Chawan by Sasaki Shoraku

Chawan by Sasaki Shoraku (b. 1944), Japan

Sasaki Shoraku is a third generation potter from Kyoto. The Shoraku kiln was established near the world known Kiyomizu temple in eastern Kyoto by the founder of the Shoraku lineage. In 1945, it was moved to Kameoka, near the Kyoto Yada shrine, whose head priest gave Shoraku his name. That is the kiln the famous mystic and artist Deguchi Onisaburo (1871-1948) used to make his spectacular Raku tea bowls. The current Shoraku inherited that name from his father in 1962.

The bowl is a well made replica of a splendid chawan made by Chojiro (1516 - 1592), the forebear of the Raku family of potters, who created the genre with tea master Sen Rikyu (1522-1591).