E&G

Illustrated is what at first glance could be confused with the somewhat ubiquitous Toruko-ao guinomi under a full moon by Kato Kenji but in this instance, this is a less frequently encountered chawan. Over the years I have seen quite a number of vase and varying guinomi forms but this is only the second chawan that I have personally had the pleasure to handle. This particular chawan is a natsu-wan, a summer chawan in Kato’s transparent soda blue style with vivid, black decoration creating alternating panels around the bowls interior and simple banding around the lip and exterior of the bowl. The glaze stops abruptly short of the kodai showcasing the natural coloration of the reddish clay which stands in a stark contrast to the blue though very complimentary. On a rather personal note, I am rarely surprised by scale and volume but despite measuring just shy of 14cm, this both has a compact and almost fragile appearance. The low bowl does not contain “heaps” of volume but has an elegant and graceful sensibility, quite diametrically opposed to your average Kumano chawan, I must say. In the end, the proportions of this bowl are just classic in nature, without the context, could it be a chawan or a guinomi, either way it works quite well.