Furuta Oribe was one of the seven main disciples of Rikyu and he was a tea master who was also a close friend of Sansai. When Rikyu was banished from Kyoto by Hideyoshi and returned to Sakai, only Sansai and Oribe accompanied him as far as Fushimi, and this story is a famous account of the bold Rikyu came to be admired. A chashaku is carved from a piece of bamboo where the groove or runnel that emerges from a branch ? bearing node gets progressively shallower as it moves upward. Normally the section below the node is carved into the tip of the scoop. These are called "junhi". In this case, however, the piece of bamboo is reversed into what is called a "sakahi" form in which the area above the node is carved into the tip of the scoop. This is one form of variation in the otherwise unvarying world of chashaku, and here allows us a glimpse of the rich creativity of the man Oribe who invented the boldly patterned Oribe ware.
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