Sen Rikyu is undoubtedly the most famous name in the history of Japanese tea ceremony, but his "imperial" potter Nagajiro has always been hidden behind the aura of the master, so foggy but impossible to ignore. In the written materials left by Sen Rikyu, it is difficult to find Nagajiro's name. However, Nagajiro's name has long been integrated into the precious tea sets over the years, and solidified into a rich history of Japanese tea ceremony culture.
The Japanese like to say that Nagajiro was born in a family of "dulai people". Nagajiro's father, Ami Ye, was a pottery craftsman who was good at firing low-temperature glazes. He departed from Fujian, China, and finally arrived in Japan via the Korean Peninsula. The pottery technology brought over from China started a family and settled down in Japan. Although some insist that Nagajiro's father is Korean, his mastery of the Tang Sancai technique may be a powerful proof that he is a Chinese craftsman.
As an adult, Nagajiro inherited his father's craftsmanship and quietly fired his pottery in a corner of Kyoto until he met Sen Rikyu. Sen Rikyu hopes to use the tea utensils produced in Japan to change the pompous style of chasing expensive imported products in the Muromachi era - "Tangwu". According to Sen Rikyu's request, Nagajiro fired a dark and simple tea utensil. The tea set corresponding to the antiquities of the Tang and Song Dynasties sought after by Japanese aristocrats and daimyo at that time was called "Imayaki". Nagujiro was related to the famous artist Benami Koyue at the time, because this relationship gave him the opportunity to contact the top artworks at that time, and his extensive knowledge also helped him to understand Sen Rikyu's understanding of the art of tea ceremony.
High mountains and flowing waters, bosom friends are hard to find. Because of Sen Rikyu, Nagajiro's works are permanently preserved as precious works of art, and the descendants of a craftsman who drifted to a foreign country became a master of art sought after by later generations. Sen Rikyu's tea ceremony and Nagajiro's pottery complement each other. If the tea utensils fired by Nagujiro are not used as the carrier of the tea ceremony, the spirit of the tea ceremony advocated by Sen Rikyu - "Wabi-sabi", will have less specific objects that can be perceived. With tea bowls, tea has life, and with tea utensils, tea ceremony culture has a carrier. The tea set with simple shape and dull color, the small tea room with half a frame, and the mouth that bows and kneels, these factors together constitute the spirit of Sen Rikyu's tea ceremony of "harmony, respect, purity and silence". Nowadays, it is generally believed that the black tea bowl, "Imayaki", which is one of the representatives of "Rakujia", was born under the guidance of Sen Rikyu, but people ignore that Sen Rikyu often burns pottery by himself. , Making tea sets, there is no doubt that Changjiro must have provided him with a lot of "technical support".
In order to cater to the preferences of the "monkey" Toyotomi Hideyoshi, even Sen Rikyu, who has always been very principled, had to give in. He asked Nagajiro to make a batch of brightly colored tea sets. This vibrant color is more in line with the aesthetic requirements of samurai. Although Sen Rikyu did not agree with it, it was completed according to Toyotomi Hideyoshi's requirements.
Toyotomi Hideyoshi spent a lot of money and material resources to build "Juledi". This exquisite building is nowhere to be found today, but Sen Rikyu used the soil of "Juledi" to make a tea set that meets the requirements of Toyotomi Hideyoshi, but quietly Lying in the National Museum of Modern Art, Kyoto. Toyotomi Hideyoshi was very satisfied with this batch of tea sets. The "Royal Gift" was "Rakuya". Since Changjiro, the Senrikyu family was honored as "Rakujia", and the head of the "Rakujia" also had a famous title—— "Rukizaemon". Perhaps in Sen Rikyu's view, the birth of the red tea bowl that Toyotomi Hideyoshi loved came from Toyotomi Hideyoshi's vulgar aesthetic taste. But in my opinion, Toyotomi Hideyoshi's love for red tea sets is not unrelated to his special feeling for war. It was in the Warring States period of "undercommitment" that Toyotomi Hideyoshi, who came from the bottom of society, was able to rely on his own ability to fight through wars and fights, step by step, to reach the position of "people of the world". The bright red is the character of the warrior who fought hard to the death, and it is the hope of life after the death. What Sen Rikyu couldn't agree with, Nagujiro turned it into reality. This may be the hallmark of an excellent craftsman.
In 1589, Nagajiro said goodbye to the world and passed his life in peace. What he didn't know was that two years after his death, his old friend and bosom friend Sen Rikyu was killed by Toyotomi Hideyoshi. What Nagajirou didn't even know was that the "Imayaki" that he helped Sen Rikyu bake actually became an excuse for others to attack Sen Rikyu. Some people say that Sen Rikyu sold the tea sets made by Nagajiro at a high price, and exchanged these "new things" made by contemporary people for "famous things" of the Tang and Song Dynasties in China. These are evil acts that "violate Buddhism".
With the passage of time, Rojia's artistic charm has not been affected by the changes of the world, and still exudes a charming brilliance. The fourteenth generation Rukizaemon was born in 1918, and his youth was at the outbreak of World War II.
Rukizaemon was inevitably involved in that crazy war. Lejizaemon participated in the Pacific War, a war that marked Japan's decline and finally ended in defeat. The brutal war scenes brought him a great impact. These dark and terrifying life experiences were shaped by him. Glazed, fired, cured, and preserved forever in each piece of pottery. He used pottery works to record that unspeakable memory. The colors are bold and strange, and the glaze presents a depressing and heavy artistic conception. Some people say that art is independent, and excellent artists are always loyal to their hearts when they create. In fact, art has never existed in isolation. Each piece of art truly records the times the artist lived in and the experiences he encountered, and they have become the most faithful recorders of history across time and space constraints.
The skill of making pottery in Rakuya has been passed down from generation to generation. The previous "Rakujizaemon" selected a successor, and he inherited the technology and family business. Nagajiro's son inherited his father's craftsmanship, and his abilities were also recognized by the Tokugawa shogunate. However, the true identity of the second-generation "Rukizaemon" is still a mystery. Some people think that his real identity is the younger brother of Changjiro, and some people think that he is the son of Sen Rikyu Tanaka Zongqing (Sen Rikyu's original surname is Tanaka), and some people say that he is the son of Changjiro, and later married Tanaka Zongqing. Granddaughter, combining the strengths of the two families to inherit "Rakuya". But in any case, "passing from one son to the next" guarantees the purity of traditional skills, and "Raku-yaki" has been passed down for more than 450 years. Today's Roka still use the most traditional method of firing pottery, just as their ancestors did when they first came to Japan from the Ming Dynasty in China.
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