{"product_id":"kuro-raku-chawan-matcha-tea-bowl-by-ohi-rakutaro-kanazawa-ohi-ware-black-raku-japanese-ceremonial-bowl-with-signed-tomobako","title":"Kuro Raku Chawan Matcha Tea Bowl by Ohi Rakutaro — Kanazawa Ohi Ware Black Raku Japanese Ceremonial Bowl with Signed Tomobako","description":"Experience Authentic Japan Art with this Kuro Raku Chawan Matcha Tea Bowl. This Ohi Ware Black Raku Bowl serves as a Japanese Ceremonial Bowl and Urasenke Tea Ceremony Vessel, featuring Hand Molded Raku Pottery and Signed Tomobako Wooden Box — a must-have for any Art Collector seeking Museum Quality Japanese Antique.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e🔹 [ BASIC DETAILS ]\u003cbr\u003e• Artist: Ohi Rakutaro (pre-succession name of the 11th generation Ohi Chozaemon, Toshio Ohi)\u003cbr\u003e• Technique: Hand-molded black Raku (kuro-raku), low-fired glaze with oil-spot variegation (yuteki-like landscape)\u003cbr\u003e• Era: Late Showa to Heisei (circa 1980s–2000s)\u003cbr\u003e• Origin: Kanazawa, Ishikawa Prefecture — Ohi Ware, official kiln to the Urasenke school of tea\u003cbr\u003e• Dimensions: Height approx. 8.0 cm, Diameter approx. 12.0 cm\u003cbr\u003e• Box: Original signed kiri-wood tomobako with purple silk cord (sanada-himo)\u003cbr\u003e• Condition: Excellent pre-owned condition. No chips, no cracks, no restorations. Natural kiln variation and glaze pooling are intrinsic to the Raku tradition.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e🔹 [ CULTURAL \u0026amp; ARTISTIC INSIGHT ]\u003cbr\u003eOhi ware (大樋焼) was founded in 1666 when the potter Chozaemon accompanied the tea master Senso Soshitsu — the 4th generation Urasenke — from Kyoto to the Maeda domain in Kaga. From that moment, the Ohi lineage has served as the official chawan-shi (tea bowl maker) to Urasenke, an unbroken line now spanning more than three and a half centuries.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eOhi Rakutaro is the artist name used by Toshio Ohi before his succession as the 11th generation Ohi Chozaemon. Pieces signed \"Rakutaro\" therefore capture a particular interior moment — the work of an heir already shaped by tradition, yet still writing under his own hand, not yet bearing the full weight of the headship.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eThis bowl is hand-shaped (tezukune) without a wheel, carved with a spatula, and fired at the low temperatures characteristic of Raku. The black glaze is layered until it carries depth rather than surface, and across the rim you can read a landscape of oil-spot-like variegation — golden-brown crystallizations rising through the black like moss emerging on wet stone.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eThe form is quiet and slightly inward-leaning, sized to rest in two palms during koicha (thick tea). The foot is small, the body full, the lip gently uneven — the kind of imperfection wabi-sabi does not correct but honors.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eThe black glaze holds the winter light the way still water holds breath — present, and unwilling to explain itself.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e🔹 [ DEEP-DIVE COMMENTARY ]\u003cbr\u003eRaku is less a ware than a philosophy. Developed in 16th-century Kyoto under the guidance of Sen no Rikyu, it rejected the symmetry of the wheel and the hardness of high-fired stoneware in favor of hand-molded bowls that carry the maker's pulse. Ohi ware is the Kaga branch of this lineage — founded as the Urasenke chawan-shi in Kanazawa — and it diverges most visibly in its signature amber-ochre glaze (ame-gusuri). Kuro-raku, the black variant seen here, follows the Kyoto tradition more closely, yet retains the Ohi sense of density and deliberate weight.