Green in the Oribe Style
Oribe ware, one of the Mino wares of central Japan, is named for the tea master Furuta Oribe, whose taste for bold, irregular forms departed from the restraint of earlier tea ceramics. This cup is so-oribe, covered entirely in the ware’s copper-green glaze over a shoe-shaped body faceted by hand. The glaze pools to deep emerald in the hollows, thins along each edge, and stops at the rim, leaving the well ivory.
Three Lines to the Well
Broken into three fragments, the cup was restored over five months by Seisaku Nakajima, nationally certified as a Master of Traditional Crafts in urushi lacquering by Japan’s Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry. He reunited the fragments with natural urushi, building a smooth foundation through successive cured and polished layers. Only then did he apply urushi with a maki-e brush, sprinkle 24K gold powder, and finish the seams through roiro, the highest grade of urushi finishing, giving the gold a smooth, deep luster; the cup remains food-safe. Three lines descend the faceted green wall from rim to foot, cross the base, then divide across the ivory well and meet at its center.
Where Green Meets Ivory
Two living Japanese traditions meet in this cup: the Oribe green of Mino and the urushi craft of authentic kintsugi. The fracture has become part of the design, its lines stepping down the green facets before branching through the ivory well—a pattern that could belong to no other cup, because this break is this vessel’s alone. Both crafts live on through pieces that are kept and used; to welcome this one into your collection is to become the next custodian of both.
