DOI Heft:
Nr. 191 (February 1909)
DOI Artikel:Holme, Charles: The Cha-No-Yu pottery of Japan
DOI Seite / Zitierlink: https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.20966#0061
The Cha-no-yu Pottery of Japan
glaze, which presents many qualities of beauty
worthy of close attention. The inscription in white
slip—its only ornament—when translated reads :—
“ One sip of the tea,
One touch of the hand
Will bring renewed life.
Kenzan copies this.”
Especial charm lies in the modesty of the last line.
In it the potter frankly admits that the character
FIG. 18. TEA BOWL, RAKU WARE, BY KENZAN
of the ware is not his own invention—that to others
must be given the credit of its excellences; but
that he has added a new charm to the object in its
poetic inscription is evident. No man was
better able to afford an admission of acknow-
ledgment to others than Kenzan, for he was
himself full of original ideas as to the methods
of ceramic production and of its decorative
detail.
As an example of Kenzan’s decorated
work, the cha-wan (Fig. 19), from the unique
collection formed by Mr. Frank Brangwyn, is
in all respects most typical. The convention
adopted by Kenzan and the supreme art by
which he expressed it make every object
from his hand a lasting joy to those who are
able to perceive somewhat of the message
which was his to convey—“Not to depict
but to suggest”—and to suggest with that
consummate, innate knowledge of the possi-
bilities, the limitations, the purposes of deco-
rative art which it is given only to the few
to be endowed with. Kenzan had many followers
who produced excellent work on the lines of the
master, but none of them reached the high level
of his own genius.
To Ninsei, as well as to Kenzan, Japan owes a
profound debt of gratitude. Others were content
to copy the features of the productions of China
and Corea, but Ninsei and Kenzan opened an era
of prosperity to their co-workers by suggesting to
them new paths which would lead them to a
truer national expression of their art. Both
masters visited various centres of pottery in-
dustry in Japan and there laboured among their
fellow craftsmen, kindling enthusiasm wherever
they went. Several important kilns were opened
by Ninsei’s students in Kioto and elsewhere,
and for many years work of a high standard was
produced in them.
The little flower vase shown in Fig. 20 bears
the mark of one of these kilns, known as
“ Mizoro,” and seems to exhibit a strong im-
press of the master’s influence. Several small
pieces stamped with the Ninsei signature are
also shown (Figs. 21 to 24), two being cha-wan
of dissimilar character; a third, a kogo, shaped
as Fujiyama and with some small figures painted
in the Tosa style ; a fourth a cha-tsubo with
diaper ornament.
These few examples can give but a faint idea
of the genius of this great potter. Many
hundreds of pieces would be necessary to
enable one to gauge it with reasonable exacti-
tude ; but it will be noticed that in each and
every case the potting and the glazing are faultless
while the decoration is unpretentious. Ninsei,
FIG. 19. TEA BOWL, BY KENZAN
(Brangwyn Collection)
39
glaze, which presents many qualities of beauty
worthy of close attention. The inscription in white
slip—its only ornament—when translated reads :—
“ One sip of the tea,
One touch of the hand
Will bring renewed life.
Kenzan copies this.”
Especial charm lies in the modesty of the last line.
In it the potter frankly admits that the character
FIG. 18. TEA BOWL, RAKU WARE, BY KENZAN
of the ware is not his own invention—that to others
must be given the credit of its excellences; but
that he has added a new charm to the object in its
poetic inscription is evident. No man was
better able to afford an admission of acknow-
ledgment to others than Kenzan, for he was
himself full of original ideas as to the methods
of ceramic production and of its decorative
detail.
As an example of Kenzan’s decorated
work, the cha-wan (Fig. 19), from the unique
collection formed by Mr. Frank Brangwyn, is
in all respects most typical. The convention
adopted by Kenzan and the supreme art by
which he expressed it make every object
from his hand a lasting joy to those who are
able to perceive somewhat of the message
which was his to convey—“Not to depict
but to suggest”—and to suggest with that
consummate, innate knowledge of the possi-
bilities, the limitations, the purposes of deco-
rative art which it is given only to the few
to be endowed with. Kenzan had many followers
who produced excellent work on the lines of the
master, but none of them reached the high level
of his own genius.
To Ninsei, as well as to Kenzan, Japan owes a
profound debt of gratitude. Others were content
to copy the features of the productions of China
and Corea, but Ninsei and Kenzan opened an era
of prosperity to their co-workers by suggesting to
them new paths which would lead them to a
truer national expression of their art. Both
masters visited various centres of pottery in-
dustry in Japan and there laboured among their
fellow craftsmen, kindling enthusiasm wherever
they went. Several important kilns were opened
by Ninsei’s students in Kioto and elsewhere,
and for many years work of a high standard was
produced in them.
The little flower vase shown in Fig. 20 bears
the mark of one of these kilns, known as
“ Mizoro,” and seems to exhibit a strong im-
press of the master’s influence. Several small
pieces stamped with the Ninsei signature are
also shown (Figs. 21 to 24), two being cha-wan
of dissimilar character; a third, a kogo, shaped
as Fujiyama and with some small figures painted
in the Tosa style ; a fourth a cha-tsubo with
diaper ornament.
These few examples can give but a faint idea
of the genius of this great potter. Many
hundreds of pieces would be necessary to
enable one to gauge it with reasonable exacti-
tude ; but it will be noticed that in each and
every case the potting and the glazing are faultless
while the decoration is unpretentious. Ninsei,
FIG. 19. TEA BOWL, BY KENZAN
(Brangwyn Collection)
39