by Rikyu was established. Furthermore, the fact that Sen no Rikyu and Soji Yamakami were the ones who used them is extremely interesting in making such a hypothesis, and the relationship between Rikyu and Soji and Chojiro began in the early Tensho period and gradually deepened until the “Soyei-shaped tea bowl” was produced in Tensho 14.
By the way, the only time Chojiro’s tea bowl was written down as “Soyei-shaped” in a tea ceremony record was at a tea ceremony held on October 13, 1586 (Tensho 14) by Inoue Gengo of Nara Chubo, and I have already mentioned that Chojiro’s tea bowl was called “Imayaki tea bowl” or “Ware tea bowl” after that, however, after the appearance of the “Soyei-shaped” tea bowl, it was not until the Tensho 1920’s that Rikyu However, according to the tea ceremony notes left by Tsuda Sogyo Sopon, Kamiya Sotan, Kamiya Sotan, Kamiya Sotan, Matsuya Hisamasa, Hisayoshi, and others, during the five years between the appearance of the “Muneyi-shaped” tea bowl and the February of 1591 when Rikyu committed seppuku, the “Imayaki tea bowl” was used about 50 times, by 40 people including Rikyu, his son Shoan (Michiyasu), his successor Shoan, and others. It is assumed that many of them were those who admired Rikyu’s Wabi-style tea ceremony. The tea bowls made by his successors, Sokei, Soami, Tsunekei, and others, were also called “Imayaki tea bowls”.
However, the tea bowl used at a tea party held by Sen Sodan in Kyoto on February 25, 1608, is not described as “Imayaki tea bowl” but as “Shuraku tea bowl” in the tea ceremony record by Hisashige Matsuya. Shuraku” can be read as “Juraku,” and the fact that they were called “Juraku tea bowls” even though Juraku-dai had already been demolished at that time indicates that “Imayaki” was called “Juraku ware” by some people. Further speculation suggests that most of the other “Imayaki tea bowls” were unmarked, but the “Juraku black tea wan” used by Sotan had the “Raku” mark stamped on it, which may be why he wrote it down as “Juraku black tea wan” in particular. After that, the name “Imayaki Chawan” continued to be used until the Kanbun era (1661-73), as seen in “Bi-mo Ki”, but it was also called “Shuraku Chawan”. In addition, after Kichizaemon Tsuneyoshi, tea bowls were stamped with the character “Raku” for generations, so it seems that “Juraku ware” was further simplified and called “Raku ware,” and in a letter written by Oda Yurakusai, who died in 1621 at the age of 79, it is written in the address “Raku Chojiro to” that Chojiro was the one who died in Tensho 17, or the second generation. It is not clear whether Raku Chojiro died in Tensho 17 or was the second generation of the Raku family.
Furthermore, Koetsu (died in 1637), who was a close friend of Kichizaemon Tsunekei and his son Kibei (Doiri = Nonkou), seems to have written the characters “Raku ware gochiyawanya” on a five-width noren, which indicates the Raku family status, and the name “Raku ware” is clearly written on it, which probably means “Raku ware” in the Genwa/Kanei period (1615-43). It is likely that Raku ware was called “raku-yaki” by some people from around the Genna-Kanei period (1615-43), and “chawan-ya” by those who were more familiar with it, like Koetsu and Sotan.
As mentioned above, the teawanne tea bowls started by Chojiro were highly regarded as the tea bowls of the day, and were also called “Ima-yaki” and “Juraku-yaki,” and in the Edo period, his workshop was established as a family business as “Raku-yaki Gochiyawan-ya,” and it has continued to this day. As mentioned above, the tea bowls of Chojiro’s workshop, along with Shino, Kiseto, Oribe, and other Seto tea bowls made in Mino, were widely used as the tea bowls of the period because they were made under the direct guidance of Rikyu. Therefore, among the “Ima-yaki tea bowls” described in the tea ceremony chronicles, there must be quite a few that have been handed down to the present day as having been handed down by Rikyu, but most of them are simply described as “Ima-yaki tea bowls,” and since they are not inscribed with unique names as in later tea ceremony chronicles, they are not known at all. There is only one red tea bowl inscribed with “Kimori” that Rikyu treasured until his last days, described in “Tennoji-ya Kaikki” by Tsuda Munenori, which was destroyed by fire in the Great Kanto Earthquake, and which has been reconstructed from the remaining pieces), and “Kuroyakino-chawan” used by Sen Shoan on August 7, 1590 (Tensho 18), or perhaps the “Okuro” from the Rikyu tradition. It is assumed that the “Kuroyakino-chawan” used by Sen Shoan on August 7, Tensho 18 (1590), may be the same as the “Okuro” handed down by Rikyu.
