{"product_id":"nezumi-shino-tea-bowl-by-yamaguchi-jotetsu-mino-ware-chawan-with-tomobako-japanese-ceramics","title":"Nezumi Shino Tea Bowl by Yamaguchi Jotetsu — Mino Ware Chawan with Tomobako, Japanese Ceramics","description":"Experience Authentic Japan Art with this Nezumi Shino Tea Bowl. This Mino Ware Chawan serves as a Japanese Tea Ceremony Bowl and Shino Pottery Chawan, featuring Grey Shino Glaze and Hand Thrown Tea Bowl—a must-have for any Art Collector. Crafted as Wabi Sabi Ceramics and a Signed Studio Pottery piece, this Yamaguchi Jotetsu work is also a perfect Japanese Pottery Gift and represents Modern Mino Ware at its finest.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e🔹 [ BASIC DETAILS ]\u003cbr\u003e• Artist: Yamaguchi Jotetsu (山口錠鉄)\u003cbr\u003e• Technique: Nezumi-shino (鼠志野) — mouse-grey Shino glaze over Mino stoneware clay\u003cbr\u003e• Era: Late Showa–Heisei period (1980s–2000s)\u003cbr\u003e• Origin: Mino ware, Gifu Prefecture, Japan\u003cbr\u003e• Dimensions: Width approx. 12 cm, Height approx. 8 cm\u003cbr\u003e• Box: Tomobako (artist's own signed wooden box) with accompanying cloth (共布) and biographical note (略歴付)\u003cbr\u003e• Condition: Good overall; characteristic kiln-firing lines (hibi) on exterior are inherent to the Shino firing process and part of the aesthetic; no chips or significant damage\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e🔹 [ CULTURAL \u0026amp; ARTISTIC INSIGHT ]\u003cbr\u003eNezumi-shino — literally \"mouse grey\" — is among the most quietly dramatic expressions within the Mino ware tradition. Where classic Shino dazzles with opaque white, its nezumi variant descends into ash-toned ambiguity: the same feldspar-rich glaze fired in an atmosphere that draws iron from the clay body to the surface, yielding a mottled, storm-cloud palette of silver, charcoal, and smoked stone. On this chawan by Yamaguchi Jotetsu, that transformation is complete and assured. The outer wall carries bold dark brush strokes beneath the grey glaze — iron brushwork applied before glazing that bleeds and blurs through the firing, creating a landscape-like composition of shadow and fog. The pitted glaze surface, alive with tiny craters left by escaping gases during firing, catches light differently at every angle — a restless, breathing texture that no photograph can fully contain.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eYamaguchi Jotetsu works in the living tradition of Mino ceramics, a lineage stretching back to the Momoyama period (late 16th century) when master potters in Gifu's Toki district revolutionized Japanese ceramics by departing from the Chinese-influenced forms that dominated earlier centuries. Shino was the first glaze in Japanese ceramic history known to have been conceived entirely on Japanese aesthetic terms — thick, white, and deliberately imperfect. Nezumi-shino refines that spirit further, embracing a palette of restraint that resonates deeply with wabi-cha philosophy.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eThe interior of the bowl reveals the glaze pooling at the base — grey-blue washing into the well, then darkening at the chatō (tea path, the zone where the tea whisk traces its rhythmic circles). In tea ceremony, the interior of the chawan is read as a landscape, a sky, a mood. This bowl's interior is a winter morning — still, cool, and vast.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003ePoetic line: \"The grey glaze holds the color of rain on old stone — silent, patient, asking nothing.\"\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e🔹 [ DEEP-DIVE COMMENTARY ]\u003cbr\u003eNezumi-shino is classified within the broader Mino ware family alongside oribe, yellow Seto, and black Seto — the four great Momoyama-period styles that emerged from kilns in present-day Gifu and Aichi prefectures. The \"mouse grey\" effect is not accidental but demands precise control of kiln atmosphere. During firing at temperatures exceeding 1200°C, iron oxide present in the clay body migrates upward through the porous feldspar glaze. If oxygen is reduced at the critical moment, the iron is trapped at or near the surface in a partially reduced state, producing the characteristic grey-silver tones. Too much oxygen and the piece turns orange-red; too little and the surface blackens. The nezumi firing window is narrow.