{"product_id":"1st-gen-nakamura-donen-black-raku-tea-bowl-kuro-raku-chawan-kyoto","title":"1st Gen Nakamura Donen Black Raku Tea Bowl Kuro Raku Chawan Kyoto","description":"A black Raku tea bowl by the 1st generation Nakamura Donen — hand-built in the Kyoto Raku tradition. Kuro Raku glaze with grey-brown speckling and deep tonal variation across a dramatically irregular goko rim. This Raku ceramic chawan carries the weight of a lineage rooted in Kyoto tea bowl craft. Accompanied by the artist's tomobako inscribed \"黒 道年製 茶碗.\"\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e🔹 [ BASIC DETAILS ]\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e• Artist: 1st Generation Nakamura Donen (初代 中村道年)\u003cbr\u003e• Technique: Hand-built Raku — kuro (black) glaze\u003cbr\u003e• Era: Showa period\u003cbr\u003e• Origin: Kyoto, Japan\u003cbr\u003e• Dimensions: H 7.7 cm × W 11.0 cm (3.0\" × 4.3\")\u003cbr\u003e• Box: Tomobako — inscribed \"黒 道年製 茶碗\"\u003cbr\u003e• Condition: Good — minor surface scuffs consistent with the medium; no chips, cracks, or structural repairs\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e🔹 [ CULTURAL \u0026amp; ARTISTIC INSIGHT ]\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eBlack Raku is not a color. It is a process — a commitment to extracting a bowl from the kiln at peak temperature, forcing the glaze to freeze in a state of arrested transformation. The surface that results is never uniform. It cannot be. Each square centimeter records a different moment of that violent cooling: glossy jet where the glaze pooled thickest, matte grey where it thinned against the clay body, brown speckling where iron in the substrate pushed through to the surface.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eNakamura Donen — the first generation — studied within the orbit of the Raku family tradition in Kyoto, absorbing its central teaching: that a tea bowl is not thrown on a wheel but built by hand, shaped by the pressure of palms and the decisions of fingers. This bowl declares that lineage in every irregularity. The goko rim — five peaks rising and falling around the lip — is not accidental asymmetry but deliberate landscape. Each peak changes the bowl's profile as it rotates in the hands during temae.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eThe walls carry substantial thickness, a defining characteristic of Raku construction. This mass is functional: it absorbs the heat of the tea, protecting the drinker's hands while keeping the matcha warm. But it is also expressive. The bowl has presence — gravitational weight that announces itself the moment it is lifted from the tatami.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e*\"The kiln gives one chance. The glaze remembers what happened in that single breath of fire.\"*\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e🔹 [ DEEP-DIVE COMMENTARY ]\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e**Kuro Raku Process**: Unlike most ceramics, which cool slowly inside the kiln, Raku bowls are pulled from the furnace with iron tongs at approximately 1000°C. This thermal shock is what gives kuro Raku its distinctive character — the glaze solidifies in an instant, trapping the evidence of its molten state. The technique originated with Chojiro, the first Raku master, in the late 16th century under the aesthetic guidance of Sen no Rikyu. Every kuro Raku bowl made since exists in dialogue with that founding gesture.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e**Goko (Five-Peak) Rim**: The dramatically irregular rim of this bowl follows the goko tradition — an intentional shaping that creates five subtle peaks around the lip. This form has both aesthetic and functional purpose. Aesthetically, it transforms the bowl's silhouette from circle to landscape. Functionally, each peak creates a slightly different drinking position, allowing the tea practitioner to experience the bowl differently with each rotation. The irregularity is not chaos — it is choreography.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e**Tonal Landscape**: The surface of this bowl rewards sustained attention. Areas of glossy black — where the glaze achieved full melt — sit adjacent to zones of matte texture where cooling arrested the vitrification process. Grey and brown speckling appears where the iron-rich clay body influenced the glaze chemistry from below. This tonal variation is not applied; it is revealed. The bowl's surface is a geological record of its own making.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e**Nakamura Donen Lineage**: The Nakamura Donen name represents a significant presence in Kyoto tea ceramics. The first generation established the workshop's identity through deep engagement with the Raku tradition, producing bowls that honor the founding principles of hand-building, direct kiln extraction, and aesthetic restraint while developing a personal voice within that vocabulary. The tomobako inscription — \"黒 道年製 茶碗\" — places this bowl firmly within the documented body of work.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e**The Foot Ring**: Raku tea bowls are identified in part by their foot rings, which are hand-carved rather than turned on a wheel. The carving marks — visible on the underside — serve as a kind of signature, each maker's knife work as distinctive as handwriting. This bowl's foot shows the confident, deliberate cuts characteristic of a mature practitioner.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e🔹 [ 日本語解説 ]\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e【基本情報】\u003cbr\u003e• 作家：初代 中村道年\u003cbr\u003e• 技法：手捏ね楽焼 — 黒楽釉\u003cbr\u003e• 時代：昭和期\u003cbr\u003e• 産地：京都、日本\u003cbr\u003e• 寸法：高さ7.7cm × 幅11.0cm\u003cbr\u003e• 付属：共箱（「黒 道年製 茶碗」銘）\u003cbr\u003e• 状態：良好 — 使用に伴う軽微な擦れあり、欠け・ヒビ・修理なし\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e【解説】\u003cbr\u003e初代中村道年による黒楽茶碗。京都楽焼の伝統に根ざした手捏ね成形で、五岳と呼ばれる劇的な口造りが特徴的な一碗である。\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e黒楽の釉薬は窯から引き出す瞬間に凍結し、その表情は二度と再現できない。本作では、漆黒の光沢面とマットな灰色面、鉄分が浮き出た褐色の斑点が一碗の上に共存し、焼成という一瞬の出来事の記録となっている。\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e道年は楽家の伝統を深く学び、その中核にある教え——轆轤を使わず手で形を生み出すこと——を忠実に体現した作家である。厚い碗壁は楽茶碗の本質であり、抹茶の温度を保ちながら掌を護る機能と、手に取った瞬間に伝わる重みという表現の両面を担っている。\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e五岳の口縁は碗を回すたびに異なる景色を見せ、点前の中で茶碗との対話を深める仕掛けとなっている。共箱の「黒 道年製 茶碗」の銘が、この一碗の来歴を静かに証している。\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e🔹 [ SHIPPING \u0026amp; PACKAGING ]\u003cbr\u003e• Dispatch: Within 1-6 business days\u003cbr\u003e• Carrier: Japan Post EMS \/ UPS (with tracking)\u003cbr\u003e• Packaging: Carefully wrapped with protective materials\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e*Black is not the color of the glaze. It is the color of the moment the kiln let go.*","brand":"The Modern Zen Archive","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":61605726126450,"sku":"260130_1970","price":1798.0,"currency_code":"AED","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0960\/5680\/3698\/files\/m13823385802_1.jpg?v=1771390795","url":"https:\/\/checkout.themodernzenarchive.com\/products\/1st-gen-nakamura-donen-black-raku-tea-bowl-kuro-raku-chawan-kyoto","provider":"The Modern Zen Archive","version":"1.0","type":"link"}