However, it seems that during Rikyu’s lifetime, most of Chojiro’s tea bowls passed through Rikyu, and people must have been pleased to acquire them through him. However, no one would have thought that this would later be evaluated unfavorably, as in the case of the “Diary of Tamonin (Tamonin Diary),” “In recent years, Shinyoshi’s tools have been prepared and sold at a high price, and the sales have been deceptive,” (the author in parentheses) and that this would be a factor in Rikyu’s charge of seppuku.
For a long time, I had thought that the semi-tubular tea bowls originated in the Momoyama style during the Tensho period (1573-92). Certainly, most of the tea bowls that have been handed down from generation to generation, such as Setoguro, Shino, Kizeto, and Chojiro, are estimated to have been made after the Tensho period, and it is clear that the Momoyama period was the heyday of the semi-tube-shaped tea bowl, and it was thought to be the Tensho period without precise data regarding the period of its origin. However, recent excavations of old kilns in Mino have led to the estimation that half-tube shaped Seto black tea bowls and Kiseto tea bowls with rounded hips were fired in Mino kilns as early as around the Tenmon period (1532-55) and as late as around the Eiroku period (1558-70). It has become clear that tea bowls in the form of the pre-Momoyama style, different from the Tenmoku style, were being fired in Mino kilns in response to demand from certain sectors of the population, almost at the same time as the Apicha trend that began in the Tenmon period (1568-70). And since half-tube tea bowls came into the limelight as the tea bowls of the age during the Tensho period, when the apology tea ceremony was at its peak, it can be inferred that the early half-tube tea bowls that began in the Tenmon and Eiroku periods were also made to meet the demands of the Iyakubicha world, and that the Kizeto tea bowls (see “Japanese Ceramics” 3 Yellow In the Ki-Seto tea bowl (see “Japanese Ceramics” 3: Yellow, Seto, Seto-Kuro), there is one extremely noteworthy item that tells us what happened during that period.
When I first saw it, I was surprised at how similar it was to Chojiro’s “Okuro”, but on the cover of the box that contained the bowl, there was an inscription on the front of the lid, “Hokumukai Douchen Okurou” by an unknown author, and on the base of the box, there was a red lacquer calligraphy of Rikyu’s seal (commonly called “Okera-ban”). In addition, a seal of Rikyu (a seal commonly referred to as an okera seal) was written in vermilion lacquer on the inside of the base. At that time, people thought that a tea bowl of this style could not have been made in the Muromachi period (1336-1573), so the fact that it was a favorite of Hokumukai Michichen, who died in 1562 (Eiroku 5), was not an issue, and the fact that it has Rikyu’s seal and is similar in shape to Chojiro’s “Okuro” suggests that it was made in the same period when “Okuro” was made. Therefore, it was assumed to have been fired in a kiln somewhere in Mino around the same time as the “Okuro” was fired, that is, around 1586 or 1587 (Tensho 14 or 5), as Rikyu’s favorite. Later, however, it was discovered that similar pieces had been excavated from the ruins of an old Mino kiln, and the tradition of “Kitamukai Douchen o-okuran” has come to have an important meaning. In other words, it seems reasonable to assume that the tea bowls that we have considered to be Rikyu’s favorites were not the favorites of Rikyu alone, but rather those that arose in response to the Apicha taste from the late Muromachi period to the early Momoyama period, and that among these there were some that were very closely connected to Rikyu.