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eYamaguchi Jotetsu's work on this chawan demonstrates mastery of that narrow window. The iron-brushed underpainting — visible through the grey veil as dark, loosely gestural marks — was applied to the bisque-fired clay before glazing. These marks were then entombed under the thick feldspar glaze, and the firing transformed the composition: what began as deliberate brushstrokes became ambiguous, half-absorbed passages of darkness, more evocative than illustrative. The result is a form of controlled accident — precisely what the Momoyama tea masters prized.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eThe angular facets on the exterior wall — where the clay was cut or paddled to interrupt the circle — are characteristic of Jotetsu's approach to chawan form. Rather than a smooth, lathe-turned vessel, these facets introduce a handmade irregularity that changes the bowl's silhouette and its weight in the hand. Each facet catches the glaze differently, creating subtle tonal shifts around the circumference.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eThe hibi — thin lines crossing the lower exterior — are firing cracks sealed by the glaze, a common and celebrated feature of wood-fired Shino ware. In the philosophy of wabi-sabi, these are not flaws but witnesses: evidence of the immense heat through which the object passed, marks that deepen the vessel's biography. The tomobako, signed and sealed by the artist, completes the provenance chain and elevates this piece from functional pottery to certified art object.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eFor the collector of Mino ware, Shino, or modern Japanese studio ceramics, this bowl occupies a compelling position: it is fully functional for tea ceremony use, sufficiently pedigreed for display, and carries the visual drama and textural complexity that defines high-level Shino at its best.\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：山口錠鉄\u003cbr\u003e・技法：鼠志野（ねずみしの）— 長石釉を用いたミノ焼きの灰色釉\u003cbr\u003e・年代：昭和後期〜平成期（1980〜2000年代）\u003cbr\u003e・産地：美濃焼（岐阜県）\u003cbr\u003e・サイズ：横幅 約12cm、高さ 約8cm\u003cbr\u003e・箱：共箱（作家直筆箱書き・落款入り）、共布、略歴付\u003cbr\u003e・状態：概ね良好。外側の緋ひびは志野焼の窯変によるもので、欠けや目立つ傷はなし\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e【文化的・美術的考察】\u003cbr\u003e鼠志野とは、その名の通り「鼠色（ねずみいろ）」の志野釉が特徴的な美濃焼の一様式。通常の白志野が乳白色の不透明な重厚感を持つのに対し、鼠志野は長石釉の焼成過程において素地の鉄分が表面に滲み出すことで、灰色から炭色へと移ろう複雑な色調を纏う。山口錠鉄のこの茶碗では、釉がけ前に施された鉄絵具の筆跡が釉薬のヴェール越しに見え隠れし、まるで霧の中の風景画のような景色を生み出している。無数の小さな穴（荒れ肌）が光を乱反射し、見る角度によって表情が変わる——写真では到底捉えきれない、生きた質感がそこにある。\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e美濃焼の伝統は桃山時代（16世紀末）にさかのぼる。岐阜・土岐の窯元たちが中国陶磁の模倣から脱し、日本人の審美眼を基準とした独自の陶器を生み出した。志野釉はその中でも、「日本の美学として生まれた最初の釉薬」と位置づけられ、厚く白く、意図的な不完全さをもって、侘び茶の精神を体現してきた。\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e詩的一行：「鼠色の釉は雨に濡れた古石の色を宿す——静かに、じっと、何も求めずに。」\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e【深層解説】\u003cbr\u003e鼠志野の灰色は偶然の産物ではなく、1200℃を超える高温での精密な雰囲気焼成（還元焼成）によって得られる。酸化が過剰なら橙色に、不足なら黒ずむ——鼠色が生まれる窯変の窓は極めて狭い。山口錠鉄はその狭い窓を確実に射抜き、釉薬の下に封じ込められた鉄絵の筆跡を、霞んだ抽象的な陰影へと昇華させた。これは意図と偶然が交差する芸術行為であり、桃山の茶人たちが最も尊んだ「制御された偶然」の現代的な継承に他ならない。\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e外側の面取り（カット）は、轆轤で成形した後に施された意図的な「破り」であり、均質な円形を意図的に崩すことで、持ち手ごとに異なる感触と表情を生む。各面で釉溜まりが微妙に異なり、周囲を巡るたびに景色が変わる。\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e緋ひびは焼成中の急激な温度変化で生じた貫入であり、釉薬によって封じられている。侘び寂びの哲学においてこれは「瑕疵」ではなく、器が通過した過酷な火の証言であり、その経歴を刻む傷跡だ。作家直筆・落款入りの共箱がこの作品の来歴を保証し、実用の器から確かな芸術作品へと昇華させる。\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e美濃焼・志野・現代日本陶芸のコレクターにとって、この茶碗は「茶事で使え、飾れ、語れる」三要素を兼ね備えた、水準以上の一碗である。","brand":"The Modern Zen Archive","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":61880402706802,"sku":"260526_a_2910","price":650.0,"currency_code":"AED","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0960\/5680\/3698\/files\/m68077578014_1.jpg?v=1779795843","url":"https:\/\/checkout.themodernzenarchive.com\/products\/nezumi-shino-tea-bowl-by-yamaguchi-jotetsu-mino-ware-chawan-with-tomobako-japanese-ceramics","provider":"The Modern Zen Archive","version":"1.0","type":"link"}