Setoguro bowls were fired in Mino in the Momoyama period, and their principal interest is a deep, sunken black. The colour comes from hikidashi-guro, pulling the piece from the kiln mid-firing and cooling it rapidly in open air. With black Raku, it is one of the two representative black-glazed wares of Japanese tea, and one of the genuine technical innovations the Momoyama tea world produced.
History
Mino produced a series of new wares in the Momoyama period — kiseto, setoguro, Shino, Oribe — and setoguro was established within that wave. Drawing the vessel out while the glaze is molten and letting the outside air cool it at once fixes a black with the gloss suppressed. It accords with the wabi tea Rikyu was pursuing and is treated as an embodiment of Momoyama aesthetics.
Types
The form is a half-cylinder with the rim rising almost straight, which suits the black surface and gives the bowl its characteristic weight in the hand.
In practice
Like black Raku it favours thick tea and the colder months, where the depth of the black carries the formality of that part of a gathering.
Sources
- 瀬戸黒（デジタル大辞泉 / 精選版 日本国語大辞典 / 日本大百科全書） / コトバンク
Supports: 瀬戸黒が「美濃国で天正（1573～1592）ごろに焼かれた黒無地の茶碗」で、薄作りで筒形のものが多く高台が低いこと。窯から引き出して急速に冷却させた漆黒釉によるものであること
About this article
Edited by the operator of Chaen (a one-person operation) / Last updated:
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Related terms
- Chawan (tea bowl)chawan
The bowl in which tea is whisked and drunk — usually the most closely examined object in a gathering.
- Raku chawan (Raku tea bowl)raku chawan
Hand-formed, low-fired bowls made by the Raku family of Kyoto; the emblem of the tea Rikyu aimed at.
- Iga chawan (Iga bowl)iga chawan
Unglazed bowls from Iga with dramatic scorching, running bidoro glaze, and bold distortion.
- Bizen chawan (Bizen bowl)bizen chawan
Unglazed high-fired bowls from Bizen whose entire appearance comes from clay and fire alone.
- Kiseto chawan (yellow Seto bowl)kiseto chawan
Momoyama Mino bowls with a soft yellow glaze, green copper spots, and scorch marks.