Robert Yellin on thu 16 jul 98
Greetings from Numazu-
I'm posting an article I wrote for my Japan Times column for those of
you that are interested.
Any feedback would be appreciated.
Hope the inspiration of summer(the heat is ya'all's business)has
butterflies flying around
your third eye.
From Numazu,
Robert Yellin
In a dimly-lit potters studio some 420 years ago in Kyoto, tea master
Sen no Rikyu(1522-1591) must have been overwhelmed when he saw the first
Raku tea bowls(chawan). The quiet beauty of the black Raku chawan, so
much in tune with Rikyu's wabi-cha, was created by Chojiro(?-1589) under
Rikyu's guidance. Chojiro, the son of a Korean immigrant, was a
tilemaker until Sen no Rikyu invited him to make chawan for the tea
ceremony. Thus was born one of the pillars of Japanese ceramic culture:
Raku-yaki.
The name Raku derives from a seal given to Chojiro's son Jokei(?-1635)
by warlord and art patron Toyotomi Hideyoshi(1536-1598), who it appears
also appreciated this new style of pottery which was up until then
called 'ima-yaki' or 'now wares.' Raku means pleasure and is also part
of the name of Hideyoshi's palace, Jurakudai; Raku is the only instance
in Japan where the name of a ceramic style is synonymous with the family
that makes it.
Raku chawan are perfectly suited for tea; their thick-walled bodies
protect the hands from the heat of the tea and yet they are light. An
old tea aphorism ranks tea bowls as 'Raku first, Hagi second, Karatsu
third.'
Raku is mostly fired in either black or red and the green color of
whipped tea harmoniously sits in the chawan's 'pool.' The disposition of
the potter is also seen in each chawan due to the fact that, unlike most
wheel thrown chawan styles such as Shino or Hagi, a raku bowl is hand
formed which allows more subtle expressiveness. Most raku bowls are
round with a thick undulated drinking lip. Some shallow chawan are made
for use in the summer months.
The way of tea practiced by Rikyu was very close to Zen Buddhism's
'nothingness' and Taoism's 'isness'- which when put in a visible art
form, like that of a chawan or sumi ink scroll, must possess seven
characteristics to make it complete according to Shinichi Hisamatsu in
his book 'Zen and the Fine Arts' - these are Asymmetry, Simplicity,
Austere Serenity, Naturalness, Profound Subtlety, Freedom from
Attachment, and Tranquillity- all of these seven attributes can be found
in the works of the first three Raku generations.
Chojiro's black Raku chawan 'Shunkan' is a spiritual manifestation of
Rikyu's Zen outlook. It is a space that not only serves the needs of the
tea ceremony, it is also a serene universe to ponder the meaning of
being alive- using a Chojiro chawan has been compared to a religious
awakening.
Shukan is an Important Cultural Property and is one of four Chojiro
chawan in this exhibition. Experts say that there are only seventy or so
genuine Chojiro chawan and possibly four times that many fakes- he
didn't sign his work.
As you walk into the museum you will be greeted by one more Chojiro
piece, a roof tile in the shape of a lion which is dated on the belly
the second year of the Tensho era or 1574.
Each successive generation's work pales in comparison with Chojiro's
depth but there are two standouts- Jokei(d.1635, especially his white
glazed lion incense burner) and Donyu (also known as Nonko; 1599-1656)
who added more decorativeness to chawan which can be clearly seen in his
red raku chawan 'Nue' or his black raku chawan 'Zansetsu.'
Much of the next eleven generations output lacks the spirituality found
in their predecessors and this is all to blatantly seen from the fourth
generation on.
In his book 'The History of Raku Wares, Masatochi Okada writes,
Raku ware after Donyu is not worth collecting or paying attention to.'
A bit harsh possibly, yet a contrived atmosphere does pervade most of
their works and most clearly lack a few of the seven characteristics of
Zen art. A couple of the chawan have a sickly looking citron skin-like
texture that look totally unfit for drink from, while another,
has a white rabbit leaping across the side that makes it look more like
an illustration from a kid's book than a great Raku chawan.
And now we come to the present generation, Kichizaemon Raku the
15th(most Raku potters when alive had the name Kichizaemon).
As is evident upon entering the museum, he is the showcase of this
exhibition with 48 pieces on display out of the 106 total. At first
glance it is easy to see how he has radically departed from tradition
yet at the same time redefining it. To just carry on making chawan like
so many of the uninspired who came before him would surely be
meaningless. So Raku 15 has created, as one ceramic expert put it 'very
talkative chawan' that are so full of a Rimpa style personality; sharp
faceted sides awash in splashes or drips of blacks, greens, reds, golds
and silvers- quite the opposite of Chojiro's minimalistic chawan. Is it
that the chatter of modern life requires an equally expressive chawan?
To me it would seem that the neon madness of daily life requires the
quiet space that Rikyu and Chojiro created; even if only for a few
minutes a day.
Raku 15 has made some chawan though that are simply breathtaking and are
expressions of contemporary life and his search for the meaning of being
a raku artist with all that history behind him- he is by far the most
important Raku potter since Chojiro.
In any case, this glorious dynasty of Raku potters has helped define
Japanese culture with their chawan and this homecoming show (it returned
from a European tour) is a great opportunity for Japanese to reconnect
with their disappearing culture and a chance for others to see how a
spiritual world was created within walls of clay.
A nice catalog with English descriptions and anecdotes of each piece in
the back is available for purchase and it might be a good idea to look
at one as you go through the exhibition.
For those of you on the world wide web, the Raku Museum can be visited
at www.raku-yaki.or.jp
In Osaka at Umeda's Hankyu department store's sixth floor gallery,
veteran ceramist Kennin Kishimoto will be having a 30th year kiln
anniversary exhibition until the 14th. Kishimoto fires Celadon, Iga,
Mino styles, and his original white Iga- another excellent exhibition
this month.
Ceramic Scene appears on the second Saturday of each month.
E-mail me at: rlyell@izu.co.jp
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