<- Back Home


click image to enlarge

57. Rai San'yô (1780-1832) & Takahashi Dôhachi I (II) (Nin’ami) (1783-1855)
Nanga/Kyôyaki
Konro, brazier
Signed: San'yô gaishi
Seals: Nin’ami, Rai Jô, Kono (Jin ko no jin)(top)
Technique: grey and green glazed Kiyoyaki with an underglaze callgraphy Ø12,5 x 14,9
Condition: Used. Some chipping of the glaze, otherwise very good

The inscription reads: 柳絲緻凉動 - ”A chilly breeze makes the catkins of the willow shiver.”

Rai San’yô was a pivotal figure in the bunjin network.
San’yô was born in Osaka when his father was teaching there. He came from an intellectual family; originally the family were rich merchants from the Hiroshima region; his father Rai Shunsui (1746-1816) was the Confucian teacher to the daimyô of Aki. San’yô’s grandfather studied Japanese poetry, his uncle Rai Kyôhei (1756-1834) was a Confucian and advisor to the Aki domain, and his mother, Rai Baishi (1760-1843), was a poet in Chinese and a scholar.

He was a student at the Shôheikô, the governmental Neo-Confucian academy, for a brief period and was further educated by family members. When he was forced into a marriage that immediately collapsed. He went to Kyoto, where he ruined his life. Disinherited by his father in1804 he was forced to earn his living as a teacher and writer for the rest of his life. He was a gifted painter, calligrapher and poet, and is revered as one of Japan’s greatest historians.

Reference:
Rosenfield ’99 B.75
Hempel p. 168 ff.
Roberts p. 138
Araki p. 149

Nin’ami, along with Mokubei (# 2) and Eiraku Hozen (1795-1854), is considered one of the great masters of Kyoto pottery of the late Tokugawa period.
Nin’ami is often referred to as Dōhachi I. However, because his father was likewise active as a potter under that name we also find him designated as Dōhachi II. Nin’ami studied with Okuda Eisen(1753-1811), who had also been the teacher of Mokubei. From 1806 he was permitted to conduct official business with the prince-abbot (monzeki) of the Shoren-in temple, which secured his reputation.
Dōhachi is associated with cha no yu, unlike Mokubei, who often worked for the sencha, the Chinese-style tea ceremony.

Reference:
Roberts p. 18
Jenyns 1971 p. 246-247
Jenyns 1965 p. 295-297

Price:
SOLD