Shigaraki Jar named »Fleeing Water«
Item number: T-3202Size: H 11.6" x D 8.5" (29.5 x 21.5 cm)
Age: early 17th century
Stoneware with natural ash glaze
Tea name: »Fleeing water« Nigemizu 逃げ水
Fitted wood box with inscriptions
Box lid, outside: »Shigaraki Rice Cracker Jar« Shigaraki sembei tsubo 信楽煎餅壺
Published: Koyama Fujio 小山富士夫 and Domon Ken 土門拳. Shigaraki Ōtsubo 信楽大壺. Tokyo: Tokyo Chūnichi Shimbun Shuppankyoku 東京中新聞出版局, 1965, 86.
Provenance: Fujimori Takeshi 藤森武, Tokyo
This stoneware jar is from the Shigaraki region, a mountainous area in modern-day Shiga Prefecture, southeast of Kyoto. The Shigaraki kiln gained fame from an early date, partly due to its proximity to the capital city of Kyoto, and partly due to the many tea masters, from the sixteenth century onwards, who actively promoted ceramics from this area. Prior to the discovery of the kiln by tea aficionados, the Shigaraki kilns made unpretentious objects for local farmers, merchants, and religious institutions.2
Whereas the pre Momoyama-period jars from this region embody a sense of austere beauty and a tour-de-force display of surface detail, the present jar is from the time after the Kyoto and Sakai tea masters had begun to influence the local potters. In this piece, we still see the spectacular surface effects of the earlier periods, such as firing spots, stone inclusions, natural ash glaze dripping, cracks, and melted minerals throughout the vessel. At the same time, we also see new effects, such as a beautifully formed neck and lip and a more symmetrical shape, formed now on a more advanced potter’s wheel and burned within the control of the climbing kiln.3
With the use of the climbing kiln, the natural ash glaze designs and glaze drippings of earlier periods (when the rougher hole kiln was used) could not occur as spontaneously as before.4 The effect on this jar has been spectacular, with green glaze flowing down the front of the jar (the side that faced the fire) in four stripes of various lengths, ending in what Koyama Fujio described as the »sparkling dragonfly eyes« drops of glaze.5
This jar is of a type called senbei tsubo or »rice cracker jar,« where the shoulder is cut at a sharp angle and the sides are close to being vertical.6 The jar has been prized for its shape by tea masters for generations, and was given a poetic name for its striking physical properties.7 The name, »fleeing water« Nigemizu 逃げ水, refers to the glaze stripes running down the side which make it appear as if water were »fleeing« from the inside of the jar.8 The inner lid of the storage box has a lengthy personal certificate by Domon Ken (1909–90), the most renowned Japanese photographer of the twentieth century. Although it is not clear from the inscription, it is also possible that Domon himself gave the jar its poetic name. The superb photograph of the jar in the above publication was likewise taken by Domon, who seems to have had a special relationship with this jar and its owner.9
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