Chawan / Karatsu / Tanaka Sajiro
Karatsu Mentori Chawan by Tanaka Sajiro
Tanaka Sajiro (1937-) states that he lives as "seeking the evanescent in my craft, in empathy with the myriad things of the world of change and risking my honor, to live or die, on the secret skills of the flame." (TOH 21 Vol.1, page 120). Tanaka is a Zen potter. He studied Zen at Eiheiji before becoming a Karatsu potter in 1971. His skill as a potter, and calligrapher, have earned him a special place among collectors of Tea utensils here in Japan. Tanaka always wears very formal traditional clothes to his exhibitions and he loves to break into song at any given chance---his spirit is quite pure; as are his chawan. They are the epitome of what a good chawan should be; finely balanced form, perfect drinking lip and chadamari (the 'pool'), superb firing and unsurpassed kodai. His skill at carving kodai is well-known and in particular his chirimen or crinkled kodai deserve special attention. This Karatsu chawan is unique in that it is a mentori, or faceted, tea bowl -this is rare for a traditional style such as Karatsu. This gives the chawan movement, along with a feeling of modernity. The lip is curved every so slightly inward, a feature that gives the feeling of introspection within the chawan's "soul," as does the iron-brushed on Zen enso. Another pleasant feature of this chawan is the gradation in color from gray to pink on the crackled surface, which can be seen at two points on its facade. And needless to say, this chawan's chirimen kodai is another fine testament to Sajiro's skill at carving the foot -elegant indeed. The chawan is 8.5cm tall, 12cm wide, comes with a signed box and is in perfect condition.
ADDITIONAL PHOTOS
