{"product_id":"takatori-yaki-mizusashi-water-jar-with-ears-by-aoyagi-suiho-tantansai-attribution","title":"Takatori-yaki Mizusashi Water Jar with Ears by Aoyagi Suiho — Tantansai Attribution","description":"Experience Authentic Japan Art with this Takatori Yaki Mizusashi Water Jar. This Tantansai Inscription Mizusashi serves as a Museum Quality Tea Utensil and Urasenke Grand Master Attributed Piece, featuring Dark Amber Ash Flow Glaze and Aoyagi Suiho Takatori Ware—a must-have for any Art Collector. There is provenance, and then there is this: a Takatori-yaki water jar whose box carries the hand of Tantansai — the fourteenth Grand Master of Urasenke, the most influential voice in twentieth-century chanoyu.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e🔹 [ Basic Details ]\u003cbr\u003e• Potter: Aoyagi Suihō (青柳翠峯)\u003cbr\u003e• Attribution (書付): Tantansai (淡々斎) — 14th Grand Master of Urasenke, the highest living authority in Japanese tea ceremony during his tenure\u003cbr\u003e• Technique: Takatori-yaki (高取焼) — natural ash glaze with ear handles (耳付), wood-fired\u003cbr\u003e• Era: Mid-Showa (c. 1940s–1960s)\u003cbr\u003e• Origin: Fukuoka Prefecture, Japan\u003cbr\u003e• Dimensions: Height approx. 17.5 cm, Body approx. 18 × 14.7 cm\u003cbr\u003e• Box: Shared wooden box (共箱) with Tantansai inscription\u003cbr\u003e• Condition: Excellent; glaze surface intact, ears secure, dark amber flow undimmed\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e🔹 [ Cultural \u0026amp; Artistic Insight ]\u003cbr\u003eTantansai (淡々斎, 1893–1964) was the fourteenth-generation Grand Master (Iemoto) of the Urasenke school of tea, the largest and most internationally influential school of Japanese tea ceremony. During a tenure that spanned the turbulent decades of twentieth-century Japan, he preserved, formalized, and internationalized chanoyu, and his aesthetic judgments — rendered in ink on wooden boxes — carried the force of institutional authority that no private collector or dealer could replicate.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eWhen Tantansai wrote on a box, it was not a casual endorsement. It was a declaration that he had held the object, considered it in relation to the tradition he embodied, and found it worthy of the Way. A box bearing his hand transforms the object it contains from a craft piece into a cultural artifact.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eThis mizusashi (水指, fresh water jar) is the vessel from which the tea master replenishes the kettle during the ceremony — a utensil of sustained, central visibility throughout the gathering. The ears (耳, mimi) are a formal feature specific to certain regional water jar traditions, giving the piece presence without ornamentation.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003ePOETIC LINE: \"He held it and said nothing but what he wrote. What he wrote is still speaking.\"\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e🔹 [ Deep-Dive Commentary ]\u003cbr\u003eThe mizusashi is among the most formally weighted utensils in chanoyu. Unlike the tea bowl, which is held briefly and intimately, the water jar occupies the tokonoma or the tea host's side throughout the entire ceremony. Its form is contemplated at length. Its glaze, its posture, its relationship to the kettle and the tea bowl — all are read by guests who have trained their eyes across years of practice.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eTantansai's inscription elevates this piece to a category that cannot be manufactured or approximated: named pieces (銘, mei) authenticated by iemoto are among the highest classes of tea ceramics in existence. They appear in museum collections, in the permanent holdings of tea schools, and — occasionally — in private collections of extraordinary depth.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eAoyagi Suihō's Takatori-yaki brings the specific character of that kiln tradition to this form: the dark amber glaze with natural ash fall, the textured surface created by the long wood firing, the slight asymmetry that Takatori masters cultivate as a mark of sincerity rather than accident. The ear handles on this mizusashi are positioned with precision — their relationship to the body is not decorative but structural and formal.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eFor a collector seeking a single piece that embodies the full meaning of Japanese tea ceramics — provenance, craftsmanship, historical weight, and aesthetic authority — this water jar represents a category of acquisition that rarely appears in the open market.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e【日本語解説】\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e🔹 [ 基本情報 ]\u003cbr\u003e• 作者：青柳翠峯\u003cbr\u003e• 書付：淡々斎（裏千家十四代家元）\u003cbr\u003e• 技法：高取焼耳付水指（薪窯、自然灰釉）\u003cbr\u003e• 年代：昭和中期（1940〜60年代）\u003cbr\u003e• 産地：福岡県（高取焼）\u003cbr\u003e• 寸法：高さ約17.5cm、胴部約18×14.7cm\u003cbr\u003e• 箱：共箱（淡々斎書付）\u003cbr\u003e• 状態：良好。釉面完全、耳部安定、深い琥珀色の釉流れ鮮明\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e🔹 [ 文化・芸術的背景 ]\u003cbr\u003e淡々斎（1893–1964）は裏千家十四代家元。二十世紀の日本茶道を体現し、国際化した最重要人物である。その箱書きは、単なる鑑定書ではない。家元が手にし、茶道という伝統の文脈の中で器を審美し、その道に値すると宣言した証である。淡々斎の筆が入った箱は、器を工芸品から文化的遺物へと変える。\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e水指は茶事全体を通じて茶席に存在し続ける道具である。茶碗とは異なり、短時間手に取られるのではなく、長時間にわたって客の視線を受け続ける。その形と釉薬の景色は、修練された目によって読み解かれる。\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e🔹 [ 上級コレクター向け解説 ]\u003cbr\u003e書付銘物は茶陶の最高分類のひとつである。家元による書付は美術館のコレクションや茶家の永久蔵品として存在し、市場に現れることは稀である。青柳翠峯の高取焼は、この器形に高取特有の美質をもたらしている。深い琥珀色の釉流れ、薪窯による肌の質感、意図的な非対称性、そして精確に据えられた耳部。茶道の文化的文脈において、来歴と工芸と美的権威を一体に持つ器を求めるコレクターに、この水指は他に代えがたい一点である。\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":61714005492082,"sku":"260330_a_2601","price":4747.0,"currency_code":"AED","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0960\/5680\/3698\/files\/m83032839626_1.jpg?v=1774849404","url":"https:\/\/checkout.themodernzenarchive.com\/products\/takatori-yaki-mizusashi-water-jar-with-ears-by-aoyagi-suiho-tantansai-attribution","provider":"The Modern Zen Archive","version":"1.0","type":"link"}