大樋焼(大樋長左衛門窯)

Ohi Ware (Ohi Chōzaemon Kiln)

Founded 1666 · Kanazawa, Ishikawa

Kanazawa tea-ceremony ware begun in 1666 by the first Ohi Chōzaemon, a disciple of Raku Ichinyū; known for amber (ame) glaze.

Ohi ware began in 1666, when Maeda Tsunanori, lord of the Kaga domain, invited the tea master Sensō Sōshitsu, fourth son of Sen Sōtan, to Kanazawa. The first Ohi Chōzaemon, a close disciple of the fourth-generation Raku head Ichinyū, accompanied Sensō from Kyoto and began making tea bowls with clay from Ohi village outside Kanazawa, from which the ware takes its name. The kiln is described as the only branch kiln of the Raku tradition. Ohi ware is shaped by hand and spatula rather than on the wheel, and is associated above all with an amber 'ame' glaze. The family line continues under the eleventh-generation Ohi Chōzaemon.