Nazotoki okugōrai chawan: The mystery of the okugōrai tea bowls

Abstract

"Okugōrai-chawan group tea bowls--their name implies that they were fired in Korea (Kōrai), but these tea bowls were actually made in Japan. Modeled on Kōrai-chawan, they were fired at Karatsu, a kiln center in the Hizen region of Kyushu, in what is now Saga prefecture. These works were highly esteemed in the latter half of the Edo period. The daimyo tea master Matsudaira Fumai even chose them as masterpieces ranking with famous wabicha tea bowls. Why, despite their fame, were they called Okugōrai? Which kilns in Karatsu produced them? When were they made? Above all, what sort of tea bowls were Okugōrai-chawan? These basic questions have not been clearly answered. The puzzles are many. On the occasion of the Enchanting Korean Ceramics museum collection exhibition, the Nezu Museum held a special exhibit, The Mystery of Okugōrai Tea Bowls. In it we have tried to position Okugōrai tea bowls as 'Karatsu ware tea bowls for tea gatherings' by identifying their characteristics and then, with the results of archeological excavations at the kiln sites, to tackle those mysteries"-- Foreword, Kōichi Nezu (page 4).