#ie this is indeed a defining feature of the pairing according to the people who are willing to write it in the first place

[nostalgia-tblr]

had an idea for lokicestober and it's not going to be remotely selfcesty enough for that but i have to write it anyway because it's really fucked up

[chanoyu-to-wa]

Rikyū Chanoyu Sho, Book 6 (Part 14):  Rikyū’s Hyaku-kai Ki, (1590) Tenth Month, 26th Day, Morning.

14) Tenth Month, 26th Day; Morning [十月廿六日・朝]¹.

￮ [Guests²:  Nabeshima Hizen-no-kami-dono [鍋島豊前守殿]³, Ryūzōji Mutsuo-jirō [龍造寺六郎次郎]⁴.]

￮ 4.5-mat [room]⁵.

￮ Shi-hō-gama [四方釜]⁶; ◦ [Seto mizusashi [瀬戸水指]⁷;] ◦ [chaire:  Shiri-bukura [茶入 ・ 尻ふくら]⁸;] ◦ Ko-mamori chawan [木守茶碗]⁹; ◦ [ori-tame [おりため];¹⁰] ◦ Hashi-tate [はしたて]¹¹.

￮ Yaki-mono (sake) [焼物 (さけ)], horo-miso [ほろみそ], soup (tara [たら]), rice¹².

￮ Hiki[-mono]:  namasu [引 ・ 鱠]¹³.

￮ Kashi:  fu-no-yaki [ふのやき], yaki-guri [焼栗]¹⁴.

_________________________

◎ Another gathering hosted as part of the official reception given to the representatives of a daimyō whose participation was essential for the success of Hideyoshi’s invasion of the continent.

¹Jū-gatsu niju-roku nichi・asa [十月廿六日・朝].

    In other versions of the Rikyū Hyakkai Ki, this gathering is said to have been held at midday (hiru [晝]).

    The month-long hiatus between the previous gathering (which was held on the 23rd day of the Ninth Month) and this one is consistent with the other surviving versions of this kaiki.  The reason for the break is not known, and possibly ominous; but the resumption of Rikyū’s role as the host of this chakai suggests that his participation was essential to its success.  (Perhaps Rikyū had met, and befriended*, Naoshige while he was staying at Hakozaki with Hideyoshi two years before, and Hideyoshi had need of this intimacy in his negotiations with the Ryūzōji clan.) ___________ *Rikyū’s use of the suffix -dono [殿] in the entry of Nabeshima Nobufusa’s name, which contrasts with its absence in other parallel instances, might imply that Rikyū had had some sort of previous association with the lord of Saga.

²No guests are mentioned in the version of the kaiki that was printed in the Rikyū Chanoyu Sho.

    The absence of many of the details regarding the utensils that were used, along with the attenuation of the kaiseki menu, both suggest that the manuscript consulted by the editors of the Rikyū Chanoyu Sho was badly deteriorated.

³Nabeshima Hizen-no-kami-dono [鍋島豊前守殿].

    This most likely refers to the daimyō Nabeshima Naoshige [鍋島直茂; 1538 ~ 1618], who was a renowned general and lord of Saga (Saga-no-kami [加賀守]). Saga is in Hizen-no-kuni [肥前國]; but Naoshige was not the lord of the whole of Hizen (Hizen-no-kami [豊前守]) at the time when Rikyū wrote this kaiki*. 

    Nabeshima Nobufusa had been an important retainer of Ryūzōji Takanobu [龍造寺隆信; 1529 ~ 1584] and his son Ryūzōji Masa-ie [龍造寺; 1556 ~ 1607], before giving his allegiance to Toyotomi Hideyoshi (and subsequently to Tokugawa Ieyasu).  As such, his active support and participation (he lead a force of 5,000 of Masa-ie’s men on the continent) in the staging of the invasion of Korea was very important. ___________ *Though he seems to have, in effect, attained that honor only following the death of Ryūzōji Masa-ie, Takanobu’s son, in battle, in 1607 (though this was only confirmed after peace was restored, since the fief was held “in trust” by Ieyasu during the prosecution of the war).

    Remarks of this kind have thrown suspicion on the authenticity of this kaiki -- though they could easily have been added to the original after the fact by another hand, and then seamlessly incorporated into the body of the document only later, when it was copied.

⁴Ryūzōji Mutsuo-jirō [龍造寺六郎次郎].

