22/05/2026
Available 👉Among the most arresting lacquer objects I have encountered: a kashiki-bachi — a confectionery bowl for the tea ceremony — in deep roiro black, its interior swept with a single arc of vermillion in the technique the tomobako identifies precisely as shu hake-zuri (朱ハケ刷): brush-swept cinnabar lacquer.
The gesture is explosive yet controlled, recalling the immediacy of a Zen ensō. It grips immediately and does not release.
The bowl remains in original, unused condition — a rare circumstance suggesting either a presentation piece or an owner who understood exactly what they possessed.
The body appears to be finely turned hinoki wood, finished externally in mirror-polished roiro lacquer of exceptional depth and restraint. The foot ring is sharply resolved, the profile immaculate. Every decision here is deliberate.
The tomobako inscription reads:朱ハケ刷 菓子鉢“Vermillion brush-swept confectionery bowl.”
More than a title, it is a concise description of the object’s making: technique, colour, and form distilled into five characters. Alongside appears a cursive attestation with an oval seal — likely a certification of authorship or authenticity by a family member, tea master, or close associate. No signature appears on the base itself, entirely consistent with the conventions of refined chadō lacquerwork, where the tomobako carries the documentary authority.
The character of the piece — the flawless roiro ground, the confidence of the hake-zuri brushwork, the quality of the turning, and the style of inscription — points toward a twentieth-century Kyoto or Wajima master working within the classical tea tradition, yet with a striking painterly freedom.
This is not a production object.It was made with complete attention.
