Burst bag water container

Fittingly named “Burst Bag” (Yaburebukuro) by a previous owner, this water jar (mizusashi) epitomizes the purposeful rusticity admired by masters of the Japanese tea ceremony during the 1500s. The potter left the marks of his hands and fingers as he created the form on the wheel and made deep irregular incisions to augment the vessel’s dramatic shape. The jar was fired for between seventeen and seventy days, further deforming the vessel and leaving scorch marks and cracks that interact visually with vitreous green ash glaze. The first object to enter the tearoom at the commencement of a tea ceremony, the mizusashi replenishes the kettle. It maintains a prominent position in the tearoom for the duration of the ceremony and therefore plays a key role in toriawase, the tea master’s deliberate selection and combination of utensils (tea bowl, caddy, water jar, kettle, etc.) that make each tea ceremony a unique event.