Furthermore, when we look at the tea ceremony records of the time in light of these works, we find that the “Seto tea bowl” used on March 22, 1564, May 13, 1569, September 14, 1572, December 13, 1573, and March 12, Tensho 1 (all in “Tsuda Munenori Chayu Nikki”), or the “Seto tea bowl” used on March 22, 1564, May 13, 1569, September 14, 1569, December 13, 1572, and March 12, Tensho 1 (all in “Tsuda Munenori Chayu Nikki”), are all related to the tea ceremony of the early days of the tea ceremony. The “Seto tea bowls” that came to be used in greater numbers around Tensho 13 or 4 were tea bowls of the pure Momoyama style, i.e., Setoguro, Shino, Kizeto, etc., fired in the kilns under the kiln at Oyaya, Muta-do, and other kilns. and Kizeto, which were fired in kilns under the Oyayama kiln, Muta-do and other kilns, and Oribe-kuro and Kuro-oribe, which were added between the Bunroku and Keicho periods (1592-1615).
On the other hand, the tea bowls made by Chojiro as “Soyei-shiki” appeared in the Chakai-ki in 1586 (Tensho 14), and they are tea bowls in the form of “Okuro” and “Ichimonji”. The fact that the Soyo type made by Chojiro is very similar in form to the Kizeto tea bowls favored by Hokumukai Douchen, which Rikyu owned, may not mean that the Soyo type itself was Rikyu’s original in terms of style. However, he completed the “Kusa-no-Kozashiki” style, which was similar to the “Waitan” style, around the 10th year of Tensho (1582), and later practiced the tea ceremony of apology, as the author of Nanbouroku (Nanpouroku) wrote: “Kusa-no-Kozashiki, roji-no-fu-ha, hon-shiki no kane-wo motto-suru-he-do, nikane-wo hanare, waza-wo omotowo, shin-jokano-no-shiho ni shitaaru desu de seimei-maho” (The Tea Ceremony of the Apology, which is a way to make one’s life better). The tea bowl that Rikyu most deeply sympathized with in his later years was a semi-tubular shape with a rounded waist, like the Kizeto tea bowls favored by Douchen. Rikyu had Chojiro, who had a molding method called “hand kneading” that was not used for Seto tea bowls, make a tea bowl like “Okuro” that was much deeper than Kosedo as a tea bowl for apologetic tea ceremony, and the people of that period must have accepted it as “Soyei-shiki”. The tea bowls of Koseto were made in a rutted style, but those of Chojiro were made by a sculptural molding method called hand kneading, and were made one by one with more care and attention, Even if we look at them now, Chojiro’s “Ookuro”, “Ichimonji”, and “Muichimono” have a deeper taste and a more dignified style as tea bowls of apology. It is a tool of Wabisuji.
The most distinctive feature of Chojiro ware tea bowls as pottery is that they are formed by hand without using a potter’s wheel at all, and that they were not fired in a so-called main kiln like the large kilns of Mino (half-above ground anagama) that fired Setoguro and Shino, but basically in a small kiln with a low firing temperature, later called an inner kiln in common use. The technique of forming vessels without using a potter’s wheel has a long history, including ancient Jomon and Yayoi earthenware, as well as earthenware produced in large quantities as everyday vessels since the Kofun period (burial mounds). However, while all earthenware and kawarake were unglazed earthenware, the pottery made in Chojiro’s kiln was glazed and fired at a higher temperature than kawarake, and was a so-called soft pottery, similar to the sansai and green glazed pottery (generally called Nara sansai) produced during the Nara and Heian periods (710-794). This type of low-fired pottery was similar to the sansai and green glazed pottery produced during the Nara and Heian periods. As far as is known, this type of low-fired glazed pottery (around 800°C) declined and ceased to exist during the Heian period, and only Kawarake, an extension of earthenware, was produced for a long period of time. Therefore, it is assumed that the low-fired glazed pottery fired by Chojiro was not born out of a long tradition in Japan, but was the result of foreign technology introduced again in the late Muromachi period, just as the sansai pottery of the Nara period was the direct result of technology imported from China, and this is supported by the following evidence The originator of Chojiro Pottery is said to have been a Tang Dynasty Chinese named “Ameya” (also written as “Ameya”).
