Black glaze Yugetsu tea bowl by Suwa Sozan

Width: 12.1cm Height: 8.2cm

This piece, the "Black Glazed Yugetsu Tea Bowl," was created by Suwa Sozan IV as a way of setting himself apart from celadon porcelain, using a jet-black glaze that symbolizes the dark night and a shape with subtle inflections to create a tea bowl filled with extremely tranquil and spiritual beauty. As the name "Yugetsu" suggests, the "moon" in this piece is not the shining full moon, but the invisible new moon -- in other words, it is a poetic vessel that expresses "the invisible," "the missing," and "the sign of fullness."

The Depths of Black Glaze - A Technique for Reflecting Night on Vessels

The ware is coated with a black glaze that contains a lot of iron, and although it is called black, its appearance is not uniform. The slight silvery-white spots that appear on the surface of the ware are remnants of the kiln changes that occurred during firing, and look like traces of light floating in the night sky like stars. This pointillist shine avoids the monotony of the black glaze and creates a sense of cosmic depth.

Furthermore, the way this glaze changes appearance depending on the angle of the light can truly be described as the "color of night," symbolizing the quiet power lurking in the darkness. If celadon is a "vessel that harbors light," then black glaze is a "vessel that embraces darkness," and it is this contrast that demonstrates the breadth of Sozan's creative world.

The moon residing in the "depression" - the meaning behind the name "Yuzuki"

Part of the rim is intentionally slightly indented, which is where the name "Yugetsu" (Playing Moon) comes from. This indentation is not just a design accent, but a highly poetic effect that evokes the image of the moon hiding among the clouds or a thin moon suddenly appearing on a dark night. Although it resembles a crescent moon, it by no means signifies "incompleteness," but rather alludes to the true nature of the moon as a "changing entity" and "waxing and waxing."

This depression is also designed so that your fingers will naturally touch it when holding the vessel in your palm, making it an aesthetic design that exquisitely combines practicality and symbolism. Touching it creates the sensation of "touching the moon," further deepening the afterglow of appreciation during the tea ceremony.

Functional beauty and spirituality as tea utensils

The inside of this tea bowl is also black glazed, making the green of the matcha stand out even more vividly. The green of the matcha spreading out against the black is like dew falling on the grass in the night sky, and you can feel the aesthetic sense of capturing the "poetry of nature and the universe" in the moment of drinking tea.

In addition, the soft curved surface from the base to the base of the handle provides a comfortable grip and stability, and the handle feels great in your hand as you use it. The design philosophy, which aims to become one with the user's sensibilities, is evident in every detail.

The symbolism of black and the moon - a connection with Eastern thought

In the East, the moon symbolizes beauty as something that is sometimes imperfect, that is, the philosophy that "elegance resides in imperfection," while black has been used to express spiritual values ​​such as infinity, tolerance, and silence. By fusing these two elements, Suwa Sozan's work embodies the pinnacle of Japanese aesthetics, which finds beauty in the invisible and the unspeakable.

In particular, this work, which strongly resonates with the idea of ​​"praise of shadows," is an attempt to sublimate the beauty that cannot be seen unless light hits it, yet which certainly exists, into the form of a vessel.

Conclusion: A vessel that holds the moon in the darkness

The Black Glazed Yugetsu Tea Bowl is by no means a piece intended to be flashy or show off skill. Rather, it is a piece filled with deep spirituality, allowing one to see the silence hidden behind the light and the perfection that resides in what is lacking.

While thinking of the moon floating quietly in the dark night, make tea and drink it. There is certainly a sense of "tranquility" and "aesthetic sense" that is being lost in modern times. This world of black glaze dedicated by Suwa Sozan gently invites us into a poetic universe of the moon and darkness.