Shirobizen yakishime summer chawan named Hakuchō, signed by Motoyama Izumi, with tomobako, late Shōwa period

Name: Shirobizen yakishime chawan Hakucho signed tomobako | KAIKO&CO
Brand: KAIKO&CO
Price: 285.0 EUR
Availability: InStock

€285.00

The bowl is white in the way that morning light is white: soft, warm, with something orange underneath. Ivory at a distance, and then, where the fire touched it directly during the long wood firing, a deep crimson that bleeds into the clay and stays. No glaze, no pigment. Just white clay and fire.

This is shirobizen (white bizen ware). This is a yakishime technique using white clay with very low iron content, fired without glaze at over 1200°C for days on end. The crimson markings, called hiiro (火色, fire color), appear where the flames of the wood kiln reached the surface directly. Their shape and intensity depend entirely on where the bowl sat in the kiln and how the fire moved.

The potter guides this, but cannot control it.

What makes this chawan special

The look and feel up close

The surface is matte and very fine to the touch, smoother than most unglazed stoneware. Where the hiiro has formed, the clay takes on a slight sheen, as if the heat left a memory on the surface.

Held in two hands the way a chawan is meant to be held, it is lighter than it looks, and the clay feels almost soft against the palms.

The rim undulates gently as you turn the bowl in your hands, rising and falling by a few millimetres: not a perfect circle, but a line shaped by the potter's hands, not a mold.

Charming details

The bowl's name, 白鳥 (Hakuchō, white swan), is written on the tomobako in the maker's own hand. It is a precise choice. The ivory white with its crimson blush does have something of a swan about it: white as a first impression, then warmer and more layered the longer you look.

In the tea ceremony tradition, naming a bowl is an act of recognition: the maker saw what the kiln had done and gave it a word. That name is now part of the object's identity and is preserved with it.

- Shirobizen (白備前) style yakishime: unglazed white clay fired in a wood kiln, with hiiro fire-color marks from direct flame contact.
- Made by Motoyama Izumi (本山和泉, born 1938, Imbe, Bizen).
- Member of the Japan Craft Association from 1982, trained under Fujiwara Rakuzan, holder of the Okayama Prefecture Intangible Cultural Property designation.
- Signed: tomobako side panel, ink calligraphy 和泉 with maker's red seal, confirmed consistent with Motoyama Izumi's registered ceramic seal (陶印).
- Included: original signed tomobako wooden box
- Ca. late Shōwa to early Heisei period, estimated 1970s-1990s.
- Height: approx. 7.5 cm
- Diameter: approx. 12 cm
- Weight: approx. 381 g
- Excellent vintage condition, no chips, cracks or repairs.
- Appears unused: no tea staining on the interior.
- The crimson hiiro markings and surface variation are kiln effects, not wear.
- Unglazed yakishime is dense and water-resistant, but will absorb moisture over time, especially at the foot ring.
- Rinse with water after use and allow to dry fully before storing.
- The bowl may be used for tea: the interior will develop its own patina gradually with use, which is considered part of the object's life.