By the way, where did this Chinese “Ameya” come from? In the Edo period (1603-1867), both Chinese and Koreans were called “Tang people,” so it is not clear which was the case. However, many other tea ceremony books and good traditions describe the theory that he was a Korean. However, Tanaka Sakutaro once proposed the Chinese theory based on the presumption that the name “Ameya” seems to be of South Chinese origin, and I had also presumed that Chojiro was of South Chinese origin based on the style of his “two-color gourd flat bowl” and “three-color lion incense burner” inscribed by Sokei, as his low-firing pottery method is considered to be of the koji-yaki type, In recent years, materials from medieval sites in Fukuoka and Kumamoto prefectures in Kyushu have been unearthed that are not directly related to Chojiro’s pottery, but are of interest when examining the area surrounding his pottery. In Japan, there has been an appreciation of koji-yaki pottery imported from southern China since the Middle Ages, which prompted the arrival of potters from southern China. I have come to the conclusion that people like Ichikan, a Tang Dynasty Chinese who is described as “Tang Dynasty Chinese,” and “Ameya,” the founder of Chojiro pottery, may have come to Japan. Further speculation suggests that the green-glazed Oribe ware that came to be produced in the Mino kilns was also inspired by the appreciation of Koji ware.
The above discussion suggests that Chojiro’s pottery method, which began with the original Ameya, may have been derived from the so-called “koji-yaki” pottery produced in the South China and Koji-shina (present-day Vietnam) areas. It has also been suggested by previous scholars that the main occupation of Chojiro’s workshop was tile making, but it is not clear at this point whether he was a pure tile maker or not.
Since there is a “lion tile” inscribed in Tensho 2, it is possible that he was engaged in the production of special tiles in the early period, or that he responded to orders for decorative tiles during the construction of the Juraku-dai. However, even after Tensho 14 and 5 (1586 and 87), when he began to make “Soyei-shaped” tea bowls, it is not clear whether tile making was his main occupation or not. It is estimated that the workshop of Chojiro after Incidentally, a letter written around 1593 by Machino Nagato-mori Yukikazu, a lord of Shirakawa Castle and a shogun of Gamo Ujisato (1556-1592), one of Rikyu’s seven philosophers and a tea master, states, “I am referring to the Kichizaemon of Tenka-chiya-wan-yaki,” which is a reference to the Kichizaemon of Tenka-chiya-wan-yaki. It is clear that it was as a tea bowl potter that Chojiro’s workshop was granted the title of “Tenka-ichi” by Toyotomi Hideyoshi. It is natural to infer from the fact that between Tensho 14 and Tensho 19, as many as 40 people, even if only recorded in major tea ceremony records, possessed “Ima-yaki tea bowls” fired at Chojiro’s workshop, and in Tensho 16, Soji Yamagami highly evaluated “Ima-yaki tea bowls” as the most popular tea bowl of the time, and the tea ceremony records only show a small part of the demand for such tea bowls. The tea ceremony record is only a small part of the demand. Why was it necessary to make roof tiles when there was such a major job as a tea bowl maker?
It must have been much more economically efficient to bake tea bowls, and was it really possible to produce such a hearty tea bowl and produce roof tiles at the same time? At that time, there was no such business at all in the Mino kilns, and tea bowls, water jars, and other pure tea utensils were made by special order, based on the production of plates, bowls, and other high-grade tableware. By analogy, it is inconceivable that Chojiro’s workshop was engaged in both roof tiles and tea bowl making at the same time, and it is precisely because of his unique occupation of making tea bowls that he was allowed the title of “the best in the world”.
I have often used the term “Chojiro’s workshop,” but there is no contemporary expression such as “Chojiro’s workshop” in the old records.
