Morikako Iga-yaki Matcha Bowl "Tsuchi no Hana" — Ash Glaze, Signed Wood Box

Experience Authentic Japan Art with this Iga Pottery Matcha Bowl. This Japanese Ceramic Tea Bowl serves as a Wabi Sabi Pottery piece and Chado Tea Ceremony Bowl, featuring Natural Ash Glaze and Wood-Fired Stoneware—a must-have for any Art Collector.

🔹 [ BASIC DETAILS ]
• Artist: Morikako (森里香山)
• Technique: Iga-yaki (伊賀焼), wood-fired stoneware, natural ash and sesame glaze
• Title: "Tsuchi no Hana" (泥の花 — Flower of Clay)
• Era: Contemporary
• Origin: Iga, Mie Prefecture, Japan
• Dimensions: Approx. 12 cm diameter × 8.5 cm height
• Box: Signed tomobako (artist's own wooden box) included
• Condition: No cracks or chips; excellent used condition

🔹 [ Cultural & Artistic Insight ]
Iga-yaki is one of Japan's six ancient kilns, revered for its rugged, tactile surfaces born from the iron-rich clay of the Iga basin. Wood-firing at extreme temperatures causes feldspar minerals in the clay body to flux and migrate, producing the characteristic bidoro glass beads and sesame (goma) speckles that collectors prize. The phenomenon is not engineered but witnessed—each firing is a collaboration between flame, clay, and chance.

Morikako has named this bowl "Tsuchi no Hana"—Flower of Clay—a title that captures the Iga philosophy with rare precision. The crater-like goma pitting that covers the exterior surface represents micro-eruptions of volcanic beauty: the kiln's own language written across the clay body. The warm orange-brown interior offers a luminous foil against the ashen, mottled exterior, creating a visual dialogue between fire and earth that continues each time matcha is whisked inside.

In the Japanese tea tradition, Iga ware holds a special category: chado practitioners speak of Iga's hi-iro (fire color) as possessing ki—a living energy. The bowl feels weighted in the hands not merely by mass but by the sense that the land itself is present. This is the essential promise of Iga: not a glaze applied from outside, but beauty that erupted from within.

🔹 [ Deep-Dive Commentary ]
The form of this bowl is steadfastly cylindrical—an uncommon silhouette in the world of chawan, where the nagashi (flowing) and tsutsu (tubular) forms represent quiet confidence. The straight walls invite the hands to hold firmly, creating a stable, grounded drinking experience well-suited to both thick tea (koicha) and thin tea (usucha) practice.

The sesame (goma) speckling is the authentic product of ash falling from burning pine on the clay during the multi-day firing. Each dark speck is a point where mineral ash fused into the body at temperatures exceeding 1,300°C. These are not decorative additions but geological events, making the surface a permanent record of a single firing, never to be replicated.

The bidoro glass pooling visible along the upper shoulder—where ash accumulated and melted—creates a subtle gloss against the otherwise matte exterior. This contrast between the volcanic matte and glassy drips is one of the signatures of authentic kiln-born Iga aesthetics, distinguished from studio imitations by its organic irregularity.

The signed tomobako confirms the artist's personal authentication, a practice central to the Japanese art market. The box lid bears calligraphy reading "Iga-yaki Tsuchi no Hana Chawan" with the artist's seal—a document of provenance that travels with the bowl forever.

For collectors seeking a bowl that embodies the tactile philosophy of wabi-sabi—finding beauty in the rough, the accidental, the fleeting—this Morikako Iga chawan is a quietly compelling acquisition.

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[ JAPANESE DESCRIPTION / 日本語解説 ]
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🔹 [ 基本情報 ]
• 作家：森里香山
• 技法：伊賀焼、薪窯焼成、自然釉・胡麻景色
• 銘：「泥の花」
• 時代：現代作
• 産地：三重県伊賀市
• サイズ：直径約12cm × 高さ約8.5cm
• 付属：作家共箱
• 状態：ヒビ・カケなし、良好

🔹 [ 文化的背景・作品解説 ]
伊賀焼は日本六古窯のひとつに数えられ、その土味の粗さと薪窯が生み出す景色の豊かさで茶の湯の世界において特別な位置を占めてきた。鉄分を多く含む伊賀の粘土は、高温の炎の中で長石成分が溶け出し、ビードロや胡麻と呼ばれる自然釉の景色を生む。それは人の手が制御できる装飾ではなく、炎と土と偶然が織りなす、一期一会の造形である。

森里香山はこの茶碗に「泥の花」という銘を与えた。泥すなわち大地の土から花が咲く——伊賀焼の精神を詩的かつ本質的に言い表した言葉である。外側を覆う胡麻の点描は、焼成中に降り積もった松灰が1,300度を超える炎の中で溶融した痕跡であり、その一粒一粒が地質学的な事件の記録に他ならない。温かみのある橙色の内部は、灰白色の外観との鮮やかな対比を生み出し、見る者に火と土の対話を感じさせる。

🔹 [ 深掘り解説 ]
筒形に近い直立した形は、茶碗の世界では珍しい佇まいを持つ。しっかりと手に収まる量感は、濃茶・薄茶いずれの用途にも安定した使い心地をもたらす。肩口に流れるビードロのわずかな光沢と、全体を覆う無釉の粗肌との対比が、伊賀焼の本質的な美を雄弁に語っている。

共箱の蓋裏には「伊賀焼 泥の花 茶碗」と認め、作家印が捺されており、作品の真正性を永く証する。

わび・さびの哲学——荒削りの中に宿る美、偶然の中に見出す必然——を器として体感したいコレクターにとって、この一碗は静かにして確かな存在感を持つ。

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