Page 101 - Edo: Art in Japan, 1615–1868

48 central figure in the Kamigata (Kyoto- low-relief design on the outside of the
Aoki Mokubei (1767 -1833) Osaka) circle of literati, along with tea caddy is a Kylin (mythical beast),
Utensils for the sencha tea ceremony Kimura Kenkado, who formed an and there is a large flower on the lid
impressive collection of Chinese that Mokubei also used in two of his
c. 1832 antiquities and specialized in sencha. teapots. The five small cups, each
3
Height of brazier 29.8 (n /4)
exterior
3
Height of teapot n.i (4 /s) Senchado, or the Way of Steeped Tea, with a different design on the and
(fish, shrimp, crab, seaweed,
7
Height of tea caddy 12.3 (4 /s) differs from the better-known tea cer- shellfish), are modeled after Dutch
5
Diameter of five teacups 6.7 (2 /s) emony that employs whisked tea
Delft ceramics that were occasionally
Idemitsu Museum of Arts, Tokyo (matcha). This form of drinking sencha imported into Japan at this time by
began in Japan during the confused
• Aoki Mokubei was both a painter transition from the Ming to the Qing the Dutch East India Company. The
and a potter and was also known as dynasty in China. Some high-placed bases of the cups are stamped with
100 the mark "Róbei." Finally, the brazier
a literatus (lounjin). He was born in Ming sympathizers took refuge in
is made of earthenware and has
Kyoto, where his father operated a tea Japan, bringing contemporary customs a relief carving of two dancing
house called Kiya in the Nawatemachi with them. In particular, the Ôbaku Chinese girls on a stage surrounded
section of Gion. His birth name was Zen sect sprang from these roots, and
by camellia flowers. The mixture of
Kiya Sahei, but he took several artist the drinking of steeped tea was very styles and periods of exotic origin
names, including Mokubei. He studied much part of the practice. The Ôbaku was one of the hallmarks of Moku-
poetry, calligraphy, and painting begin- Zen temple of Manpukuji was to bei's aesthetic.
ning in childhood, but it was not until become a center of Chinese learning
he was in his twenties that he began in Kyoto, which attracted many sen- There are inscriptions both on the
to learn Chinese ceramic techniques cha specialists, including Mokubei. brazier and on the underside of the
and studied with Okuda Eisen. Moku- Sencha was often drunk in Chinese stand, the former accompanied by
bei's fame as a potter spread quickly, or Chinese-inspired ceramics and two seals, one reading "Awata" and
and he was invited in 1801 by Lord was part of a larger literati scene that the other "Mokubei," and the latter
Tokugawa Harutomi to help with the involved poetry, music, and commu- accompanied by the seals "Aoki" and
local pottery in the Kii domain, where nal discussions. Guidebooks on the "Mokubei."
he developed Zuishi ware. practice of sencha soon began to be The brazier was ordered by Iwasaki
published, and the spirit of the gather-
Mokubei specialized in making wares Ou from the Koshu Otsu domain in
ing started to change from communal
for the sencha (steeped tea) ceremony meetings to teacher-student circles 1832, just one year before Mokubei
in the style of Ming Chinese and Cho- toward the end of the Edo period. died. NCR
son Korean ceramics, which became
popular in the second half of the eigh- This group of utensils for making
teenth century. He had learned about sencha for five people, each piece
antiquities, particularly Chinese created by Aoki Mokubei, reveals the
ceramics, beginning with his appren- potter's eclectic background and stud-
ticeship to the seal engraver Ko Fuyô. ies. The shape of the teapot is based
He was on friendly terms with many on the Chinese Yixing ware that was
of the intelligentsia of the day, in- favored by the literati, but the purple,
cluding Tanomura Chikuden. By the green, and yellow lead glazes derive
time he was twenty-seven, he was a from what is known in Japan as Kôchi
ware, ceramics from south China
thought to have been made in Cochin.
The glaze on the tea caddy appears
to be modeled on Longquan celadons
from China, which were popular in
medieval Japan, but the form of the
piece reflects metal prototypes. The