An ox and herdsman carved into Shigaraki earth — not painted, not printed, but pressed into the clay with the same directness that the image itself demands. A tea bowl by Honiwa Rakunyu, Kochu-gama kiln. Signed box, cloth wrapper, pamphlet. The oxherding theme carries one of Zen's most sustained meditations on mind and return.
The relief carving — ukibori — gives this bowl a quality that shifts with the light: the figures emerge and recede depending on how the piece is held. This is intentional. The oxherding pictures — jugyuzu — were designed as a sequence of stages, not a single image. On a bowl, the figures are always in motion, always mid-passage.
[ ITEM DETAILS ] • Form: Chawan (tea bowl) • Dimensions: Height approx. 6.5 cm, Mouth diameter approx. 11.6 cm, Foot diameter approx. 4.6 cm • Decoration: Ukibori relief carving — bokugyuzu (oxherding motif) with ox and herdsman • Glaze: Warm earth-toned brown, Shigaraki character • Kiln: Kochu-gama (壺中窯), Shigaraki • Artist: Honiwa Rakunyu (保庭楽入) • Box: Signed wooden presentation box (共箱) • Accessories: Cloth wrapper (共布), pamphlet (栞) • Condition: No noted damage
[ CULTURAL CONTEXT ] Shingaraki is among Japan's six ancient kilns — its clay, rich with coarse feldspar and quartz, has been fired for over twelve hundred years. The earth itself is the statement. Honiwa Rakunyu's work at Kochu-gama engages both this geological heritage and the iconographic depth of Zen painting.
The oxherding pictures originated in Song dynasty China and entered Japanese Zen culture through the Rinzai school. The sequence of ten images — depicting the search for, finding, taming, and transcending of the ox as metaphor for mind — became one of Zen practice's central visual texts. On Honiwa's bowl, the herdsman and ox emerge from the clay as though always present, waiting only to be found.
[ FOR THE COLLECTOR ] Shigaraki relief-work chawan by named kiln artists represent a specific intersection of material tradition and iconographic depth. The complete set — bowl, box, cloth, pamphlet — is preserved intact. A piece that functions equally as a tea utensil and as a meditation object.
🔹 [ SHIPPING & PACKAGING ] • Dispatch: Within 1-6 business days • Carrier: Japan Post EMS / UPS (with tracking) • Packaging: Carefully wrapped with protective materials