However, many people have already understood the character of Chojiro’s pottery by my use of the word “workshop. According to a document written by Soiri (although it is not clear whether this was the case before the death of the first Chojiro in 1589), at least five or six people were engaged in making tea bowls in his workshop from Tensho to Keicho and Genna, and the bowls made by these people are known as Ima It is clear that at least five or six people were engaged in making tea bowls from Tensho to Keicho and Genna, and that the tea bowls made by these people were called Ima-yaki and later passed down as Chojiro-yaki, so I thought it would be more appropriate to speak of Chojiro as Chojiro Kobo or Chojiro-yaki.
In addition, there are tea bowls that have been handed down as Chojiro’s work that differ considerably in style, and the question of whether they were made by a single artist must surely be raised by anyone who has looked at at least two or three dozen works in detail, since such differences in style are already well known, Nowadays, there are few people who think that Chojiro’s tea bowls are the work of a single artist. And for many people, there is a deep interest in what level the bowl in front of them is as a tea bowl of Chojiro.
It is not the first time that people have been suspicious that there are only a few tea bowls really made by Chojiro, and there was already a person who was suspicious around the Kyoho period (mid-Edo period). In a letter to Sumitomo Kichizaemon Tomomasa, who was a close friend of his, there are several descriptions of Chojiro’s tea bowls, some of which are very interesting.
There are only seven or eight tea bowls of Hon Chojiro (I suppose he means the real Chojiro, i.e., Chojiro I, but he may also mean a really excellent tea bowl), and the ones that most people call Chojiro are all Koetsu’s. Koetsu was a master, and the next one is a masterpiece. Koetsu is a master, and the next is said to be made by Kosasa. And even Sotan has written “Chojiro” on them.
Another letter says, “A true Chojiro is rare. I have been in Kyoto for several years and have looked at all the good tea bowls that I have seen, but there seems to be a lot of misunderstandings,” he said. Doyo was a member of Chojiro’s workshop. It seems that Doyo was not able to make such a clever interpretation as the work of Chojiro’s workshop, and what is also funny is that he attributed what he thought was not Chojiro’s work to Koetsu or Kosa (Koetsu’s heir), which shows that he did not know the reality of Koetsu tea bowls at all. I have seen quite a few tea bowls with the name Chojiro inscribed by Sotan and his associates, but none of them can be attributed to Koetsu, and most of them are assumed to be early Raku tea bowls before Jokei, that is, the works of the Chojiro Studio. However, it is indeed true that there are seven or eight works that are satisfactory as Hon Chojiro, and it is because I saw many works that I was able to reach such a conclusion, and even today, the work of the first Chojiro is not strictly known, but there are a few tea bowls that everyone is deeply impressed with as expected of Chojiro, and among the tea bowls that are said to have had relations with Rikyu, there are only a few that are not known to have been made by Rikyu, but are known to have been made by Chojiro. Among tea bowls that are said to have been related to Rikyu, there are only a few that are famous enough to be called “Hon Chojiro” with ancient dignity.
Yamanaka Dogyo blamed Sen Sotan, Rikyu’s grandson, saying, “Sotan was ungrateful and made a great deal of mistakes,” but Sotan certainly deserved to be blamed by later generations for Chojiro. When Rikyu committed seppuku, his grandson Sodan was already 14 years old, and when he invited Hisashige Matsuya to his Kyoto residence for a tea ceremony using “Shuraku Kurocha Wan” in 1608, he was 31 years old. He was already nine years old when the “Soyei-shaped” tea bowls favored by Rikyu were introduced to the world in 1586 (Tensho 14), and if he had been near Rikyu from his childhood, he was the only person who witnessed the events of the Sen family and the Some area from the late Tensho period onward and knew in detail the internal affairs of Chojiro Studio, which had been closely related to the Sen family since Rikyu. He was the only person who could have been a witness. However, as far as we know, he never wrote down any record of the past events of his family or of the Chojiro workshop, even though he was a very meticulous person, and he only wrote about Chojiro’s tea bowls: “Chojiro Red Tea Bowl” (Tarobo), “Chojiro Red Tea Bowl” (Jirobou), “Chojiro Ware Tea Bowl” (Toshihiro), and “Chojiro Ware Tea Bowl” (Shunkan). He only wrote the name of the bowl and his own hana-seki on the back of the lid of the box, without giving any clue as to the author. It is certain that there were various vicissitudes in Chojiro’s workshop before Kichizaemon Tsunekei established himself as the patriarch, and that Sotan knew all of them but did not speak of any of them. His sons, Ezen Sōza, Saso Somuro, and Ichiō Somori, also left nothing in writing that would tell us anything about the relationship between the works of Chojiro’s studio and their creator. It is likely that these Senke people understood that works from Chojiro I to Kichizaemon Tsunekei were to be labeled “Chojiro” or “Chojiro Pottery,” but something about this remains elusive.