     Unclear*, but possibly a younger brother of the daimyō Ryūzōji Masa-ie [龍造寺; 1556 ~ 1607], who was the last head of the Ryūzōji clan.  The Ryūzōji clan, while active in Hideyoshi’s invasion, actually began to enter into their decline following the death of Masa-ie’s father Ryūzōji Takanobu [龍造寺隆信; 1529 ~ 1584], in 1584†, as various retainers and branches began to declare independence from the main house.

    While there was probably a well-defined feudal relationship between this man and Nabeshima Naoshige (Naoshige being a retainer of the Ryūzōji house), the precise nature of that relationship is unclear today‡. ___________ *Mutsuo-jirō seems to be a childhood name (actually a compound of two childhood names):  assuming that Ryūzōji Takanobu was his father, Mutsuo-jirō had four other (surviving) brothers (three of whom seem to have been adopted out to other families), and one sister; Ryūzōji Masa-ie would have been the oldest of the sons whom Takanobu kept.  (Mutsuo [六郎] means that he was the sixth-born child; while Jirō [次郎] means that he was the second of the two remaining sons after the other children were adopted or married out.  Mutsuo can also be pronounced Mutsurō, Rikurō, and Rokurō.)

†It seems to have been at that time that Nabeshima Nobufusa assumed the position of Hizen-no-kami; though the exact feudal relationship between these two men in 1590 is not clear.

‡The fact that Ryūzōji Mutsuo-jirō is listed as the second guest suggests that Nabeshima Naoshige was in some way the superior.

⁵Yojō-han [四疊半].

⁶Shi-hō-gama [四方釜].

⁷Seto mizusashi [瀬戸水指].

    This, along with the other utensils (chaire, chashaku) missing from the Rikyū Chanoyu Sho account, are mentioned in other versions of the kaiki.

⁸Chaire ・ Shiri-bukura [茶入 ・ 尻ふくら].

    The chaire would have been used on its red tray, as shown below -- even though Rikyū usually does not specify in the kaiki that the tray was used.  Bon-date [盆立, or 盆點], like the dai-temmoku temae [臺天目手前], was frequently used as a way to do honor to the shōkyaku -- the equivalent of the Edo period’s kijin-date [貴人點] kinds of temae.

    It is important to mention (to the modern reader) that the chaire was always supposed to be used on its tray (once it was paired with one), because some modern commentators argue that the fact that Rikyū does not say that the tray was used “means” that it was not used.  In Rikyū’s day, if a chaire was paired with a tray*, then that tray was always used (indeed, according to Rikyū‘s writings, some of his contemporaries went so far as to keep the chaire on the tray even when performing mundane tasks in the katte -- such as filling the chaire with matcha, and tying the chaire into its shifuku).  It was not “wabi” to eliminate the tray (as some modern people say); it was considered being disrespectful -- both to the chaire, and to the guests whom it would be used to serve -- and a mark of ignorance of the proprieties. ___________ *This was never done lightheartedly.  It was a very serious matter, whether to use the chaire on a tray or not -- and only then, if a tray of the proper size could be found.

    Using an “unworthy” chaire on a tray could ruin a chajin’s reputation.  But we -- because of the fact that cheap imitation “bon-chaire” are made and sold for keiko use -- have lost touch with this fact.

⁹Ko-mamori chawan [木守茶碗].

    The red Raku-chawan that Rikyū named Ko-mamori [木守], which was in the possession of the Mushanokōji Senke was destroyed* in the Great Kantō Earthquake of 1923, and apparently no photos of the original exist.

    The bowl shown above is an Edo period copy, and so made while the original chawan was still available for reference†.  The word ki-mamori [木守り]‡ means a fruit (or fruits) left on a tree after the others have been harvested.  According to some, this was done to “protect” the tree from malign influences; however, farmers say that leaving some of the fruit on the tree over winter increases the next year’s yield.

    Be that as it may, Rikyū gave this bowl such a name because it was left behind after all of Chōjirō’s other bowls had been taken away by his customers -- perhaps because of the way that the black color stops abruptly at the mouth.

    The red chawan were made first (beginning around 1586), with the black chawan (imitating Furuta Oribe’s hiki-dashi-kuro [引き出し黒]** bowls) appearing a year or so later, and when Rikyū’s surviving kaiki are considered as a whole, the Ko-mamori chawan is the bowl that he used more than any of the other pieces in his††. ___________ *All that remains of the original is a small shard.  A new aka-raku chawan was made after the earthquake, and the shard inserted into a pre-cut hole in that bowl and held in place with lacquer.  However, while the shard is used as the front of the bowl, it seems (based on the Edo period copy) that the black-colored part was actually on the right side of the bowl.  The orientation shown in the photo, with the notched part of the rim (which was deliberately made to hold the chashaku in place, rather than being a “defect” as some say -- this is a special feature of Rikyū’s preferred raku-chawan, and the notch always aligns with a sort of platform across the rim which shows clearly the way to orient the bowl) to the right of front, is the way that Rikyū used this bowl.

