Irabo Glaze Tea Bowl by Kōzō - Earthy Cylindrical Chawan with Signed Box

Experience authentic Japanese tea culture with this Irabo Glaze Tea Bowl. This Japanese Matcha Chawan serves as a Studio Potter Ceramic and Irabo Glaze Stoneware, featuring Rough Granular Texture and Feldspar Inclusions—a must-have for any Art Collector seeking Wabi Sabi Tea Accessories and Rustic Japanese Pottery with a Signed Wooden Box.

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🔹 [ BASIC DETAILS ]

• Artist: Kōzō (光造)
• Technique: Irabo glaze (伊良保釉) on stoneware body
• Era: Contemporary (likely 2000s–2020s)
• Origin: Japan
• Dimensions: 12 cm (4.7") diameter × 9 cm (3.5") height
• Box: Signed tomobako — lid reads "伊羅保釉 茶盌" with artist signature "光造" and red seal
• Condition: Good

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🔹 [ CULTURAL & ARTISTIC INSIGHT ]

Irabo ware traces its lineage to the Korean Yi dynasty tea bowls that entered Japan during the Momoyama period. The name itself — 伊良保 or 伊羅保 — is thought to derive from the rough, granular surface texture that defines the style: a tactile quality the Japanese tea world came to treasure precisely because it resisted refinement.

Within the Korean-influenced tea bowl lineage (Kōrai chawan), irabo occupies a distinctive position. It is neither the elegant smoothness of ido nor the dramatic fire-marks of hakeme. Irabo declares itself through texture — through the density of earth in the hand.

*"The surface refuses to be smooth. That refusal is the entire statement."*

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🔹 [ DEEP-DIVE COMMENTARY ]

**Irabo Glaze Character**: The irabo glaze on this bowl presents a spectrum from olive-brown to dark greenish-brown across the upper two-thirds of the vessel. The rough, granular surface contains scattered feldspar inclusions — white mineral fragments that create constellations of contrast against the dark ground. This is not a glaze designed to conceal the clay; it is a glaze that collaborates with it.

**The Exposed Body**: The lower third of the bowl deliberately exposes the unglazed clay body — a warm terracotta-salmon tone that grounds the piece in earth. This transition from glazed to unglazed is a signature of the irabo tradition, creating a visual dialogue between the transformed (fire-touched) and the raw (earth-held).

**Cylindrical Form**: The upright, cylindrical profile with an irregular organic rim reflects a commitment to the wabi aesthetic — the bowl was shaped by hand, not by an ideal. The slight asymmetry of the rim invites the tea practitioner to rotate the bowl and discover its individual face.

**The Potter's Approach**: Kōzō demonstrates a clear understanding of the irabo tradition — the glaze thickness, the deliberate exposure of the clay foot, the restraint of form. This is a bowl made by someone who has studied what irabo demands and answered with discipline rather than display.

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🔹 [ 日本語解説 ]

【基本情報】
• 作家：光造
• 技法：伊良保釉
• 時代：現代
• 産地：日本
• 寸法：径約12cm × 高さ約9cm
• 付属：共箱（箱蓋に「伊羅保釉 茶盌」、「光造」署名・朱印）
• 状態：良好

【解説】
伊良保釉は朝鮮李朝茶碗に起源を持ち、桃山時代に日本の茶の湯に取り入れられた釉薬。その名はざらりとした粗い表面質感に由来するとされる。

本作は上部三分の二にオリーブ褐色から暗緑褐色の伊良保釉がかかり、長石の粒が白い星のように散在する。下部三分の一は素地の温かいテラコッタ色を見せ、釉薬と土の対話が生まれている。

筒形の端正な姿に不整形の口縁が侘びの趣を添える。伊良保の伝統を理解した上で、誠実に焼き上げた一碗。

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

*Olive glaze over salmon earth — the bowl holds two landscapes in one hand.*