Lot Essay
Shigaraki ware has a very early history, and it's use for tea ceremony is recorded from the time of Murata Juko. In many ways it resembles Iga ware, which is in very close proximity, both kilns sharing the same mountain and virtually the same source of clay and other raw materials. The daimyo of Iga being obsessed with the tea ceremony ordered his potters to produce very distinctive Iga wares. Still it was the force and subtle potting of Shigaraki that attracted the great tea masters Jo-o and Rikyu.