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eTo achieve kuro-raku, the bowl is glazed with a lead-and-iron pigment, fired in a charcoal kiln at around 1000°C, and removed at peak heat to cool in open air. This thermal shock is what creates the characteristic surface — matte in recession, glossy at the ridges, and often speckled with oil-spot or tea-dust inclusions where iron crystallizes during cooling. Each bowl is unrepeatable; the kiln authors half of the work.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eFor collectors, an Ohi Rakutaro piece occupies a specific niche: it is authored by the current headmaster of the kiln, but signed before his succession. That pre-succession window is finite by definition. For those building a reference collection of 20th–21st century chawan, this is the kind of document that closes a lineage rather than simply adding to it.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eThe signed tomobako (共箱) — the original kiri-wood presentation box signed by the artist — is not a container. It is part of the work. In Japanese tea culture the box carries authorship, provenance, and the right to be used; a chawan without its tomobako is a chawan in exile.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e[ JAPANESE DESCRIPTION \/ 日本語解説 ]\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e🔹 [ 基本情報 ]\u003cbr\u003e• 作家: 大樋 楽太郎（十一代 大樋長左衛門・大樋年雄の襲名前銘）\u003cbr\u003e• 技法: 手捏ね黒楽、低火度釉、油滴状の景色を伴う窯変\u003cbr\u003e• 時代: 昭和後期〜平成（1980年代〜2000年代頃）\u003cbr\u003e• 産地: 石川県金沢市 — 大樋焼、裏千家御用達\u003cbr\u003e• 寸法: 高さ約 8.0 cm、口径約 12.0 cm\u003cbr\u003e• 箱: 桐製共箱（紫真田紐付）完備\u003cbr\u003e• 状態: 中古美品。欠け・割れ・直しなし。釉溜まりや窯変は楽焼本来の景色。\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e🔹 [ 文化的・芸術的考察 ]\u003cbr\u003e大樋焼は寛文六年（1666年）、裏千家四代仙叟宗室が加賀藩前田家に招かれた折、京より同道した陶工・長左衛門によって開窯されました。以後、三百五十年以上にわたり裏千家御用達の茶碗師として連綿と続く、数少ない家元直系の窯です。\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e大樋楽太郎は、現・十一代大樋長左衛門（大樋年雄）氏の襲名前銘です。楽太郎銘の作は、継承の重みを背負う前の、なお「自らの手」で書かれた一筆を封じ込めた時期の仕事と言えます。\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e本作は手捏ねで成形され、篦（へら）で削り出され、低火度で焼成された黒楽茶碗。黒釉は奥行きをもって幾重にも重ねられ、口縁部には金褐色の油滴状の景色が、濡れた石に浮かぶ苔のように立ち上がります。\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e形は内へとわずかに抱かれ、濃茶を両掌で受けるに適した寸法。高台は小さく、胴は豊かで、口縁はわずかに揺らぐ — 侘び寂びが正さず、むしろ讃える類の不完全さです。\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e黒釉は、冬の光を静かな水が息を含むように受け止める — そこに在り、語ろうとしない。\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e🔹 [ 深層解説 ]\u003cbr\u003e楽焼は様式である以前に、思想です。十六世紀、千利休の指導のもと京で生まれ、轆轤の対称性と高火度炻器の硬さを退け、作り手の脈を宿す手捏ね茶碗として結晶しました。大樋焼はこの系譜の加賀分流であり、裏千家の茶碗師として金沢で開窯。最も可視的な差異は飴釉にありますが、ここに見る黒楽は京楽の伝統により近く、しかし大樋独特の密度と意図的な重みを保っています。\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e黒楽は鉛・鉄系の釉薬を掛け、炭窯中で千度前後に焼成し、最高温で窯から引き出して外気で急冷します。この熱衝撃が表面の景色を生む — 凹部はマット、稜線は艶やか、冷却時の鉄結晶により油滴や茶塵状の斑文が散る。同じ一碗は二度と生まれず、窯が作品の半分を著す。\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eコレクターにとって、大樋楽太郎銘の作は特定の位置を占めます — 現当主の作でありながら、襲名前の署名を帯びている。この「襲名前」の時間幅は定義上、有限です。二十〜二十一世紀の茶碗史を一つのリファレンスとして編むなら、これは系譜に追加する一碗ではなく、系譜の一節を閉じる一碗となります。\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e共箱は収納箱ではなく、作品の一部です。日本の茶の湯において、箱は作者性・伝来・使用される権利を担う。共箱を伴わない茶碗は、流浪の茶碗です。\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":61795316400498,"sku":"260422_a_2741","price":1196.0,"currency_code":"AED","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0960\/5680\/3698\/files\/m29245478458_1.jpg?v=1776868335","url":"https:\/\/checkout.themodernzenarchive.com\/products\/kuro-raku-chawan-matcha-tea-bowl-by-ohi-rakutaro-kanazawa-ohi-ware-black-raku-japanese-ceremonial-bowl-with-signed-tomobako","provider":"The Modern Zen Archive","version":"1.0","type":"link"}