This elegant hira chawan (flat tea bowl) features a soft 粉引 (kohiki) glaze, characterized by its milky white surface and rustic aesthetic. The wide, shallow form is traditionally favoured for summer use in the Japanese tea ceremony, its openness inviting a sense of coolness during the warmer months.
The bowl is accompanied by its original tomobako (signed wooden storage box), which bears a calligraphic inscription and poetic naming by the esteemed Zen monk Matsunaga Gōzan (松長剛山), abbot of Daitoku-ji sub temple Kōtō-in and 13th head of the Hisada-ryū tea school.
The inscription on the box includes the poetic name 「白波」(Shiranami, “White Waves”), bestowed upon the bowl by Gōzan. Below the name is a waka-style verse referencing the Ōi River, with “young leaves cool and green in the mountain shade, churned up by clear white waves.” The poem evokes the refreshing scene of early summer, where the purity of nature and the movement of water serve both seasonal and metaphorical functions.