ART & ANTIQUES OCTOBER 2000

T
he profound simplicity of the famed tea master Sen no
Rikyu’s teaching is echoed m the spare interior of a
thatched-roof tea hut at the Urasenke Foundation, head-
quarters of Japan’s most well-known tea school in the ancient
cultural capital of Kyoto. Situated at the end of a winding gar-
den path, the 10-foot-square room is framed by a flat reeded
ceiling, papered sliding doors, unadorned earthen walls and
tatami mats. A calligraphy scroll and a bamboo vase holding
a single spring flower are displayed in a tokonoma (alcove)
supported by a pine pillar. The late afternoon light filters
through the paper-covered windows, illuminating an exqui-
site ceramic tea bowl. The wind rustles the pine trees outside
as water drips rhythmically onto a garden stone. In tranquil
spaces such as these, sheltered from everyday distractions,
host and guests gather to experience Chado (“The Japanese
Way of Tea”), a way of life and spiritual discipline based on
the simple act of preparing and serving tea, and receiving
it with gratitude. Tea drinking in Japan was first practiced
in temples in
the 12th cen- “Tea is not but this:
tury by Zen
monks who First you heat the water,
had brought
tea from Chi- Then you make the tea.
na. It was an Then you drink it properly.
extension of
the Chinese That is all you need to know.”
Zen Buddhist
practice in -Sen no Rikyῡ (1522-91)
which pow-
dered green tea leaves were whisked with hot water in a
bowl and drunk as an aid to meditation.
Another form of tea drinking, which originated in China’s
Northern Song court, focused on the aesthetic and sensory
qualities of tea and the utensils associated with it. In early
16th-century Japan, this practice developed into the tea cer-
emony, a ritualized art form called chanoyu, which became
popular with the literati and aristocracy, as well as with the
warrior and merchant classes. Executed with treasured ce-
ramics and other utensils in a series of prescribed move-
ments, the tea ceremony reached its peak of refinement dur-
ing the Momoyama period (1574-1600), due largely to the
vision of Rikyu, who served as tea master to the powerful
military ruler Toyotomi Hideyoshi.
Rikyu identified chanoyu with the Zen principles of re-
spect, purity, harmony and tranquility, and endowed it with
an aesthetic significance that has not diminished over time.
Increasingly attracting the attention of many non-Japanese
individuals who have adopted it as a life enhancing intel-
lectual and spiritual pursuit, the tea ceremony is a virtual
microcosm of Japanese culture, incorporating a vast array
of traditional arts and crafts ranging from architecture and
garden design to calligraphy, painting, lacquerware, bamboo
The essence and serenity of green tea. FACING: The Yuin and principles of his grandfather; the noted tea master Sen no
and ceramics.
The essence of chanoyu is perhaps best preserved in its (meaning “again retire”) tea but on the grounds of the Ura- Rikyῡ. A black Seto tea bowl (facing bottom) and two kokoha-
ceramic tea bowls, tea caddies, water jars, flower vases, senke Houe in Kyoto was built for the retirement of the Sen ku-yu black-and-white glazed tea bowls by Richard Milgram
dishes and serving bowls, the best of which are considered Sotan, a Japanese tea master and modeled after the ideals demonstrate the charm of variation within ceramic style
by experts to be one of the highest expressions of an ancient

Silence passes between guests and host engaged in
the wabi-cha ceremony. Elaborate, yet simply elegant
utensils adorn the host’s seat situated near brazier: a
Katatsuki-style container known as “Ikoma,” a black
Raku-ware tea bowl by Chōjiroō, Shigaraki ware fresh
water jar and a Namban ware waste-water jar.
Japanese ceramic tradition. These wares are used in
the tea ceremony along with an iron kettle and brazier
and a bamboo tea whisk and scoop—each works of art
in their own right.
The chajin (tea person) chooses the ceramics and
other utensils for both their intrinsic beauty and rela-
tionship to each other, to the host’s and guests’ tastes,
the seasons and the occasion. The purpose is to cre-
ate a harmonious balance of forms, textures, colors
and materials that offer a shared aesthetic and sensory
experience savored for its singular, transitory qual-
ity. Collectors use the tea ceremony as a showcase for
their ceramics, presenting works from different kilns
that complement each other.
