Item for Kintsugi project. This Mushiage-yaki (虫明焼) chawan was created by potter Shizan Okabe (岡部紫山) of Osafune Kiln (長船窯), a kiln associated with the quietly refined ceramic tradition of Mushiage ware from Okayama Prefecture.
Mushiage-yaki is one of Japan’s lesser-known yet deeply respected pottery traditions, appreciated by tea practitioners for its soft, understated beauty and poetic glazes. Often compared to Hagi ware in spirit, Mushiage ceramics embrace subtle imperfections, muted colors, and natural kiln effects that evoke calmness and contemplation within the tea ceremony.
Operating the Osafune Kiln (長船窯) in the Osafune region of Okayama Prefecture — an area internationally renowned for traditional Japanese swordsmithing — Okabe developed works rooted in the regional Mushiage-yaki tradition while incorporating elegant Kyoto-style aesthetics. His ceramics are especially noted for their soft translucent pine-ash glazes layered over refined underglaze painting, creating surfaces filled with depth, softness, and quiet luminosity.
This chawan displays a serene grey-green glaze with delicate lavender tones appearing along the interior, while softly painted floral motifs emerge through the surface with an almost mist-like gentleness. Fine crackling and organic glaze variation further enhance its contemplative atmosphere and wabi-sabi character.
Signed and preserved with its original wooden tomobako, this vintage Mushiage-yaki tea bowl remains both a collectible studio ceramic and a meaningful candidate for restoration — a vessel embodying the Japanese appreciation for imperfection, passage of time, and renewal.
Size: 13 x 13 x 8cm
