茶杓 数入 千宗旦作ちゃしゃく かずいり(せんのそうたん)

  • 江戸時代初期
  • 17c
  • 実竹胡麻竹製
  • H-18.4
  • 所蔵
    益田鈍翁旧蔵

江戸時代 17世紀
長:18.4cm

千宗旦(1578―1658)は少庵の子で,祖父利休から大徳寺の春屋宗園の喝食として禅の修行をさせられたが,利休切腹後,少庵が京都へ召し返されると,宗旦は還俗して千家に帰り,慶長5年(1600)少庵から千家を譲り受け三代目を継いだ。当時,新興武家貴族社会に大流行の小堀遠州の綺麗さびに対し,公家や禅僧および京洛文化人らと結び,わび茶の精神を守り通した。彼は多くの茶杓を作った。代表作は「松風」「弱法師」「二人静」「五月雨」「樋口」などがある。
この「数入」は今は五本入りであるが,筒が太いので,もう二本か三本多く入っていたかもしれない。一つの筒に多くを入れたので「数入」と書きつけたので,「二人静」は二本入り,「凡聖同居龍蛇混雑」という作は,八本か十本入っていたと思われるが,今は筒も傷があり,古びて二本だけ残ったのが入っている。この「数入」の五本は珍しい竹の茶杓ができたので,それらを大きな筒に一緒に入れて「数入」とした。五本のうち珍しいのは目黒竹と実竹の二本で,他の三本も一つは櫂先から曲軸にかけて目黒竹に見られるような黒い帯線があり,もう一本は唯一の煤竹で縄目の跡もあり,煤竹としては美竹で茶杓としても美杓である。もう一本は白竹の節下が胡麻のたくさんある茶杓である。目黒竹茶杓は松花堂や藤村庸軒にあるが,大変珍しい。
この目黒竹茶杓は節上中央に黒い帯線が露から中節まで貫通している。目黒竹は世界中で淡路島の洲本市にだけ生育している珍種の淡竹で,室井綽博士が発見,近年天然記念物に指定された。一節置きに黒い帯線が貫通している。反対側も同じである。
最後の一本が宗旦としては唯一の実竹胡麻竹茶杓である。実竹は筍から竹になったのではなく,地下茎が急斜面で外に伸び出て上に伸び竹になったもので,根に近いところから深樋があり,普通の竹は節の上か下に樋があって反対のところには樋がない。しかるに,実竹はその反対のところにも樋が貫通している。大変珍しい宗旦の実竹茶杓なので実測図を作った。 (西山)

Catalogue Entry

by Sen-no-Sotan
Edo period, 17th century
Bamboo
Length, 18.4cm

Sen-no-Sotan (1578-1658) was the son of Shoan and grandson of Sen-no-Rikyu, who began Sotan's Zen training by placing him in the position of page to Shun'oku Soen. After Rikyu's suicide, Shoan was called back to Kyoto, and Sotan left the priesthood and
returned to the Sen family. In 1600 (Keicho 5), Sotan inherited the title of head of the Sen family from Shoan, becoming the third generation of the Sen family. At the time, the
beautifully quiet elegance of Kobori Enshu's style of tea was extremely popular among
the rising military aristocratic society. By contrast, Sotan continued the spirit of his
grandfather's wabi tea aesthetic, gathering quite a following among the aristocrats, Zen
clergy, and men and women of letters in Kyoto. Sotan made a number of bamboo tea
scoops, and his representative works include "Matsukaze," "Yoroboshi," "Futarishizuka,"
"Samidare," and "Higuchi."
The present work, Kazuiri, consists of 5 scoops today, and yet the large size of their
container would seem to indicate that originally there may have been 2 or 3 more scoops
included in the set. The container was inscribed "Kazuiri," which literally means "holds
many." Similarly, "Futarishizuka," or literally "two qwiet," consists of 2 scoops, while the
work known as Bonsei Dokyo Ryuja "Konzatsu" may have originally held some 8 or 10
scoops. However, this last container is damaged and quite worn, and today it only
contains 2 scoops. The 5 scoops included in the present "Kazuiri" were made of unusual
kinds of bamboo, and they were all included in a large container marked "Kazuiri." 2 of the 5 are particularly unusual, one made of meguro bamboo and one of jicchiku bamboo.
The other 3 consist of one made of meguro bamboo with its tip curved into a bow shape
with a black band. Another is the only one of the 5 made of smoked bamboo. This smoked bamboo scoop has traces of knot marks, yet it is a fine tea scoop. One other is a joint of white bamboo with a great deal of goma dotting at the node. Meguro bamboo tea scoops are known to have been made by Shokado and Fujimura Yoken, but they are extremely
rare.

This meguro bamboo tea scoop has a black band that penetrates from the tip to the mid-node. Meguro bamboo is grown only in Sumoto city, Awaji Island and is an extremely rare form of pale bamboo discovered by Dr. Muroi that has been named a Protected Species by the Japanese government in recent years. The single node is banded with black edges overall, and the reverse shows the same banding.

The final tea scoop in this group is the only jicchiku goma bamboo tea scoop by Sotan
that is known to exist. Jicchiku is not bamboo that has grown from a shoot, but rather is a kind of bamboo where the stem of the bamboo is underground and emerges at a sharp
curve to push above the ground and grow. This means that there is a deep hollow from
the root area, and while normal bamboo has hollows above and below the node, but no
hollow in the reverse space, jicchiku, on the other hand, has a hollow that continues
through this reverse space. Given the extreme rarity of this jicchiku tea scoop by Sotan,
I have included a life-size sketch of the scoop. MN