Product Description
7354 A kanshitsu (dry lacquer) traveling chabako (tea box) containing tea ceremony utensils each imitating different materials. A ‘pottery’ hojū cha-ire (gourd shaped tea container), a ‘cherry tree bark’ furidashi (Japanese sugar candy container), a chakin (hemp cloth) in a ‘lacquered bamboo’ chakinzutsu (hemp cloth container), a ‘raku pottery’ chawan (tea bowl) and a chasen (tea whisk) in a ‘spotted bamboo’ container. All are housed in a red ‘leather’ box with ‘pewter’ rims, decorated with ‘metal’ hōeitsūhō (antique coins) and tied with a pair of deer skin straps. The interior is lined with silk and the inner part of the lid features a roundel depicting the famous scenic spot Meotoiwa (married couple rocks)
Japan 19th century Edo period
Cha-ire signed: Hojū with Matsugae Funyū’s kaō (A tea container, modelled on one of the famous ten gourd-shaped tea containers associated with Kobori Enshu (1579-1647) the renowned tea master)
Inscribed: Kichugu, Nihon Kaguraoka, Kaishahei (A portable tea set for travelling, Kaguraoka, Japan, Kaishahei with kaō)
Kiyoki nagisa no tama wa
hirou tomo tsukiru kotonaku shigeki miyaki wa hiku tomo
tayu bekarazu*
The beautiful pearls are bountiful.
One can gather one after the other. The number of trees harvested are bountiful
Dimensions: H. 4½” x W. 6″ x D. 4¾” (11cm x 15cm x 12cm)
Tomobako lid inscribed: Funyū chabako (A tea set box by Funyū)
Matsugae Funyū (1771-1850). Gō (art name): Funyū, Issei-an, Mujin-an, Kaishahei. Funyū was born into the wealthy and renowned Yasuda family, landlords of the farming region of Owari (modern Gifu Prefecture). At the age of 17 he was adopted by the Amano family, prosperous brewers in Gifu. The Amano family were known for their cultural pursuits over successive generations, practicing Reizei School Japanese Waka Poetry, and Matsuo School Tea Ceremony. Funyū married Kishi, the daughter of his adopted father Amano Kanzo and sired two children. However, in 1808 after twenty years with his adopted family he suddenly left to live an ascetic life. Funyū greatly admired the reclusive Buddhist poet Kamono Chomei (1152-1216) and following his footsteps he moved to Kaguraoka, at the foot of Mt Hiei, Kyoto, to devote himself to crafting lacquer works and tea wares. Matsudaira Fumai (1751-1818) an important daimyo of the time and a keen tea practitioner ruling the Matsue Domain offered to patronise
Funyū and invited him to visit and work in his fief. However, Funyū never accepted and was thereby known as Funyū, which literally means ‘not entering’ (the Matsue). Another theory suggests that his name was based on the fact that Funyū never returned to his family. He produced fine tea ware and lacquer ware using inlay and the kanshitsu (dry lacquer) technique.
The famous Meotoiwa (married couple rocks) pictured at the inner part of this chabako’s lid are located in Mie prefecture, close to the Futami Okitama Shrine. According to Shinto tradition, the rocks represent the union of the creators of the islands of Japan and of the kami (Shinto gods and spirits), Izanagi and Izanami. The rocks therefore symbolise the union of marriage.
*This inscription is adapted from a passage in the kanajo preface of the Shin Kokin Wakashū (New Collection of Poems Ancient and Modern) which reads:
Ise no umi
kiyoki nagisa no tama wa
hirou tomo tsukiru kotonaku
Izumi no soma shigeki miyaki wa
hikutomo taeyu bekarazu
I sought to preserve all of those poems
in chapter after chapter
to gather them up
as men gather up pearls and seashell
at the Sea of Ise
and wood from Soma in Izumi Province
Chabako (tea box) are special lidded boxes containing a tea bowl, a tea container, a tea scoop and other equipment necessary for preparing tea while travelling or outdoors. Chabako are made of wood, and may be lacquered and decorated, or left untreated.
Originally there were no rules for the tea-making procedure (temae). However, the 11th-generation head of the Urasenke school of tea Seichū Sōshitsu (1810–77) created certain types of rituals. For these rituals, the box is carried into the place where the tea is to be made, sometimes on a tray and the ceremony proceeds with each item being removed from and finally returned into the box.
