Shino ware - Signed by 'Juko' - Chawan - Tigela de chá, Wan-nari - Grés - E-Shino, Trabalho com Pincel de Ferro

Murata Juko (村田珠光) — E-Shino Chawan

Product Details
This tea bowl begins with a brushstroke.
Before any glaze is applied, the potter takes an iron-pigment brush
and paints directly onto the raw clay —
broad, sweeping marks that suggest landscape or movement.
Then a thick white glaze covers everything,
and the piece enters the wood kiln.
What happens inside is only partly within anyone's control.
The iron bleeds and darkens. The glaze pools and shifts.
The painted marks that went in as bold strokes
come out transformed — softer at the edges, alive in a way
that no two firings ever repeat.
Turn this bowl in your hands and each face offers something different.
The white glaze breaks to a quiet blue-grey where it thickens.
The rim rises and falls unevenly. The walls remember the hand that shaped them.
It is a piece that changes depending on the light,
the angle, and how long you sit with it.
This technique is called E-Shino — painted Shino —
one of the oldest ceramic traditions in Japan,
born in the Mino kilns of Gifu during the late 16th century.
Murata Juko spent his career working from that same region,
keeping the tradition alive through the latter half of the twentieth century.
The original Tomobako — the artist's signed wooden storage box —
accompanies the piece, inscribed "Yoro / Juko" with his personal seal.

Artist Profile
Murata Juko (村田珠光, b. 1922), born name Murata Tetsuo,
belongs to a generation of Japanese ceramicists who returned
to the wood kiln and the Momoyama aesthetic
at a time when industrial production dominated the market.
He trained under two masters who defined that revival:
Kato Tokuro (1897–1985), the leading authority on Mino ceramic history
and technique, and Kato Hajime (1900–1968),
a Living National Treasure whose command of form and surface
remains unmatched in twentieth-century Japanese ceramics.
From his kiln in Yoro, Gifu Prefecture —
within the same regional tradition that produced
the original Shino and Oribe wares of the Momoyama period —
Murata developed a body of work in E-Shino and kiln-change Shino
that was exhibited widely across Japan
and documented in multiple reference publications on chawan and tea utensils.
The artist's name carries deliberate weight.
Juko is a direct homage to Murata Juko (1423–1502),
the Buddhist monk and tea practitioner credited with founding wabi-cha —
the aesthetic of imperfection, restraint, and presence
that underlies the Japanese tea ceremony to this day.
To take that name is to place oneself within a lineage,
and to accept the responsibility that comes with it.

sAbout Mino Ware and Key Terms
What is Mino ware?
Mino ware refers to ceramics produced in the Mino region of present-day Gifu Prefecture, in central Japan. The kilns here were active as early as the eighth century, but it was during the Momoyama period — the late sixteenth century — that Mino produced the wares that would define Japanese tea ceramics: Shino, Oribe, Yellow Seto, and Black Seto. These were the first Japanese ceramics made expressly for the tea ceremony rather than adapted from Chinese or Korean models, and they remain the foundational reference for Japanese tea aesthetics.
E-Shino
E-Shino — painted Shino — is a variation of Shino ware in which iron pigment is brushed directly onto the unfired clay before the thick feldspar glaze is applied. In the kiln, the iron darkens and bleeds at its edges while the white glaze pools and shifts around it, producing surfaces where the painted marks emerge transformed. The result is never fully predictable: painting and firing become a single act, and no two pieces resolve the same way.
Feldspar glaze
The defining glaze of Shino ware is made primarily from feldspar — a mineral abundant in the Mino region. Fired at high temperatures, it produces a thick, opaque white surface with a characteristic texture: slightly porous, scattered with fine pinholes, and prone to pooling where it thickens. It was the first white glaze developed by Japanese potters, and its warmth distinguishes it clearly from the cooler whites of Chinese or Korean porcelain.
Kodai
The Kodai is the foot ring of a ceramic vessel — the trimmed base on which it stands. On a Shino tea bowl, the Kodai is typically left unglazed or lightly glazed, exposing the warm, iron-rich clay beneath. Its proportions, trimming, and texture are considered by practitioners of the tea ceremony as indicators of the potter's sensibility and technical command.
Tomobako
A Tomobako is the original wooden storage box made by the potter specifically for a piece. It is signed and sealed by the artist on the lid, confirming authenticity and provenance. In the Japanese ceramics market, the presence of a Tomobako significantly increases both the scholarly and monetary value of a work, as it provides an unbroken link between the object and its maker.
Wabi-sabi
Wabi-sabi is the Japanese aesthetic sensibility that finds meaning in imperfection, impermanence, and incompleteness. In ceramics, it is expressed through irregular forms, uneven glazing, and surfaces that carry the visible marks of making and firing. It is not a style imposed from outside but a quality that emerges from honest engagement with materials. The tea ceremony tradition shaped this aesthetic over centuries, and Shino ware — with its unpredictable surfaces and quiet warmth — remains one of its clearest expressions.

Condition & Specifications
Condition: Excellent for age. No chips, cracks, or restoration.
While this is a vintage piece, it shows no visible signs of use
and retains its original appearance in outstanding condition.

Height: 7.8 cm
Diameter: 12 cm
Weight: 329 g
Tomobako included (total with box: 655 g)
Stamped seal on kodai; Tomobako inscribed "Yoro / Juko" with "Jukoen" seal

Shipping Information
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Based in Tobe Town, Ehime Prefecture — the 250-year-old birthplace of Tobe ware — our shop was founded with a singular purpose: to bring the profound art of Japanese ceramics to collectors around the world.
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