“Tea ceramics are highly valued by the Japanese
because of the historical significance of chanoyu and
its deep connection to all aspects of Japanese culture,”
says Toda Hiroshi, a pre-eminent dealer of Japanese
tea ceramics in Osaka. “The best pieces achieve the
ultimate integration of beauty and function. They
must conform to certain standards of size, weight and
balance, and must be usable in order to succeed. Yet
they are still recognized as individual works of art.
That’s what sets them apart from other ceramics.”
Antique tea bowls are especially prized for their in-
timate connection with previous owners, particularly
those that once belonged to great tea masters, shoguns
(medieval military rulers) and daimyos (feudal lords),
who often discussed politics over tea and rewarded
each other with gifts of precious tea bowls and cad-
dies.
Tea ceramics grow more appealing with age and
use, acquiring a patina that expresses wabi—a Japa-
nese aesthetic associated with chanoyu that began
to develop in the 15th century. Rooted in medieval
Japanese poetry and Zen philosophy, wabi refers to
a state of mind that embraces simplicity, austerity,
the renunciation of material things and recognition of
“beauty in poverty” and “perfection in imperfection”
–an old, cracked and stained tea bowl being the per-
fect example.
“The first uniquely Japanese teawares were cre-
ated in the spirit of wabi,” says Louise Cort, curator
of ceramics at the Smithsonian Institution’s Freer and
Sackler galleries. “Formal Chinese ceramics were ini-
tially favored for the tea ceremony. But by the 16th
century, tea masters had discovered the rustic beauty
of indigenous utilitarian ceramics first made at the
kilns in Bizen and Shigaraki, and began to commis-
sion teawares from them.”
Tea ceramics are distinguished by different forms,
glazes and clays unique to specific kilns throughout
Japan. Many of the country’s more than 10,000 studio
potters continue to make teawares in the tradition of
their predecessors, while introducing their own unique
innovations in clays, glazes and kilns. Specific visual
effects also depend upon where and how the pots are
placed in the kiln, how long they are fired, kiln tem-
perature and amount and type of wood used.
Kyoto, the historic seat of Japanese culture and tea
connoisseurship, is home to the Raku family of pot-
ters, who for the past four centuries have been produc-
ing the most famous teawares in Japan. Hand-formed
and carved from clay that retains the heat, Raku tea
bowls were first made by the tile-maker Chojiro in the
late 16th century under the patronage of Rikyu, who
sought a Japanese counterpart to the simple Korean
tea bowls. Valued for its wabi elegance, Raku-ware
is round-bottomed and glazed either red or black with
iron-rich clay and powdered rock from Kyoto’s Kamo
River.
Clockwise from top right: an Oribe flower vase by Kitaōji eter by Ichinyu, the 4th Raku master (1640-96), accompanied
In his modest Kyoto workshop, the 15th-generation
Raku Kichizaemon creates inspired interpretations of
Rosanjin (1883 - 1953) from Joan B Mirviss Ltd. in New York by a box certified by Raku Keinyu (11th Raku master) and
traditional Raku-ware. Made with the same clay and
City; Kichuzaemon Raku Vx tea bowl; diminutive black Raku Kakunyu (14th Raku master); Richard Milgrim’s gray Shino
techniques used by his family for centuries, his tea tea bowl, “Saihou,” 3 inches in height and 5 inches in diam- serving bowl, 1997.
bowls show a masterful handling of surface, color and
texture. Expressionistic, painterly glazes are one of
his hallmarks.
Kyoto also is the source of tea ceramics by the
noted 17th-century potter Nonomura Ninsei, who
specialized in intricate overglaze enamel decorations.
His successor, Ogata Kenzan, active during the early
18th century, is famous for his over- and under-glazed
Kenzan-ware with bold, modernist designs. Contem-
porary Kyoto potters Tsuuji Azan, Yasuda Hiroto and
Matsuda Yuriko, who is noted for her whimsical por-
celain teawares, have extended the colorful decora-
tive tradition of Ninsei and Kenzan.
