A fabulous antique Chawan enclosed in an ancient wooden box titled Kosa-saku Ne-wake Chawan annotated inside Hon’ami Kosa Saku Ne-wake Chawan dated early spring of 1722 and signed Rakushisai Soji. It is 12 x 8.5 cm.
Matsuo Soji (1677-1752), founder of the Matsuo school of tea, was an influential mid-Edo period tea master born in Kyoto. He was the grandson of the distinguished tea practitioner Matsuo Soji, a leading disciple of Sen Sotan. Known variously by the names Shigakane and Soji, and by the common name Jihei, he studied under Kakukakusai of the Omotesenke lineage and, through his mastery, established the independent Matsuo-ryū. Soji taught disciples such as Takada Taroan and helped spread the practice of chanoyu in Nagoya. He died in 1752 at the age of seventy-five.
The Hon’ami family had long been specialists in sword appraisal, polishing, and cleaning. Hon’ami Koetsu, active in the early Edo period as a calligrapher, potter, and multifaceted artist, saw his direct heir die young and therefore adopted his cousin Kosa, the eldest of the Kōji branch of the Hon’ami family, to become the second-generation head of the Koetsu branch. Kosa excelled in all aspects of the Hon’ami family craft, from preliminary and intermediate polishing to water finishing, wiping, and final polishing, earning a reputation as a master. It is said that when the tenth head of the main family, Koshitsu, was asked by Shogun Hidetada who the foremost master was, he named Kosa. Kosa married Myozan, daughter of the ninth head of the main line, Kotoku, and their eldest son, Koho, further strengthened ties with the main family. Koetsu, Kosa’s adoptive father, passed away at the age of 80 on February 3, 1637, and Kosa himself died a few months later on October 5 of the same year at the age of 64.
