{"product_id":"kohaku-bai-plum-blossom-matcha-chawan-tea-bowl-by-koyama-fujio-suigetsu-kiln-with-signed-tomobako","title":"Kohaku-bai Plum Blossom Matcha Chawan Tea Bowl by Koyama Fujio, Suigetsu Kiln, with Signed Tomobako","description":"Experience Authentic Japan Art with this Kohaku-bai Plum Blossom Matcha Chawan. This Koyama Fujio Tea Bowl serves as a Suigetsu Kiln Chawan and Japanese Wabi Sabi Tea Bowl, featuring Red and White Plum Motif and Hand-painted Gold Accents—a must-have for any Japanese Pottery Collector seeking a Vintage Matcha Bowl with Signed Tomobako Box for a refined Tea Ceremony Gift.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e🔹 [ BASIC DETAILS ]\u003cbr\u003e• Artist: Koyama Fujio (1900–1975), one of the most influential ceramic historians and potters of 20th-century Japan\u003cbr\u003e• Technique: Hand-built chawan with milky white crackled glaze, overglaze enamel (aka-e), and gold accents (kindei)\u003cbr\u003e• Era: Mid-to-late Showa period (circa 1960s–1970s)\u003cbr\u003e• Origin: Suigetsu-gama (Suigetsu Kiln), Tajimi, Mino region, Gifu Prefecture, Japan\u003cbr\u003e• Dimensions: Height approx. 9.5 cm \/ Diameter approx. 12 cm\u003cbr\u003e• Box: Original signed paulownia tomobako with sumi inscription \"Kohaku-bai\" (Red and White Plum) and artist's seal (rakkan)\u003cbr\u003e• Condition: Excellent vintage condition. No chips, no cracks, no restoration. Natural crackle (kannyu) is intrinsic to the glaze.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e🔹 [ CULTURAL \u0026amp; ARTISTIC INSIGHT ]\u003cbr\u003eKoyama Fujio occupies a singular place in Japanese ceramic history. As the leading scholar of Chinese and Japanese ceramics in the twentieth century, his research at the Tokyo National Museum reshaped the field; his rediscovery of the Kosobe and old Mino kilns is foundational reference for any serious collector. Yet Koyama was also a potter himself—working first at Kosobe-yaki and later founding Suigetsu Kiln in the Mino region, where he produced a small body of personally thrown chawan that distill his lifetime of looking.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eThis bowl carries the soft milky shino-influenced white glaze characteristic of his Suigetsu work. On one face, red plum blossoms (kobai) bloom in vermilion enamel with veins of gold; on the reverse, white plums (hakubai) appear quietly through layered glaze with gold dust, a technical inversion that requires a second firing and exceptional restraint. Together they form kohaku-bai—the auspicious pairing of red and white plum that signals the first warmth of late winter.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eThe rim is gently undulating, the foot ring trimmed with the confidence of someone who studied every great chawan in existence. Quiet authority lives in every centimeter.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eThe plum opens before the snow has finished falling—color held inside silence.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e🔹 [ DEEP-DIVE COMMENTARY ]\u003cbr\u003eSuigetsu-gama was established by Koyama Fujio in the 1960s in the Mino ceramic heartland, the same valley that produced Shino, Oribe, and Ki-Seto. Unlike commercial Mino studios, Suigetsu was a small private kiln where Koyama could work directly with his scholarly understanding of historical glazes, producing limited pieces for collectors and tea practitioners.