{"product_id":"kohagi-gama-hagi-chawan-by-koto-tatsunobu-shiro-hagi-glaze-tomobako","title":"Kohagi-gama Hagi Chawan by Koto Tatsunobu — Shiro-hagi Glaze, Tomobako","description":"A chawan by Koto Tatsunobu of Kohagi-gama — shaped in the manner of an ido bowl, the form direct and unhurried. White hagi glaze pools and thins across the surface, revealing the warm iron-red clay at the waist; fine crazing runs through the glaze like a topographic map of the piece's own making. The interior carries a pale, dusty warmth that holds the color of whisked matcha with quiet clarity. Comes in the artist's original signed wooden box.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e🔹 [ BASIC DETAILS ]\u003cbr\u003e• Artist: Koto Tatsunobu (厚東建信), Kohagi-gama (小萩窯)\u003cbr\u003e• Technique: Shiro-hagi glaze (白萩釉) over local Hagi clay; reduction-fired\u003cbr\u003e• Era: Contemporary\u003cbr\u003e• Origin: Hagi, Yamaguchi Prefecture, Japan\u003cbr\u003e• Dimensions: Diameter approx. 13 cm \/ Height approx. 8.8 cm\u003cbr\u003e• Box: Original signed wooden tomobako (共箱) — lid inscribed with maker's brushwork; minor staining to box exterior\u003cbr\u003e• Condition: No chips or cracks; glaze crazing is intentional and inherent to the technique\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e🔹 [ CULTURAL \u0026amp; ARTISTIC INSIGHT ]\u003cbr\u003e• Historical Context: Hagi ware (萩焼) has been produced in Yamaguchi Prefecture since the early 17th century, when Korean potter-refugees brought their wheel technique and distinctive clay vocabulary to the kilns established under Mōri domain patronage. For four centuries, tea masters have ranked hagi among the three great wares for chanoyu — its soft, porous body and ever-shifting glaze placing it in a category that prioritizes living change over fixed appearance.\u003cbr\u003e• Technique \u0026amp; Aesthetic: Kohagi-gama's shiro-hagi glaze is compounded from local feldspar and wood ash, applied thickly so that gravity and flame together govern the final surface. The iron-rich Hagi clay bleeds warmth through wherever the glaze thins — producing the characteristic bi-color transition unique to this tradition. The dense network of fine crazing (kannyu) will continue to deepen over years of use, absorbing tea and taking on a patina that tea people call 'hagi no nanabake' — the seven transformations of Hagi.\u003cbr\u003e• Philosophical Reflection: The bowl does not announce itself. It waits.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e🔹 [ DEEP-DIVE COMMENTARY ]\u003cbr\u003eHagi clay is dug from the coastal hills of Yamaguchi — a sedimentary body high in iron and relatively coarse in grain compared to the porcelain clays of Arita or the stoneware beds of Bizen. That porosity is the defining technical fact of the tradition: Hagi absorbs liquid, holds heat slowly, and breathes across a firing cycle in ways that denser ceramics cannot. Koto Tatsunobu works within this material's logic rather than against it.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eThe form here follows the ido lineage — a Korean tea bowl archetype that arrived in Japan as war spoils during the Imjin invasions of the 1590s and immediately became the most sought-after vessel in the tea world. Ido bowls are characterized by a generous mouth, a slightly splayed body, a compact and expressive foot, and an overall quality of having been made without self-consciousness. The Kohagi-gama interpretation preserves that directness: the walls are hand-shaped without obsessive smoothing, the rim sits slightly uneven in a way that feels alive rather than accidental.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eThe shiro-hagi (white hagi) glaze that coats this piece is a departure from the more common pink-beige hagi surface. Feldspar-dominant and ash-modified, it fires to a dusty, matte-adjacent white that softens to warmth under natural light. Where the glaze thins at the waist — pulled downward by gravity during firing, held partly in check by the kiln atmosphere — the red-brown clay shows through cleanly, creating the bi-tonal contrast visible in the photographs. This is not decorative intention; it is the glaze doing what glaze does when given space.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eThe crazing (kannyu) across the surface is fine-scaled and dense — the result of the glaze contracting slightly faster than the clay body as the kiln cools. In functional use, these micro-channels will absorb tea over time, gradually darkening into a warm network that records every session. This process — the hagi no nanabake, or seven transformations of Hagi — is the reason tea masters have treasured this ware for four hundred years. A Hagi bowl holds time differently than glazed stoneware or porcelain. It accumulates presence.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eKohagi-gama (小萩窯) is a smaller kiln within the Hagi tradition, working in the classical vocabulary without the institutional weight of the larger designated studios. Koto Tatsunobu's tomobako carries his brushwritten signature in confident, unaffected calligraphy — a further mark of authorship that locates this piece within a specific hand and a specific kiln history.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e🔹 [ 日本語解説 ]\u003cbr\u003e小萩窯・厚東建信による萩焼茶碗。井戸形に倣った端正な姿で、造りに余計な力みがない。白萩釉が全体を覆い、腰から下は釉薬が薄くなって鉄分豊かな素地の赤褐色が自然に顔を出す。釉の表面には細かな貫入が一面に走り、静かな奥行きをつくっている。見込みは淡い白で、抹茶の緑を柔らかく受け止める。共箱付き。\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e【基本情報】作家：厚東建信（小萩窯）／技法：白萩釉、萩土使用、還元焼成／時代：現代／産地：山口県萩市／寸法：直径約13cm・高さ約8.8cm／箱：共箱（蓋裏に墨書サイン、箱外部にシミあり）／状態：ヒビ・カケなし。貫入は技法上のもの。\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e【文化・芸術的背景】萩焼は17世紀初頭、毛利藩の保護のもとで朝鮮半島から渡った陶工たちによって山口県に根づいた。茶人の間では「一楽二萩三唐津」と称され、柔らかな土味と変化し続ける釉景が長く珍重されてきた。小萩窯の白萩釉は長石と木灰を原料とし、重力と炎の働きによって釉調が決まる。鉄分の多い萩土が釉薬越しに滲み出る二色の景色は、この産地固有の表情だ。使い込むほどに貫入が茶を吸い、「萩の七化け」と呼ばれる変容を遂げていく——それが萩焼を四百年間、茶人が手放さなかった理由である。この茶碗は、静かに時間を蓄える器だ。\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e【深層解説】萩の土は山口県沿岸丘陵から採掘され、鉄分が多く粒度がやや粗い。その多孔質な性質こそが萩焼の本質で、熱をゆっくり保ち、液体を吸い、焼成の過程でしなやかに呼吸する。厚東建信はその素材の論理に沿って仕事をしている。本作の形は井戸形の系譜に連なる——大きな口、緩やかに開いた胴、締まった高台、過剰な仕上げのない直截な姿。白萩釉は重力に従って腰部で薄くなり、素地の赤褐色が露出する。これは装飾の意図ではなく、釉薬がその性質のままに振る舞った結果だ。一面に走る細かな貫入は、冷却時に釉薬が素地よりわずかに収縮することで生まれ、使用を重ねるごとに茶を吸って深まっていく。共箱の墨書は力みのない筆致で、特定の手と窯の来歴を静かに示す。\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","brand":"The Modern Zen Archive","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":61858478522738,"sku":"260515_a_2839","price":509.0,"currency_code":"AED","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0960\/5680\/3698\/files\/m99300063696_1.jpg?v=1778856959","url":"https:\/\/checkout.themodernzenarchive.com\/products\/kohagi-gama-hagi-chawan-by-koto-tatsunobu-shiro-hagi-glaze-tomobako","provider":"The Modern Zen Archive","version":"1.0","type":"link"}