Blue gourd peach incense Suwa Sozan

Width: 6.1cm Height: 4.2cm

Introduction: What is a "Kougo"?

An incense box is a covered container used to store incense in the tea ceremony. It is one of the smallest and most spiritual tea utensils and is usually offered for viewing in front of guests during the hearth season and when preparing the charcoal during the furo season.
Because of their small size, incense containers offer an opportunity to condense the artist's aesthetic sense, creative ability, and sense of playfulness; they are more than just containers for fragrance; by capturing symbols of the seasons, festivals, mythology, and nature in their shapes, they become special objects that bring stories and poetry to the tea ceremony.

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The peach theme - a symbol of good fortune and longevity

This piece, "Celadon Peach Incense Holder," is shaped like a peach, as its name suggests. It is not merely a realistic depiction; it is a design that carefully blends the auspiciousness and spirituality of the peach into the symbolic shape of an incense holder .

In ancient China, peaches have been revered as a fruit symbolizing longevity, protection from evil, and the arrival of spring . In mythology, the Queen Mother of the West cultivates the immortal peach, and so the peach also has the meaning of being a fruit of the fairy world. Especially from the Song Dynasty onwards, it became a frequent subject in ceramic designs, and peach-shaped incense holders were also beloved by literati .

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Wonderful design and composition

Created by Suwa Sozan IV, this work is a pinnacle of realism achieved through reinterpretation that goes beyond simple imitation .
First of all, the overall form naturally expresses the rounded fullness of the fruit, while the ridges on both sides are slightly shaded, achieving both a three-dimensional look and a sense of stability.

The joining line between the lid and the body is cleverly designed to follow the cracks in the peach, making the seam less noticeable and maintaining a sense of unity . The leaf-shaped protrusions naturally guide the eye towards the vessel, and act as poetic accents that breathe life into the vessel.

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Sozan Celadon - A Miracle of Color in Silence

The glaze tone is based on a reproduction of the "Kinuta Celadon" that the first generation Suwa Sozan took 25 years to perfect, and is covered in the pale, clear jade color unique to Sozan Celadon, which has been further refined by the fourth generation.
The glaze has accumulated somewhat thickly around the ridges of the peach and the undulating parts of the leaves, creating soft shadows and gradations of color , creating a scene as if light and shadow are playing on the surface of the vessel.

The transparency of the glaze and the deep blue color give the vessel a quiet majesty, even though it is small in size. At the moment when you light the incense during the tea ceremony, a universe is born in your hands when you remove the lid - that is the power of Sozan celadon.

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Tea ceremony space and incense holder design

When this work is used at a tea ceremony, its meaning and presentation are multi-layered.
In spring, in keeping with the themes of the Peach Festival and a hundred flowers in bloom, the arrangement of flowers and plants creates a sign of life, and in autumn, the auspicious fruits that herald the coming of a harvest add a subtle sparkle to serene scenery.

Furthermore, when the incense container is viewed together with the rich aroma of matcha, the story it tells creates a quiet conversation between the tea master and the guest . The "power of silence" of the incense container is the very foundation that supports the subtle beauty of the tea ceremony.

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Historical design and modern succession

Although celadon incense holders with realistic designs like this one once existed at the Longquan kilns of the Song dynasty, most have only been passed down in fragments. This piece was reconstructed by Sozan with modern perfection and precision, based on meticulous research into the structure and aesthetic sense of these handed down objects.

Not a reproduction, but succession and creation . This is where the fourth generation pottery philosophy is condensed.

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Author profile and thoughts

Suwa Sozan IV was born in Kyoto in 1970 and grew up under the tutelage of his father, Suwa Sozan III, and his mother, the twelfth Nakamura Sotetsu, a lacquer artist. Since taking on the name of the fourth generation in 2002, in addition to traditional celadon works, he has developed a free style of work with motifs of the universe, stars, dawn, and spring mist, and is challenging himself to express modern celadon using a variety of techniques such as nerikomi, hotaru-de, and tobi-seiji.

In addition, when making pottery, he always treasures the teachings of his mother, which was to "make pottery while imagining the story of the person who will use it," and believes that "pottery is complete only when it is used." This work is also a piece that is destined to quietly live in the heart of the user.

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Conclusion

The "Celadon Peach Incense Container" is not just a ceramic craft. It is a quiet work of art that fuses together ancient Chinese thought, the pottery culture of the Southern Song Dynasty, the spirit of the Japanese tea ceremony, and modern aesthetic sense .

The smoothness of the piece in the palm of your hand, the way the glaze shimmers in the light, and the story entrusted to the shape of the peach - all of these, in the silent act of placing the incense, create a dialogue between the piece, the person, and the timeless .

Residing within this small vessel is a form of beauty and prayer that has remained unchanged since ancient times.