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1.The Global and the Local in the Origins of the Raku Technique
- University of Hawai'i Press
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The Momoyama period lasted only about fifty years and yet the root of a modern spirit was formed here in Japanese cultural history. Looking back upon this period we find the spirit of the people so liberated and avant-garde as to excel ours in the late 20th century in search of individualistic manifestations in various fields. —Hayashiya Seizò, “Tea Ceramics of the Momoyama Period,” Raku: A Dynasty of Japanese Ceramists One thing only seems to hold fairly constant in the vanguardist discourse and that is the theme of originality. By originality, here, I mean more than just the kind of revolt against tradition that echoes in Ezra Pound’s “Make it new!” . . . More than a rejection or dissolution of the past, avant-garde originality is conceived as a literal origin, a beginning from ground zero, a birth. —Rosalind E. Krauss, The Originality of the Avant-Garde and Other Modernist Myths The Global and the Local in the Origins of the Raku Technique Discussion of Raku ceramics inevitably begins with Chjir, the putative inventor of the Raku ceramic technique and the first generation of the lineage. As is often the case with the apotheosized founders of traditions, few details are known about this inhabitant of late medieval Japan. Most sources are either unreliable or were written long after his death. Ceramics attributed to his hand abound but defy categorization in their variety and utter dissimilarity . Despite these obvious signs of rupture, Chjir has anchored the Raku lineage as both technical and familial forefather for centuries, credited in the orthodox narrative with creating a bountiful, rich ceramic tradition in a stylistic vacuum. Chjir is said to have been guided in this endeavor by Sen no c h a p t e r o n e Pitelka01 13 7/22/05 9:38:57 AM 14 | handmade culture Riky (1522–1591), merchant, Zen devotee, aesthetic counselor to warlords, and the champion (and martyr) of tea culture as it is now practiced in Japan. Close examination of historical documents, extant ceramics, and archaeological evidence leads toward an intriguing new interpretation of the genesis of Raku ceramics, in which the interaction between a global cultural flow and a vital local market played a larger role than the actions of two individual actors such as Chjir and Riky. The Momoyama Mythohistory The roots of the Chjir story are found in the late sixteenth-century Momoyama period, widely understood as an age of cultural efflorescence and political centralization. I label the historiography of Momoyama as “mythohistorical ” not because it is false, but because it represents a dramatized narrative that is the product of instrumental reason.1 The term is particularly appropriate for the late sixteenth century because of the belief that individuals were responsible for massive transformations in the social, cultural, and political landscape, not unlike mythological heroes.2 First the warlord Oda Nobunaga (1534–1582) and then his upstart vassal Toyotomi Hideyoshi (1536–1598) ruled as military hegemons, both relying on military might and skilled manipulation of allies and enemies to extend and maintain authority across the archipelago. Nobunaga ruled with an iron fist while also engaging in public displays of his power: architecturally and visually, through grand construction projects and their decoration; socially, with the attainment of court ranks; and in the cultural arena, with acquisition of valuable art objects that were often dispensed to vassals as rewards.3 Hideyoshi displayed even more enthusiasm in the cultural realm, as an active patron of the n theater, linked verse, and aristocratic activities. One scholar has commented: “This was a social climber whose ambition knew no limits.”4 Another argued that Hideyoshi employed both the throne and the various elite and aristocratic arts of the capital as a symbol of “continuity and coherence . . . as a binding element between groups dissociated by war.”5 Hideyoshi is also known for his involvement in the emerging culture of tea, which presented him with many opportunities to demonstrate his authority . The consumption of ground green tea (matcha) had been thriving in Zen Buddhist monasteries since the early thirteenth century and in elite warrior and aristocratic circles since the early fifteenth century. By the early sixteenth Pitelka01 14 7/22/05 9:38:58 AM [18.209.229.59] Project MUSE (2024-03-29 09:32 GMT) The Origins of the Raku Technique | 15 century, matcha consumption had spread (largely via Zen monasteries) to commoners , becoming particularly popular among merchants from the influential port...