However, the fact that Matsuya Hisashige, who was invited to Sotan’s tea ceremony in 1608, wrote “Shu (聚 = writer) Raku Kurocha Wan” in the tea ceremony record, instead of writing “Imayaki Cha Bowl” as he used to do for the bowl from Chojiro’s workshop, suggests something, since it was a tea bowl used for the tea ceremony of Sotan, who was closely related to Chojiro’s workshop. Perhaps it was around this time that the inevitable need arose for the public to recognize the works of Chojiro’s workshop as “Juraku ware” or “Raku ware,” and three years before this year, Tokugawa Hidetada, to whom Kichizaemon Tsunekei later dedicated a Shiraku incense burner, became the second shogun. It is also speculated that the “Raku” mark used by Tsunekei may have come from Hidetada, and that the period of change of power from Toyotomi to Tokugawa during the Keicho era was a difficult time for the Senke and Raku families.
Today, the genealogy of Raku ware is still generally known as Chojiro I, Tsunekei II, and Douiri III NONKOU, but the following three ancient documents from Souiri’s handwritten record, which were handed down in the Raku family, have revealed new facts about the family lineage before Ichiiri. The three documents consist of one copy of “Kaku,” which gives the genealogical record of the Raku family and the news of its history, one copy of “Raku Yaki Genealogical Chart,” which follows the genealogical record, and one copy of “Kaku,” which seems to have written the names of the Raku family in chronological order.
The three letters are as follows
Ameya Onna-hata Hikuniya
Chojiro, however, will be in office for 200 years until the year of the Boshin (1868).
Chojiro kame ni tsuite shito
Shozaemon, also known as Sojiro
2 hundred years to the year of the Dragon
Seven hundred and seventy years
However, there are two Sorinji temples, grandsons of this Soji
There are also two Sorinji temples, one of which is named “Hariyau no Rakuyaku” from Taikausama
There are two Sorinji temples
I, Souka (Kei) Kichizaemon
Kichizaemon
I am also called Yozugi, but my name is Jyohana(Kei).
I am the first name of the family.
I. Kibei and Shozaemon KIYAUTAI.
I, Kibei.
Kichizaemon Chikashi
This seal is called “Doraku” and is a sign of “Raku”.
This seal has been worn by Kichizaemon Oyasama.
First year of the Genroku era
Written on the 17th day of the 17th month of the first year of the Genroku era (Boshin kyokugatsu 17)
Genealogy of Raku ware
I. The original candy (Note 1)
I. Ameya bigauni ameya son
I. Bioni Tadashi Ameya wife Chojiro 100 years to the year of the Dragon
Hence, Tadashi Chojiro shito
Dorina Kichizaemon Shozaemon Kichizaemon Shozaemon Houmei Sojiya
70 years to the year of the Boshin
East Mountain
Tadashi Muneji Magoji Sorinji Nikkou
Seal of Receipt from the Toyotomi Hideyoshi
There are two Sorinji temples.
Soukeisatsuki
Kichizaemon
Please give me this Kichizaemon.
I am Yoshiji.
His name is Joka (Kei).
He is a brother of the former Shozaemon, and both of them have this seal.
But Kichizaemon’s brother
Kichizaemon
Kichizaemon, whose name is Kichibei.
The inscription on the hana-iru (flower vase) of Sodan is called “Ninka-tei”.
