TEMPORARY TRANSPORT

Illustrated is a simple yet easy to identify Shigaraki tebachi by Kohyama Yasuhisa made in Showa 48 (1973) acting as a temporary transport for a lacquered Daruma set which is in a fact a sake drinking game. As for the tebachi, this piece is very simple in execution being made out of a coarse, sandy and rocky clay which has a dry ash deposited over the surface with areas of very nice hi-iro and lots of tsuchi-aji flavor about the piece. One rather eye appealing feature is the botamochi style resisted circle on the flat of the interior that shows off the rich clay surrounded by fly ash that coupled with the classic Kohyama interrupted facets around the form help define this humble piece. I guess I also forgot to mention that the reason I am sure of the date is that this Shigaraki tebachi is well illustrated in an early exhibition catalogue from that year and though the Daruma may not exactly seem like willing participants in this photo shoot, I can tell you it was my pleasure to have this piece around for a short while.