Hatsuhana Katatsuki
初花肩衝
Rank
Chaire Type
Historical Period
Current Owner / Collection
Denrai
Omeibutsu 大名物, Ryuei gomotsu 柳営御物
Kansaku karamono katatsuki chaire 漢作唐物肩衝茶入
Southern Song – Yuan Dynasty 南宋–元時代
Tokugawa Memorial Foundation 德川記念財団
Noami 能阿弥 – Daimonjiya Hikita Shinza 大文字屋疋田新左, Daimonjiya Hikita Sokan 大文字屋疋田宗観 – Oda Nobunaga 織田信長, Oda Nobutada 織田信忠 – Tokugawa Ieyasu 德川家康 – Toyotomi Hideyoshi 豊臣秀吉 – Yuki Hideyasu 結城秀康 – Tokugawa Ieyasu 德川家康 – Matsudaira Tadanao 松平忠直 – Tokugawa Hidetada 德川秀忠 – Matsudaira Tadanao 松平忠直, Matsudaira family 松平家 – Tokugawa Tsunayoshi 德川綱吉, Main branch of the Tokugawa family 德川宗家 – Tokugawa Memorial Foundation 公益財団法人 德川記念財団
Origin of Name and Stories
The name Hatsuhana, First Flower, was given to this chaire by Ashikaga Yoshimasa, it is said, for its beauty and perfect shape. Or perhaps the vibrant layering of overglaze and underglaze may be reminiscent of a flower just beginning to bloom. Yoshimasa declared this chaire to be first among all chaire, like the first flower to open in spring.
According to the Meibutsu chaire ko 名物茶入考, Ashikaga Yoshimasa in naming this chaire was alluding to the following anonymous poem in the Kokinshu 古今集 (poem 723):
紅の
はつ花ぞめの
いろふかく
思ひしこころ
われ忘れめや
kurenai no
hatsuhanazome no
iro fukaku
omoishi kokoro
ware wasureme ya
How might I forget
my feelings when I began
to love with a love
deep as the dye extracted
from the safflower’s first blossom?
(trans. Helen Craig McCullough)
The Hatsuhana Katatsuki was taken into Oda Nobunaga’s possession during his hunt for famous tea utensils, the meibutsu gari. The chaire passed to his son, Nobutada, and somehow survived the attack on Honnoji Temple, which cannot be said of either Nobunaga or Nobutada. It later came into Tokugawa Ieyasu’s hands. During the power struggle between Ieyasu and Hideyoshi that ensued after Nobunaga’s death, Ieyasu offered Hatsuhana to Hideyoshi. To deliver the chaire, Ieyasu dispatched his longtime loyalist Ishikawa Kazumasa, who defected to Hideyoshi, thus weakening Ieyasu’s position. Ieyasu eventually bowed to Hideyoshi. Hatsuhana became one of Hideyoshi’s most prized chaire. He featured it at the Kitano Ochanoyu of 1587.
Physical Description
This chaire defines the classic katatsuki shape, with ideal proportioned mouth, shoulder, and body. Over the chestnut clay body is a brownish-black underglaze that sometimes acquires a purplish hue depending on the light. The overglaze falls in three cascades, each of varying length: the shortest ends within the area of the underglaze; the middle-length drip stops just at the edge of the underglaze; the longest extends beyond the underglaze to the clay body at the base of the chaire. The base is flat with a slightly raised edge. The lip of the chaire is formed such that the juncture of the lid and the mouth resembles the seam of a closed clamshell, a feature more commonly seen in bunrin chaire.
Height: 8.4 cm
Weight: 139.9 g
Mouth diameter: 4.6 cm
Body diameter: 8.0 cm
Base diameter: 4.7 cm
Accompanying items
Lid
Shifuku
Ivory
Two (From left to right)
Shuko donsu / Nochiwatari Joo donsu katamigawari 珠光緞子 / 後渡紹鷗緞子片身替
Hakugyoku-de donsu 白極手緞子
Hikiya
Hikiyabukuro
Box inscriptions
Karaki-fuchi ikake kinpun horimei 唐木縁沃懸金粉彫銘, Chinese wood with embellished rim and gold infilled inscription 初花 Hatsuhana
Karaori tanji kikaracha 唐織丹地黄唐茶
Inner box: Kiri shiraki kinpunmei 桐白木金粉銘, white paulownia with gold inscription 初花Hatsuhana
Outer box: Kuronuri kinpun jigata 黒塗金粉字形, black lacquer with gold infilled inscription 初花
Hatsuhana
Accompanying documents
Yuishogaki 由緒書, a letter of provenance
Research and Image Sources
Chado bijutsu kansho jiten (Tankosha)
Yagi, Ichio, Uta-Mei: The Poetic Names of Tea Utensils. Chanoyu Quarterly, No. 83.
Meibutsu Chaire no Monogatari (Tankosha)
Tokugawa Memorial Foundation