Tea ceramics made in the Mino style are the spe-
cialty of American Richard Milgrim, the first West-
ern potter whose teawares are endorsed by the Grand
Tea Master of the Urasenke tea school. A recently
fired collection of tea bowls and water jars in unusual
shapes crowd his studio north of Kyoto. Their thick,
white glazes and iron-oxide painting are characteris-
tic of Shino ware, developed during the Momoyama
period at the Mino kilns and favored by tea connois-
seurs. “I see myself as a bridge between East and
West, the past and present,” says Milgrim, whose col-
ors and glazes often strike a balance of opposites, the
Eastern yin and yang.
Characterized by their wide range and innovative
use of glazes, the tea ceramics traditionally associated
with the Mino kilns also include pieces in the green-
and black-glazed Oribe style, popular with known for their antique and contemporary teawares at prices ranging from several thousand dol-
many contemporary Japanese potters, in- teawares are Karatsu, whose brown-toned lars to hundreds of thousands. Some antique bowls
cluding the late mid-20th-century master tea bowls are prized for their wabi quali- have sold for up to $1 million. Those with signed
Kitaoji Rosanjin. ties; Bizen, noted for its rough-textured, boxes denoting ownership by historic collectors and
Amid the pine-studded hills south of unglazed stoneware; and Seto, associated tea masters are more valuable, as are those by revered
Kyoto lies the historic pottery town of with elegant, brown-glazed tea caddies in masters such as Raku Chojiro.
Shigaraki, one of many medieval regional the Chinese style. The greatest variety of contemporary tea ceramics is
kilns whose tea ceramics are distinguished While the demand for teawares in Japan shown in weekly exhibitions at Japanese department
by a clay rich in minerals that, when fired, remains strong, dealers say Japanese ce- stores, such as Takashimaya and Mitsukoshi, where
produces a warm orange color with a nat- ramics in general are an underappreciated quality works of art by emerging potters sell for as
ural green ash glaze, punctuated by glassy art form in the West, where there is often a little as $2,000, while those by established potters sell
feldspar bubbles. Here, Kanzaki Shiho prejudicial boundary between what is con- for $30,000 and more. Teawares by well-known pot-
and the American Gary Moler are creat- sidered high art and craft. Japan, whose ters, such as Raku Kichizaemon
ing innovative ceramic tea bowls, water wares are noted for their technical virtu- XV have sold for up to six figures, outpricing many
jars and vases using traditional wood- osity and extensive variety of forms, glaze antique pieces by lesser-known potters.
fired kilns. styles and designs, is nevertheless the most Of course, one doesn’t have to own expensive ce-
In the picturesque castle town of Hagi advanced ceramics producing country ramics to enjoy and partake in the tea ceremony. Ac-
on the Japan Sea coast, the Miwa and Craftsman Kanzaki Shiho, at his in the world. Of course, teawares can be cording to Hatakeyama Hisako, who presides over
Saka families are perpetuating a 400- kiln in Shigaraki, performs only one adapted for a variety of uses in the home, the famed Hatakeyama Collection of tea ceremony
year-old ceramic tradition that originated task of the many necessary for the while potters noted for their teawares also objects in Tokyo: “Tea is a state of mind. In this high-
with Korean potters who were brought to make other types of utilitarian, as well as tech age, it offers a silent retreat, a way of develop-
Japan by the Hagi daimyo. The 90-year- creation of an exquisite tea ceramic. sculptural, ceramics. ing an inner tranquility in the company of others. It’s
old Miwa Kyusetsu XI, who developed a As the tea ceremony itself becomes also a very subjective aesthetic experience. The true
unique thick, white crackled glaze that expands upon more popular outside Japan, as evidenced by the wait- beauty of the tea ceremony and the art works involved
the rice-straw ash glaze used by his ancestors, is a Liv- ing list for the Urasenke tea school, the market for is ultimately completed by your own imagination.”
ing National Treasure, a rare honor bestowed by the tea ceramics is expected to grow. Dealers in Japan,
Japanese government. His exquisite bowls and jars including Yanagi Takashi of Kyoto and Setsu Gatodo
are among the most sought-after teawares. Other kilns Gallery in Tokyo, offer the largest selection of antique