Bizen Ware Matcha Chawan Tea Bowl by Shibaoka Nobuyoshi with Hidasuki Scarlet Marks and Signed Tomobako Wooden Box

Experience Authentic Japan Art with this Bizen Ware Matcha Chawan. This Hidasuki Tea Bowl serves as a Japanese Tea Ceremony Bowl and Wabi Sabi Pottery, featuring Goma Ash Glaze Effect and Wood Fired Stoneware Vessel—a must-have for any Art Collector. Hand-thrown by acclaimed Okayama potter Shibaoka Nobuyoshi, this Signed Bizen Pottery Bowl arrives with its original Tomobako Signed Wooden Box, a Museum Quality Tea Bowl carrying the unmistakable density and silence of the Inbe kilns.

🔹 [ BASIC DETAILS ]
• Artist: Shibaoka Nobuyoshi (柴岡信義), Bizen potter active in the Inbe lineage
• Technique: Hidasuki (scarlet straw-cord marks), goma (sesame ash), haikaburi (ash-covered), unglazed wood-fired stoneware
• Era: Late Showa to Heisei period, circa 1980s–1990s
• Origin: Bizen, Inbe district, Okayama Prefecture, Japan
• Dimensions: Height approx. 8 cm, Diameter approx. 11.5 cm
• Box: Original signed kiri-wood tomobako with sumi calligraphy and red seal (rakkan-in)
• Condition: Excellent. No cracks, no chips. Light traces of use consistent with careful handling.

🔹 [ CULTURAL & ARTISTIC INSIGHT ]
Historical Context: Bizen ware is one of the Six Ancient Kilns of Japan (Rokkoyo), with an unbroken tradition stretching back nearly a thousand years to the Heian period. Unglazed and shaped from the iron-rich hiyose clay of the Inbe district in Okayama, every Bizen vessel is finished entirely by the long anagama or noborigama firing—where flame, ash, and the position of the piece inside the kiln decide its final landscape. By the late Momoyama era, Bizen chawan had become beloved tools of wabi tea, prized by Sen no Rikyu and Furuta Oribe for their candid, earth-bound presence.

Technique & Aesthetic: This bowl carries three of Bizen's most coveted kiln effects at once. The bright scarlet ribbons across the body are hidasuki, born where rice straw was wrapped around the piece before firing—iron and alkali in the straw fuse into the clay as crimson lines. The silvery, frosted patches are goma ("sesame"), where falling pine ash partially vitrified on the surface. The deeper russet shadows are haikaburi, a soft ash veil that descended through the kiln. Strong rokuro (wheel) ridges hold the form upright and quiet—an honest record of the maker's hand.

Philosophical Reflection: The scarlet hidasuki rises through the ash like embers remembered in stone—still warm, still listening.

🔹 [ DEEP-DIVE COMMENTARY ]
Bizen as a Living Tradition: Among Japan's Six Ancient Kilns, Bizen is the most uncompromising. There is no glaze, no painted decoration—only clay, fire, and time. What appears on the finished vessel is, in essence, a portrait of its place inside the kiln. Collectors learn to read these surfaces the way a calligrapher reads ink: every drift of ash and every scarlet line is a sentence of the firing.

How Hidasuki Is Achieved: Hidasuki (緋襷, "scarlet sash") is produced by wrapping the unfired piece in rice straw soaked in brine, then nesting it inside saggar or against other vessels to shield it from direct ash. During the multi-day wood firing, the straw burns away, but its potassium and iron melt into the clay, leaving sharp red ribbons. The lines on this bowl curl with the rhythm of the original straw—not painted, not planned, but recorded.

Goma and Haikaburi: When pine ash from the firebox lands directly on the body, it can partially fuse into a glassy or matte film. Where the ash settles thickly the surface shows goma (sesame-seed speckles); where the ash drifts as a veil, the haikaburi gives a soft tonal shadow. The interplay seen on this bowl—silvery goma rising into deep umber ground—is exactly what Bizen collectors search for.

Why This Matters to Collectors: A signed Bizen chawan with strong hidasuki, original tomobako, and intact kiln landscape is the core reference category of post-war Inbe pottery. Shibaoka Nobuyoshi works in this classical Inbe idiom—restrained form, honest wheel, and a kiln conversation that does not need explanation.

