Page 364 - JAPAN THE SHAPING OFDAIMYO CULTURE 1185-1868

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splashed-pattern technique of kasuri, of scrolls or to be sewn into bags for chaire. remained strong among the daimyo and
which still continues to be produced, is The slender rope attached to the top is was never completely replaced by a new
characterized by a background of dark red, tied in a precise way to indicate whether and overwhelming purely Japanese aes-
with thin, woven horizontal stripes of yel- the chaire contains tea. The complicated thetic. The artistic appreciation and cate-
low and dark blue. A pattern of white, method of tying was also supposedly an gorization of Chinese chaire, which had
brown, and yellow thread weaves its way additional measure intended to preclude been standardized during the Higashi-
between the stripes, lending the fabric a tampering with the contents. yama period, remain close to the divisions
"splashed" look. From its name, Taishi Throughout the development of the and ranking seen among chaire today. JIK
kantd is often mistakenly believed to be as- tea gathering the Japanese have expressed
sociated with another famous fabric that it a special fondness for covers and contain- 278 Teabowl
closely resembles. This different and ers, and utilitarian purposes became sup- h. 6.7 (2 5/8)
much earlier cloth was used with Buddhist plemented with ceremonial and aesthetic Southern Song
artifacts and is thought to trace its origins intentions. Likewise, the boxes for tea
to the Hóryúji, a temple in Nara, which is utensils are a coveted component of uten- Eisei Bunko, Tokyo
associated with the famous statesman Shó- sil ownership. The tea scoop and its ac- Tenmoku teabowls were originally brought
toku Taishi (574-622). The Taishi kantd companying tube container and the many into Japan by monks returning from China
shown here was imported during the Mo- layers of wrappings and boxes, both inner during the Kamakura period. The Chinese
moyama period. The term probably de- and outer, only accentuate the worth of term tenmoku refers to a type of bowl dis-
rived from a family named Taishiya, in the the tea container. The boxes also serve as tinguished by a conical shape, a small, nar-
city of Sakai, who greatly treasured this vital evidence in certifying the validity of row foot, and relatively thin walls. Many of
material. its contents. these bowls are said to have come from
These cloth bags were originally used From the Momoyama period to the Mount Tianmu in Chekiang Province,
to protect the ceramic utensil from harm. beginning of the Edo period, the produc- where many Japanese monks were known
Gradually the bags themselves, and the tion of native Japanese chaire flourished to have been trained and introduced to tea
way they were tied, became an aesthetic along with the development of wabi (rus- drinking within the framework of monas-
component of the tea gathering. The fab- tic) tea, which sought to incorporate ku- tic regulations. The name tenmoku is actu-
ric was often taken from extremely valu- niyaki, or native wares, into the tea ally a Chinese place name.
able and rare bolts imported from China. gathering. However, as seen in Sansai's de- This tenmoku bowl was thrown on a
Unwilling to waste even the scrap ma- sire for the Rikyù shiribukura, the old es- potter's wheel, unlike the later hand-
terial, the Ashikaga shoguns used rem- tablished taste for the Chinese chaire molded native Japanese Raku bowls (cats.
nants of Chinese fabrics in the mounting 285, 286). It represents an artistic expres-

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