Matsumoto Isashi Yohen Glaze Wide Matcha Bowl Tea Ceremony with Original Box

The bowl opens wide, almost horizontal at the rim — a hira-chawan that holds its presence low and broad, the glaze moving from black-brown at the lip through bands of dark forest green and pale gray toward the white foot ring. The kiln made something here that the artist could only partly intend.

This wide-form matcha bowl (hira-chawan) was made by Matsumoto Isashi (松本為佐視) and presents a dramatic yohen (kiln-change) glaze surface. The exterior carries dense, layered tones: deep green pooling at the rim transitions to bands of olive, slate, and brown below, with areas where the glaze has moved in firing and left pale drip-marks against the darker ground. The interior shows the full range of the yohen effect — a luminous center of pale celadon-grey giving way to deeper green striations and what appears to be crystalline spotting at the band between wall and floor. The form is a broad, flattened hira-chawan suitable for summer use in the tea ceremony, where the wide opening allows the matcha to cool. Diameter approximately 13.5 cm, height approximately 6 cm. Original tomobako with artist inscription and red seal.

Yohen — literally "kiln-change" — refers to transformation effects produced by the unpredictable chemistry of firing: ash deposits, atmospheric shifts, temperature gradients within the kiln that cause the glaze to behave in ways not fully under the potter's direction. The resulting surfaces are considered particularly prized in chado precisely because they cannot be replicated. Each yohen piece is singular. The hira-chawan form is associated specifically with summer tea practice (natsu no chawan), one of several seasonal variations in bowl form that mark the practitioner's attentiveness to time of year.

Matsumoto Isashi's work occupies the space where technical control meets deliberate surrender to the kiln's decisions. The yohen surface on this piece shows the density of intention in its construction — the glaze layering, the fire drawing — while the specific result belongs to the firing alone.

The bowl presents in sound condition. The glaze texture on the exterior shows the characteristic irregularity of yohen firing; this is intrinsic to the work's identity. The foot ring is white, contrasting with the dark body.

【日本語説明】
松本為佐視作の窯変茶盌です。共箱付き。直径約13.5cm、高さ約6cm。黒褐色から緑灰色への窯変釉が美しい広口の平茶碗。夏茶碗として使用可能な状態です。

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