Kichizaemon’s name is “Kichizaemon Nankaeru” (7)
Kichizaemon’s former name is Sahei, and his later name is Ichiiri, which is said to be Kichizaemon’s name.
Kichizaemon: In addition to the right, there are two “Doraku” inscriptions, and this seal is stamped with two left characters.
Note 1: Written in a separate brush.
Note 2: The word “bigauni” has been crossed out.
Note 3: The character for Katsura has been erased and Kei has been added to the right side of the character.
Note 4: The name “Kono Kichizaemon” has been erased.
Note 5: The abbreviated character “Alexandria” is written below this.
Sensei
I. Ameya Shaomi
I. HIKUNI Myokan
I. Chojiro Souiri
Muneyoshi: 7 days
I. Chousuke: 29th of May
Tsunekei: 24th of May
Myojo: February 23
Michiiri: 1. Myoharu: June 23.
Jousuke: Twenty-nine days
I. Myouiru
I. Four men, Gentei
Ryozawa
Kushin
Soren
(Omitted hereafter)
The fact that the above document was written by Souri is clearly indicated by the note at the end of the “Kaku” that reads, “Written by Kichizaemon in the first year of the Genroku era on the 17th day of the 17th month of the first year of the Boshin era” and refers to Ichiiri as “Kichizaemon Oyasama”. Furthermore, in the first year of the Genroku era (1688), Ichiiri had not yet shaved his head and was still using the name Kichizaemon, so the document only mentions Ichiiri as “Kichizaemon Oyasama” (Kichizaemon Oyasama). Therefore, it is thought that this document was written as “Kichizaemon” in anticipation that So-iru would eventually take the name Kichizaemon. However, in the “Rakuyaki Genealogy,” Ichiiri is already written as “Go Houtai Mei Ichiiri” (後法体名一入云), which means that this document was written by Soiri after he shaved his head in the fourth year of the Genroku era (1691). Therefore, it is clear that the genealogical chart was written based on the “Satoru,” and while the general outline remains the same, it is slightly more detailed. It is not clear why such a document was written by Ichiiri and Soiri in the first year of the Genroku era (1688), but it is assumed that it may have resulted from a family dispute between Ichiiri’s bastard son Ichigen (who later founded Tamamizuyaki) and his adopted son Soiri.
This document reveals that Sokei, who had been completely erased from the records, was the father of Shozaemon Soji and Kichizaemon Tsunekei, and that Soji had also once called himself Kichizaemon, and that he and Kichizaemon Tsunekei were brothers. We also learned that Soji’s daughter was Chojiro’s wife. Furthermore, on the abdomen of a “three-color lion incense burner” in the collection of the Umezawa Memorial Museum, there is an engraved inscription, “Toshiroku 60 Tanaka Tenkaichi Sokei (Hanashii) Bunroku 3 (4) September Yoshikichi,” which clearly indicates that it was made by Sokei of the family tree. It is written that Soen Sokei always accompanied Rikyu, and that he wrote the praise at his request.
Although the discovery of the genealogy of the Raku family before Jokei was truly groundbreaking, there was one problem that remained in the family tree. The “Satoru” tells us that the daughter of Sokei was the wife of Chojiro, but the granddaughter of Sokei, who was 60 years old in 1595, was the wife of Chojiro, who died in 1589, which is somewhat unnatural, though not impossible, because of the age difference between the two, or because the daughter of Sokei was the wife of Chojiro, who died in 1589, which is not impossible, or because the daughter of Sokei was the wife of Chojiro, who died in 1590, which is not possible, but is somewhat unnatural. This is not impossible, but the difference in age is somewhat unnatural, leading to the assumption that there were two generations of Chojiro, the first and the second. Furthermore, in the “Kakume” that lists the names of the Dharma, a person named “Chousuke” is entered between Chojiro, Sokei, and Soami, and it is assumed that this Chousuke was the son-in-law of Soami, who may have been the second generation Chojiro. Chosuke died early in his life, and his legal name was not entered in the Raku Yaki Genealogy, but it is thought to have been written in the “Kaku” section of the past book. However, the Raku family did not follow the theory of two generations of Chojiro, but rather used Chosyu as the legal name of the first Chojiro, but this interpretation seems to have been a matter of convenience.
