Tokoname Kensui Waste Water Bowl by Yūhō — Nerikomi Striped Clay, Tea Ceremony

A Tokoname kensui (waste water bowl) by Yūhō — built through the nerikomi technique of layering different clay bodies before throwing, producing the precise, undulating stripe pattern that wraps the outer wall in repeating bands of red, cream, and brown, while the interior reveals the technique's spiral origin: multicolored clay in concentric orbit. Geometry made from earth, without painting, without added color. Comes with original artist seal.

🔹 [ BASIC DETAILS ]
• Artist: Yūhō (雄峰), Tokoname
• Ware: Tokoname-yaki (常滑焼)
• Technique: Nerikomi (練込) — layered multi-clay body, wheel-thrown
• Form: Kensui (建水), waste water bowl for tea ceremony
• Era: Contemporary
• Origin: Tokoname, Aichi Prefecture, Japan
• Dimensions: Diameter approx. 13.7 cm × H approx. 8.5 cm
• Box: None noted; artist seal sticker on exterior
• Condition: Excellent, no chips or wear

🔹 [ CULTURAL & ARTISTIC INSIGHT ]
Nerikomi (練込) is among the most technically demanding techniques in Japanese ceramics. Unlike painted or glazed decoration applied to the surface, nerikomi color is intrinsic to the clay itself: different clay bodies — natural iron-rich clays, clays mixed with mineral colorants — are stacked, rolled, and compressed together, then cut and recombined in patterns before the form is thrown on the wheel or hand-built. The wheel-throwing stage, rather than destroying the pattern, disciplines it: centrifugal force aligns the stripes into continuous horizontal bands around the exterior, while the interior records the unthrown origin — spiraling layers of color radiating from the center. Tokoname is one of Japan's Six Ancient Kilns, with a tradition of unglazed, clay-rich stoneware extending back to the Heian period. Yūhō's nerikomi work brings this tradition's material directness into dialogue with a technique more often associated with Kyoto porcelain.

🔹 [ DEEP-DIVE COMMENTARY ]
Yūhō's kensui is a study in what craft can do when it refuses ornament. There is no glaze across most of the exterior surface — the color is the clay, and the pattern is structural, not applied. The outer wall presents a sequence of horizontal stripes in red-brown, cream, and mauve-grey, interrupted at the shoulder by a band of undulating wave-lines where the compressed clay layers created a more complex movement during forming. This wave register, sitting above the striped zone, introduces variation that prevents the piece from reading as purely geometric.

The interior of the bowl is a different kind of visual experience: looking down into the kensui, one sees the nerikomi's spiral origin — concentric circles of multicolored clay radiating from the floor of the bowl outward, with occasional bursts of orange-red and cream breaking the regularity. This interior view is one that only the user of the bowl in an active tea ceremony context would normally see, and it rewards that intimacy.

The form itself is well-suited to its function: a kensui requires a certain depth and stability to receive the water emptied from a chawan without splashing. Yūhō's shape — wide, stable, with a gentle inward curve to the shoulder — fulfills this requirement while giving the striped pattern room to develop across the body.

For collectors looking for visually strong Tokoname work that communicates its technique immediately and accessibly, this kensui offers considerable presence at a modest scale.

[ JAPANESE DESCRIPTION / 日本語解説 ]
常滑焼の建水。雄峰作。練込技法による多色縞模様が鮮やかで、轆轤成形によって横縞が整然と並ぶ。胴部には波紋帯、内側には螺旋状の練込文様が広がる。茶道具として実用的かつ観賞価値の高い一点。

🔹 【基本情報】
• 作者：雄峰（常滑）
• 産地：常滑焼（愛知県）
• 技法：練込（多種粘土積層成形）・轆轤引き
• 形状：建水（茶道具）
• 寸法：直径約13.7cm 高さ約8.5cm
• 状態：優良、疵なし

🔹 【文化的背景】
練込は異なる粘土を重ね合わせて模様を作り出す技法。釉薬や絵付けではなく粘土そのものの色が模様を生む。常滑は日本六古窯の一つとして平安時代から続く陶磁器産地。雄峰の練込建水は、素材本来の美しさを最大限に引き出した、装飾のない装飾の典型。

🔹 【コレクター向け解説】
赤・白・茶の縞模様が外壁を走り、内側には螺旋状の練込文様が広がるこの建水は、見るたびに新しい発見がある一品。茶道の実用品として優れた機能性を持ちながら、現代陶芸作品としても鑑賞に堪える。視覚的インパクトが高く、新規コレクターにも親しみやすい。

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