Tea bowl, red Raku ware, named "Jukushi"

This generously sized tea bowl has a slender "clamshell" lip curving gently inward; the body rounds plumply outward towards its base. The foot has been shaved down so that it is imbedded in the base; turned upside down, the bowl is said to look like a persimmon's calyx (kaki no heta). A generous coating of sand has been left adhering to the bottom edge. Glazed in red down to its foot, the bowl has one black area on its body, the result of a kiln change. It is not certain who gave this bowl the name Jukushi ("ripe persimmon"), but the outside of the lid of its box carries the inscription "Koetsu shukushi" in black ink, in what is thought to be the hand of Katagiri Sadamasa (1605-1673).