The name “Oribe ware” typically conjures up images of green-glazed pottery, but in fact there are many different styles of Oribe ware, and those with a bright green glaze are known as “ao Oribe (blue Oribe)”.
Oribe ware, which came to be fired in the Mino area based on the ideas of Furuta Oribe, a feudal lord tea master from the Sengoku period (the Age of Civil Wars) to the early Edo period, was created for use in tea ceremonies. Its sense of vivid colour and eccentric design was a manifestation of the aesthetic sensibility of Furuta Oribe, who favoured a free and open-minded spirit.

If that had been the only reason, Oribe ware would have ended up as tea ceremony ware symbolising the Momoyama period, but the fact that we can see and use Oribe vessels today may be thanks to the reconstruction of the aesthetic sensibility by the versatile artist Kitaōji Rosanjin.
In Japan, when handing down the tradition of a style of pottery, a copy called utsushi is produced based on an exemplar called honka.

Rosanjin seems to have developed a love for Oribe by investigating old kiln sites in Mino, and it may be said that Rosanjin’s greatness lies in his genius to re-edit the Oribe he reproduced himself as a new design that exceeds the honka, rather than ending up as a mere utsushi.
The basic decorative method of ao Oribe is to divide the area into a green-glazed part and other whitish parts, and to apply painting to only the whitish parts. By bringing a painterly lyricism to this painted part, Rosanjin reconstructed the use of Oribe ware not only for tea ceremonies, but also as vessels for serving different foods.

The bowl in the picture is an Oribe bowl in the “reproduction of Rosanjin” style, which I acquired more than 20 years ago when I was still working for a department store.
Rosanjin, who was fond of Japanese pampas grass, often produced vessels with pampas grass painted on them. This is a reproduction made by a Mino ware kiln. It was my intuitive choice when I had just been assigned to the Japanese tableware department and had not much knowledge at all.
Although I was a complete amateur who did not know what terms such as “Oribe”, “Rosanjin” and “utsushi” meant, I was still attracted by the taste of this bowl, which was produced taking Rosanjin’s work as honka.

A long time has passed since then, and I have come into contact with works by contemporary artists as well as mingei (folk art). I now have a large collection of pottery at home, but even so, when the summer sun starts to wane, it is my autumn ritual to take this bowl out of my cupboard. The picturesque beauty of this bowl has become an indispensable part of my dining table during this particular season.
As Rosanjin once said himself, “vessels are kimono for the food being served.” Rosanjin should be credited with opening up Oribe ware to the modern dining table, rather than keeping it as an exclusive property of ancient tea masters.
And again, I am sure that I will use this Oribe bowl at my dining table tonight.