A Modern Continuity: Though shaped in the late twentieth century, this bowl belongs to the same wabi lineage that Rikyu helped define. In a contemporary tearoom it carries the same role: a quiet ground for matcha, where the green of the tea is held against the red and silver of fire.

🔹 [ SHIPPING & PACKAGING ]
• Dispatch: Within 1-6 business days
• Carrier: Japan Post EMS / UPS (with tracking)
• Packaging: Carefully wrapped with protective materials

🔹 [ 日本語解説 ]
🔹 [ 基本情報 ]
• 作家: 柴岡信義（Shibaoka Nobuyoshi）— 備前焼・伊部の作家
• 技法: 緋襷（ひだすき）、胡麻（ごま）、灰被り（はいかぶり）、無釉薬・薪窯焼成
• 時代: 昭和後期〜平成期（1980年代〜1990年代頃）
• 産地: 岡山県備前市伊部
• 寸法: 高さ 約8cm／直径 約11.5cm
• 共箱: 桐製・墨書および朱の落款印あり（共箱付）
• 状態: 良好。ヒビ・カケなし。使用感はごく軽微で丁寧に扱われた個体。

🔹 [ 文化的・美的考察 ]
歴史的背景: 備前焼は日本六古窯の一つに数えられ、平安期に遡る千年近い歴史を持ちます。岡山県伊部の鉄分豊かなヒヨセ土を素地とし、釉薬を一切用いずに長時間の窖窯・登窯焼成のみで景色を生み出します。桃山期に至り、千利休や古田織部によって「侘び茶」の道具として深く愛され、土と火そのものを見せる器として茶人の心を掴みました。

技法と美学: この茶碗は備前で最も尊ばれる三つの窯変——緋襷・胡麻・灰被り——を一碗に宿しています。鮮やかな緋色の筋は緋襷。藁を巻いて焼成することで藁中のカリと鉄分が土に焼き付き、朱の線となって浮かびます。銀色に粒立つ部分は胡麻、松灰が落ちて半溶融した跡。深い焦げ茶の陰影は灰被り、灰のヴェールが穏やかに降りた痕跡です。力強く挽き上げられた轆轤目が、作者の手の正直さを静かに証言しています。

哲学的省察: 緋襷の朱が灰の中から立ち昇る——石に残された熾火（おきび）の記憶のように、なお温かく、なお耳を澄ましている。

🔹 [ 上級者向け詳述 ]
生きた伝統としての備前: 六古窯のなかでも備前は最も妥協のない窯です。釉も絵付けも用いず、土と火と時間だけで景色を成立させる。完成した器の表面は、いわば窯の内部での「居場所の肖像」です。コレクターは藁灰の流れや緋色の一筋を、書を読むようにして読み解きます。

緋襷の生まれ方: 緋襷は、塩水に浸した稲藁を成形した素地に巻きつけ、匣鉢や他の器の陰に置いて直接の灰被りを避けながら焼成することで生まれます。藁は燃え尽きますが、内包されたカリウムと鉄分が土と反応し、朱の線として焼き付きます。この茶碗の緋筋は藁本来のしなりを留め、描いたのではなく「火が記録した」線です。

胡麻と灰被り: 焚口側から飛んだ松灰が直接器肌に触れると、半ガラス化して胡麻状の粒となり、薄く降りれば灰被りの陰影となります。この一碗では深い土色の地から銀色の胡麻が立ち上がり、まさに備前コレクターが探し求める景色の交響を見せています。

コレクター視点での価値: 共箱付き・落款付きで、緋襷・胡麻・灰被りの景色が揃った在銘備前茶碗は、戦後伊部窯の中核的参照対象です。柴岡信義は古典的な伊部の語法——抑制された姿、正直な轆轤、説明を要しない窯との対話——に立つ作家です。

現代における継続性: 二十世紀後半に挽かれた一碗ですが、利休が確かめた侘びの系譜にそのまま連なります。現代の茶席に据えても役目は変わらず、抹茶の緑を、火が刻んだ朱と銀の景色の上に静かに受け止めます。