Kyo-yaki Sake Cup by Shimizu Masatsugu - Ash Glaze Guinomi with Signed Box

Experience authentic Japanese ceramics with this Kyo-yaki Sake Cup. This Japanese Guinomi serves as a Kyoto Pottery Art and Ash Glaze Sake Cup, featuring Rustic Stoneware artistry and Handmade Ceramic craftsmanship—a must-have for any Art Collector seeking Japanese Sake Ware and Zen Drinking Vessel.

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🔹 [ BASIC DETAILS ]

• Artist: Shimizu Masatsugu (清水正次)
• Technique: Wood-ash glaze over iron-rich stoneware
• Era: Contemporary (Heisei–Reiwa period)
• Origin: Kyoto, Japan — Kyo-yaki tradition
• Dimensions: Diameter approx. 7 cm, Height approx. 5 cm
• Box: Signed tomobako with red seal (共箱・印入り)
• Condition: Excellent — unused, natural iron spotting is integral to glaze character

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🔹 [ CULTURAL & ARTISTIC INSIGHT ]

Kyo-yaki (京焼) encompasses the diverse ceramic traditions of Kyoto, a city where pottery has served the imperial court, tea masters, and daily life for over a millennium. Unlike regional kilns defined by a single clay or technique, Kyo-yaki is defined by its breadth — absorbing influences from every corner of Japan and transforming them through Kyoto's particular sensibility of refined restraint.

Shimizu Masatsugu's guinomi stands apart from the polished elegance often associated with Kyoto ceramics. This small sake cup embraces the earthy, grounded end of the Kyo-yaki spectrum — an olive-green ash glaze peppered with iron-brown spots over a rough, tactile clay body. The form is deliberately modest: slightly irregular walls rising from a compact foot with a carved signature visible on the unglazed base. Where the glaze thins near the rim and foot, the warm clay beneath asserts itself, creating a dialogue between surface and structure.

*"A guinomi this quiet does not compete with the sake — it completes it."*

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🔹 [ DEEP-DIVE COMMENTARY ]

**Kyo-yaki Diversity**: Kyoto ceramics encompass everything from Ninsei's ornate overglaze enamels to Raku's austere hand-formed bowls. Shimizu Masatsugu works in a register closer to the latter — valuing material honesty over decorative ambition. His use of wood-ash glaze connects to the oldest ceramic traditions, where the kiln's own fuel provided the glaze material. This simplicity is a deliberate aesthetic choice within a city known for technical virtuosity.

**The Guinomi Tradition**: The guinomi (ぐい呑) emerged as a drinking vessel that bridges utilitarian function and artistic expression. Unlike the formal sakazuki used in ceremony, the guinomi is personal — chosen by the drinker for how it feels in the hand, how sake pools in its interior, how the lip meets the mouth. Collectors often amass dozens, selecting different cups for different sakes, seasons, or moods.

**Material Qualities**: The iron-rich spotting across this cup's surface occurs naturally as iron oxide particles in the clay body migrate through the glaze during firing. Each spot is unique — some sharp and defined, others diffused into halos. Combined with the olive-green ash glaze, the effect recalls weathered stone or lichen-covered rock, grounding the drinking experience in nature.

**Unused Condition**: This guinomi remains in pristine, unused condition — a rarity for functional ceramic art. The unglazed foot reveals a pink-toned clay body with Masatsugu's carved signature, confirming the piece's provenance before it begins its life of use.

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🔹 [ 日本語解説 ]

【基本情報】
• 作家：清水正次
• 技法：灰釉・鉄斑
• 時代：現代（平成〜令和）
• 産地：京都（京焼）
• 寸法：口径約7cm、高さ約5cm
• 付属：共箱（印入り）
• 状態：未使用・良好

【解説】
京焼は千年以上の歴史を持つ京都の陶芸文化を総称するもので、華やかな色絵から侘びた楽焼まで、その幅広さが特徴です。清水正次の本作は、京焼の中でも土味を活かした素朴な作風に位置づけられます。

オリーブグリーンの灰釉に鉄の斑点が散り、素地の温もりが透けて見える——薪窯の灰を釉薬に用いる最も古い焼き物の原理に立ち返った仕事です。コンパクトな形状は手に馴染みやすく、高台裏には作家の彫り銘が刻まれています。未使用の状態で、これから使い手とともに育っていく一杯です。

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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

*Small enough to hold in one palm. Deep enough to hold an evening.*