Indigo Obimon (Kimono tie) Sobachoko Cup by Tōsai-gama

These small soba-choko style cups were made at the Tōsai-gama kiln of the Nagato family, in the Tobe-ware region of Ehime.

Soba-choko are traditionally small vessels for swishing noodles, but can be used as small cups for drinks or food presentation.

The pattern work shows re-workings of classic motifs in the history of Tobe-ware.

A region of around 100 kilns in Ehime, on the island of Shikoku, Tobe-ware is one of Japan’s lineages in blue and white ceramics. Its characteristic is for typically small family run kilns, practicing variations of the ‘sometsuke’ style of blue pigment designs on pale surfaces. From their ‘ko-tobe’ (old Tobe) series, these bowls by Tōsai-gama, reference patterns handed down in Tobe-ware within the centuries of its existence.

Tōsai-gama, place the designs in a new context of form and material however, with a sometimes thin-sided modern rendition of the porcelain for which the region is known. Styles and ideas meet in the work that they make, and it is pleasing to use.

As the pieces are hand painted and handmade there may be some differences between them.

They are 8cm in diameter, and 7cm high.
They weigh around 170g.