As described above, if we assume that Raku ware was produced by six people before Jokei, including Chojiro II and his wife, Soami’s daughter, then there were six people making tea bowls and other wares, and this was indeed the Chojiro studio. However, Sen Sotan, who seems to have known all about the Raku family’s activities, did not mention anything about what was going on during that time in his letters or in his box letters, and Esen and Soso simply wrote “Chojiro” or “Chojiro ware” on their box letters. The fact that Sotan and his children, who were so closely connected with the Raku family, referred to all Raku ware produced before Jokei as “Chojiro” probably indicates that they were not simply indifferent, but had some reason for doing so.
This is not unrelated to the fact that the genealogical records of Raku ware submitted to the Kyoto Tokichiro in later years were given as “Chojiro,” “Tsunekei,” and “Doiri.” It is assumed that there were major changes in social conditions surrounding the Raku family during the Keicho era, which forced Sokei and Soami to be moved back on the genealogical records. Moving again to the “Muneiri Documents,” it is noteworthy that in the section on Shozaemon Soami, there is an inscription that reads, “Tadashi Soami grandson Sorinjiji 2 yuukou: Taikoh-sama’s seal of receipt is now in Sorinji 2 yuukou. In 1595, he made an incense burner as “Tenkaichi Sokei,” and commissioned the monk Haruya to inscribe an inscription on an image of Rikyu. In other words, the fact that the grandson of Muneji, a descendant of the Raku family, abandoned the family business and entered the temple with the gold seal of the Taikoh’s retainer, and that his ancestors, Muneji and Munekei, were later erased from the genealogy, or is it too much of a stretch to assume that this reflects the change of power between the Toyotomi and Tokugawa families? The disappearance of those who were allowed to be the best in the world during Toyotomi’s lifetime seems to have been a sad fate for the existence of the Raku family. Then, his younger brother Tsunekei, who replaced Soji, who had taken the street name Kichizaemon, took the name Kichizaemon and went to the surface, and probably through the arrangement of Hon’ami Koetsu and Furuta Oribe, approached the Tokugawa family around the middle of the Keicho period and received the Raku character seal and curtain. Later, an incense burner, presumably made by Tsuneikei, was placed on Hidetada’s grave. However, as Souji’s grandson wrote that the temple was located in Sorinji, it is likely that both parties continued to come and go until the generation of Ichiiri and Soujiiri.
The Raku bowls of the workshop from Chojiro to Tsunekei are made of red clay, commonly called Jyuraku-do, for both black and red bowls, but the black is made of a slightly rough clay and the red is made of a fine strained clay. This is because black is fired at over 1.100 degrees Celsius, which requires a high degree of refractoriness. When the glaze is melted, it is pulled out of the kiln with iron shears and cooled rapidly in the open air to form a black glaze, a technique similar to Mino’s Seto black. This is similar to the technique used in Mino’s Seto Kuro, etc. Also, many of the black tea bowls produced by Chojiro’s studio have a blackish-brown glazed surface, commonly called kasehada, but this seems to be due to the glaze mixture and kiln firing rate, which was later improved to a jet-black glaze during the Doiryu and Koetsu periods. Akaraku was made by applying a transparent white glaze on top of juraku clay, and many of the early pieces were unstable in glaze tone due to low firing rate. Furthermore, Shino influenced Shiraku was also a specialty of Jokei, and the Raku family referred to it as Koro-yaki (incense burner glaze).
Some of the black tea bowls attributed to Chojiro have the same Raku character seal stamped on them as on the “three-color lion incense burner” by Sokei, and some of the tea bowls and incense burners by Tsunekei have a different Raku character seal, which has been handed down as the Tsunekei seal. The former was probably the Taiko-jirushi seal of Soji’s grandson, while the Tsunekei seal was a gift from the Tokugawa family.
