Ido Tea Bowl

Ido tea bowls are one of the many types of Korai chawan, tea bowls originally introduced to Japan from the Korean peninsula, used in the Japanese tea ceremony. Tea masters of the Momoyama period (1573 – 1603) perceived the wabi-sabi character of these bowls, and cherished them as excellent tea ware.

Ido Tea Bowl by Hideki Yanashita is a work that holds many remarkable features in its withered appearance, as if it has gone through a long history. For example, the delicate kan-nyu (crackle) spread over the generous bowl shape, the teppun (the black iron powder that appears in places) scattered here and there, and the fingerprints left along the rokuro-me lines outside. From the bottom of the kodai or foot of the bowl to its edge, the grainy kairagi, a rough ceramic glaze like sharkskin which marks this work as an Ido tea bowl, gives it a sense of dynamism. Hideki’s exceptional aesthetic sensibility is evident in the soft tones and modest shine, as if capturing the essence of his work in a single word.

The sense of beauty discovered and nurtured in Japan continues to attract people today. When we put our hands on the works of this artist, who continues to craft ceramics with sincere homage to the Momoyama period, we can almost feel the emotion of the tea masters who once held Ido tea bowls in their hands.