A beautiful late Edo period tea bowl of deep, flaring form from the Hirasa kiolns of the Satsuma feudal territory on the Southern Island of Kyushu.It is 12.5 cm (5 inches) diameter, 8.5 cm (3-1/2 inches) tall and in fine condition. It comes enclosed wrapped in silk pouch enclosed in a fine Mori-buta Kiri-wood (paulownia) box.
Following the Japanese invasion of Korea in the late 16th century Shimazu Yoshihiro brought to Japan with his returning army Korean potters who established a kiln in Uzumachi (Modern day Nagasaki prefecture).This was the origin of Kochosa-yaki.This rough texture is indicative of that style, however Kochosa was mostly dark glaze on a deep red clay.Genryuin works picked up where Kochosa leaves off, founded in 1663 by Ono Genryu.This kiln lasted a little less than a century, closing in the mid 1700s.Hirasa is said to have begun in 1786 as the personal kiln of the Hongo Clan, Lords of Satsuma, incorporating some of these earlier styles into a complex melee of wares from blue and white porcelain to rich iron glazes and sansai wares.
