茶杓 銘 無事無事 沢庵宗彭作ちゃしゃく ぶじぶじ たくあんそうほうさく

  • 江戸時代
  • 元和3年(1617)
  • シミ胡麻竹製
  • H-17.2

江戸時代 17世紀 元和3年(1617)
長:17.2cm

沢庵宗彭(1573―1645)は兵庫県北部の出石生まれで,14歳で出石の宗鏡寺で得度,大徳寺の春屋宗園に参じ,慶長9年(1604)沢庵の道号を授かり,同14年大徳寺百五十三世の住職となったが3日で引退。寛永4年(1627)紫衣事件で流罪,同9年赦免され徳川家光の招請で品川東海寺の開山となった。彼は在京中,伏見奉行小堀遠州に茶を学び,烏丸光広や松花堂昭乗らと親交があった。かなりの茶杓を作っているが,代表作は「寛永元詩銘」「釈迦」「村雲」「初冬の歌銘」などである。
この「無事」は共筒で立派な筆蹟で銘を書き,裏面に沢庵独特の花押を縦に印して03印となし,その下に「元和三年中秋下浣宗彭」と年月と自署をしているのが珍しい。沢庵は天正元年生まれだから,このときは数えの45歳である。3日で大徳寺管長をやめるほどの無欲清廉の人で,引退後上山に流されるまでの在京の間に,文化人禅僧として,公家や京洛文化人達と茶を嗜んでいた時代の作である。片身替りの白とシミ胡麻の双樋の竹で,裏面は節上節下とも白い部分の裏がシミ竹になっている〈挿図1〉。彼はこの珍しい竹を入手し,曲げも仕上げも快心の出来となったので,印に花押を書き,大きく銘と年月,自署を認めたものと思われる。茶杓筒とも気品のある名作である。 (西山)

Catalogue Entry

by Takuan Soho
Edo period, 17th century (dated 1617)
Length, 17.2cm

Takuan Soho (1573-1645) was born in Izushi in northern Hyogo prefecture, entered the Sukyoji temple in Izushi at the age of 14, and then studied under Shun'oku Soen of Daitokuji. In 1604 (Keicho 9), he took the dogo name of Takuan and became the 153rd head priest of Daitokuji in 1609, but he resigned the position after only three days. In 1627 (Kan'ei 4), he was exiled in the Shie incident, and in 1632 was pardoned, and at the behest of Iemitsu, opened the Shinagawa Tokaiji temple. While living in Kyoto, Takuan studied tea with the Fushimi shogunal administrator Kobori Enshu and numbered Karasumaru Mitsuhiro and Shokado Shojo among his close friends. He made a considerable number of tea scoops, including such representative examples as "Shaka," "Murakumo," 2 inscribed with a Kan'ei 1 date and Hatsufuyu-no-uta, respectively.

This "Buji" scoop is accompanied by a bamboo container which is inscribed in impressive calligraphy with its name, and on the back of the container, Takuan used his distinctive
written seal as a closure seal and dated and signed the container with a mid-autumn
1617 date: "Gen'na sannen chushu gekan Soho." Such a date and signature by Takuan is rare. He was born in 1573, and thus this signature dates from his 45th year under the
kazoe age system. His lack of worldly ambition and integrity was demonstrated in his
resignation from the titular headship of Daitokuji after only three days. From his retirement until his banishment to Kaminoyama, Takuan was active as a cultured Zen priest in Kyoto, and this tea scoop is a product of the period in which the aristocracy and cultured
members of Kyoto society enjoyed the tea ceremony. As seen in the photograph, the
scoop is made of shimitake , with the upper half of the front surface vertically divided into
two troughs, with one whitish and the other stained with goma dotting, and the back
showing whitish both above and below the node. The fact that Takuan was able to obtain this rare bamboo and then bend it and make it into a tea scoop can be thought to have been the impetus for him to make the rare effort to sign the container with his own written
seal, write the name of the scoop in large letters, and then sign and date the container.
Both the tea scoop and its container are elegant, major works by this tea master. NM