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eThe red-and-white plum motif (kohaku-bai) is one of the most prestigious seasonal subjects in Japanese painting and ceramics, made canonical by Ogata Korin's celebrated screens. In tea ceremony, a kohaku-bai chawan is used in late January and February—the moment when plum blossoms are the first to break winter's hold, a quiet metaphor for endurance, scholarship, and renewal.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eTechnically, this work demonstrates the iro-e (overglaze enamel) tradition layered over a white feldspathic glaze. The vermilion is applied after the first high firing, then gold (kindei) is brushed on as a final low-temperature firing—a process requiring three separate trips through the kiln. The crackle (kannyu) that runs through the glaze is the natural result of differential cooling and is prized rather than considered a flaw.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eFor the collector, a signed Koyama Fujio chawan with original tomobako represents the rare intersection of scholarship and craft: a vessel made by the very person who codified how we understand Japanese ceramics. Pieces with this provenance are difficult to source outside Japan and tend to anchor a serious tea utensil collection.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eIn contemporary practice, this bowl rewards both ceremonial use and quiet display. Held in the hand, the slight irregularity of the rim and the warmth of the gold against the cool white glaze make it an unusually intimate object—exactly the kind of presence Koyama spent a lifetime defining.\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🔹 [ 日本語解説 ]\u003cbr\u003e【 基本情報 】\u003cbr\u003e• 作家: 小山冨士夫（1900–1975）。二十世紀を代表する陶磁史家であり、自ら轆轤を握った数少ない学者陶人。\u003cbr\u003e• 技法: 白釉に赤絵・金彩を重ねた抹茶碗。貫入を伴う白釉、上絵付（紅梅・白梅）、金泥の三度焼き。\u003cbr\u003e• 年代: 昭和中後期（1960年代〜1970年代頃）。\u003cbr\u003e• 産地: 岐阜県多治見市・水月窯（小山冨士夫が美濃の地に開いた個人窯）。\u003cbr\u003e• 寸法: 高さ約9.5 cm／直径約12 cm。\u003cbr\u003e• 共箱: 桐製共箱、墨書「紅白梅」、落款印あり。\u003cbr\u003e• 状態: 良好。ヒビ・カケなし。釉面の貫入は景色として本来のもの。\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e【 文化的・美的考察 】\u003cbr\u003e小山冨士夫は、東京国立博物館を拠点に古曽部窯や古美濃窯の再発見を成し遂げ、日本陶磁研究の礎を築いた人物として知られます。同時に彼は陶工でもあり、晩年は美濃に水月窯を開き、自ら少量の茶碗を作陶しました。本碗はその水月窯における小山自身の手になるもので、生涯にわたる古陶への眼差しが、一椀のかたちに静かに結晶しています。\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e柔らかな乳白の志野系白釉を地として、表には紅梅、裏には白梅が描かれ、金泥がその枝を繋ぎます。紅梅と白梅を一椀に取り合わせた「紅白梅」は、尾形光琳以来、日本美術における晩冬から初春を象徴する最も格調高い意匠のひとつ。茶席では一月下旬から二月、雪解けと共に用いられます。\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e口縁はわずかにゆらぎ、高台は古陶を見続けた者の手つきで削られています。\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e雪の残るうちに、梅は色を持つ——静けさの中に、ひとつの春。\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e【 上級コレクター向け解説 】\u003cbr\u003e水月窯は1960年代、小山冨士夫が美濃焼の本拠地である多治見に開いた小規模な個人窯です。志野・織部・黄瀬戸を生んだこの土地で、彼は商業的な作陶ではなく、学者として理解してきた歴史的釉薬を自らの手で確かめるように茶碗を焼きました。\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e紅白梅は、日本絵画・陶芸における最高位の季題のひとつであり、茶の湯では「初春の慶び」を象徴します。本碗はその主題を、白釉・赤絵・金彩という三度焼きの上絵付技法で表現したものです。貫入は釉と素地の収縮差から自然に生じるものであり、欠点ではなく景色として尊ばれます。\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e共箱と落款を伴う小山冨士夫の自作茶碗は、日本国外では極めて入手困難であり、学識と作陶という稀有な交点に立つ作品として、本格的な茶道具コレクションの中核を担う存在となります。手に取れば、口縁のゆらぎと白釉に映える金の温もりが、小山が生涯をかけて定義しようとした「日本の陶の在り方」そのものを伝えてくれるでしょう。","brand":"The Modern Zen Archive","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":61894499828082,"sku":"260602_a_2941","price":805.0,"currency_code":"AED","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0960\/5680\/3698\/files\/m31701948471_1.jpg?v=1780361309","url":"https:\/\/checkout.themodernzenarchive.com\/products\/kohaku-bai-plum-blossom-matcha-chawan-tea-bowl-by-koyama-fujio-suigetsu-kiln-with-signed-tomobako","provider":"The Modern Zen Archive","version":"1.0","type":"link"}