Blue Tenmoku Sake Cup with Kiln Effects

Kyoto-based Kamada Kōji is the modern master of the Tenmoku glaze, the deep black and brown glaze that originated in Song dynasty China (960–1279). The name Tenmoku is the Japanese pronunciation of Mount Tianmu (Tiānmù Shān天目山), a mountain in southern China where many Japanese monks went to study Buddhism. When they returned to Japan they also brought back “whipped tea” drinking and black-glazed tea wares from a variety of southern kilns, all of which came to be known in Japan as Tenmoku wares.

Kamada Kōji has updated the Tenmoku tradition with a blend of the style’s characteristic glazes and the addition of dramatic new colors, such as this deep blue. The rippling patterns left by the flowing glaze are kiln effects (yōhen 燿変).