When one
thinks of Raku, one immediately thinks of the Raku family dynasty, founded by
Chojiro along with Hon'ami Koetsu. In general however, after the time of
Chojiro and Koetsu, it is mostly the mainline Raku family that comes to mind
when thinking about Raku chadogu. The Hon'ami side of the creative process is
usually overlooked and the family is thought of as sword experts/appraissers
and sword polishers, however, over the centuries, the Hon'ami have continued to
create pottery right through to the modern day. Illustrated is a Aka-Raku
chawan of fine rounded form with exceptional areas of black carburization about
the surface, interior and on the foot ring. This chawan was made by Hon'ami
Sokyu, a direct descendant of Hon'ami Koetsu who is making tea ware in the
traditional tebinari (hand molded) method as passed down from master to pupil
over the centuries. In many respects it has more in common with the fuedal days
of the Edo Period than it does with modern times, but after all, that what good
Raku should strive for.
For more
pictures of this chawan along with a recently added Shimaoka Tatsuzo plate,
please go to my Trocadero website where I am also running a 25% off sale on
pottery that I make;
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