Top incense holder by Rakusai Onishi

Width: 8.0cm x 8.3cm Height: 3.2cm

Top incense holder (Koma-kougou) Made by Rakusai Onishi

--The spinning good fortune is sealed in the deep blue glaze--

Work summary

This is a top-shaped incense holder made by Akahada-yaki potter Onisairakusai of Yatsushiro, Nara. A top (dokuraku) has long been considered an auspicious toy, due to its punning words meaning "things go smoothly," "money luck goes around," and "business goes around," and it has been a favorite at New Year's and first tea ceremony.
Although it is small enough to fit in the palm of your hand, the spiral patterns floating on the lustrous deep green glaze (copper green glaze) and the gold paint on the edges create a sense of dynamism, as if they are leaving an afterimage of the rotation.

Form and design

Glaze and technique

Deep blue copper-green glaze <br data-end="626" data-start="623">A copper glaze mainly made of feldspar is applied to the red clay body and then reduction fired at around 1240℃. The copper in the glaze changes color from deep viridian to a night-like blue, and is partially black, creating a sense of depth.

Crazing reminiscent of broken Japanese pepper <br data-end="742" data-start="739">The rapid cooling after firing creates fine crazes, and the gold paint seeps into the gaps, creating lines reminiscent of the trail of a spinning top.

First, the disk -shaped body is stretched on a potter's wheel, and when it is half-dry, it is hand-twisted to carve the spiral pattern. The lid body is made malleable and then separated, and the mating surfaces are ground together to ensure precision that it can be opened and closed effortlessly.

Tops and incense containers in the tea ceremony

Since the Momoyama period, the spinning top incense container has been highly valued as a representative design of Chinese lacquerware, and has become a typical example of a "shaped incense container" along with lacquerware such as tsuishu, zonosei, and aogai. In particular, the "doma-nuri" style, which uses lacquer painted in concentric circles of vermilion, yellow, and green, is a highly prestigious design that was also used in Shoin decorations. This piece reinterprets this style in a ceramic body, bringing together the warm and elegant earthenware color characteristic of Akahada ware with a modern deep green glaze.

Matching with the season

Onishi Rakusai's approach to pottery

Based on the idea of ​​"transforming the history and elegance of Nara into modern tea ceremony pottery," Onishi Rakusai has been enthusiastically developing works that feature symbols of Yamato such as deer, temple bells, and shiobi, as well as auspicious toys such as tops. In this work, he actively utilizes the kiln changes that are accidentally produced by flames and copper glaze as "afterimages of rotation," enhancing the perfection of the palm-sized sculpture.

summary

The "Top Incense Container," with its deep blue glaze and golden swirls, is an auspicious item that welcomes the positive symbolism of circle and circulation into the tea room. When you open the lid, the incense smoke rises in eddies, and the rotation of the top creates invisible air currents that gently envelop the entire tea room. Please try out the beauty of the form and the exquisite glaze scenery that are unique to Onishi Rakusai at any time of the year.

A conversation with Rakusai Onishi – High-end pottery specialty store [Amagi-do]