†Interestingly, this chawan bears evidence that it was made according to the hiki-dashi technique (there are tong-marks present on the side, meaning that it was plucked from the firing chamber and allowed to cool rapidly).   Whether this means that Chōjirō’s original aka-chawan were already being made using the hiki-dashi technique, or whether this was something that evolved during the Edo period (perhaps as a sort of way to “prove” that these were “authentic” raku bowls, rather than imitations made at some other kiln; or, perhaps, because rapid cooling would weed out the bowls that were too weak to survive for long, thus insuring a “better” product for the customer), is not known.

    It is important to note that the red chawan are not very durable (due to the fact that they are almost under-fired), and consequently few (if any) of the originals probably survive.  The issue is complicated by the fact that the Raku family’s “catalog” featured imitations of the various “named” chawan that were favored by Rikyū (and such bowls were delivered to the customer in a wooden box that bore the original chawan’s name -- and even seem to have been placed in imitations of the original chawan’s box, if it was uniquely shaped).  This does not mean that all of the red bowls are imitations (as some have suggested); but neither does it mean that because any given bowl bears the name of one of the pieces associated with Rikyū, that, even if it is old, it is necessarily the original bowl.

‡Ko-mamori is an archaic pronunciation.  Ki-mamori is the word in modern Japanese.

**The hiki-dashi [引き出し] technique was developed by Furuta Sōshitsu based on one of the practices inherent in the use of a nobori-gama: when using a nobori-gama, in the days before the invention of firing-cones, it would be impossible to judge the “doneness” of the pieces in a non-invasive way.  Thus, after firing had progressed for a while, test pieces were plucked from the windows that were made in the sides of the chambers at various intervals using a pair of long-handled tongs, and checked.  As time progressed, it was desirable for these pieces to be checked as quickly as possible (so that the fire could be dampened as soon as possible, in order to prevent overfiring -- which can cause the glaze to flow off of the pots, leaving the rims bare).   Different potters used different methods to cool the test pieces quickly -- from dropping them in a bucket of water, to dropping them in a bucket of sand or sawdust.

    Oribe noticed that cooling the pieces thus rapidly often resulted in an interesting surface texture (since the glaze shrinks at a different rate from the underlying clay body when cooled quickly), and he experimented until he found a method that maximized the interest with minimal losses.  These bowls were known as hiki-dashi-kuro [引き出し黒] (since they were made using pieces that had been glazed with the black Seto glaze).

††However, this represents a real preference (not simply the fact that the red chawan appeared first).  Even in his later kaiki that date from after Chōjirō began to make black bowls successfully, Rikyū still used the Ko-mamori chawan more frequently than any of the others.

¹⁰Ori-tame [おりため].

    This would have been a shorter-than-average chashaku, made to match the tray on which the Shiri-bukura chaire was used.

¹¹Hashi-tate [はしたて].

    Rikyū’s cha-tsubo, from the contents of which the matcha used at this chakai was derived.  The Hashi-tate no hon-tsubo [橋立の本壺]* disappeared after it was taken to the island of Shikoku not long after Rikyū’s death, and is presumed to have been lost at some point in the Edo period.

    In addition to the recorded things, Rikyū would have used a take-wa [竹〇] as his futaoki; and, most likely, a mentsū [面桶] as the mizu-koboshi. ___________ *The hon-tsubo [本壺] was the large cha-tsubo that was filled by the tea merchant (already in Rikyū’s period, “middlemen” existed between the tea garden and the chajin:  these shops bought the tea from the gardens and then blended it -- so as to achieve a more uniform flavor, since the taste of the tea from each garden tended to vary somewhat from year to year -- and it was to these shops that the chajin sent their cha-tsubo to be filled and stored until the beginning of winter, when the jar would be returned to the owner just in time for him to perform the kuchi-kiri).

    The cha-tsubo known as Hashi-tate [橋立] today (this jar is shown above) is the watashi-tsubo [渡し壺], a smaller cha-tsubo into which the host subsequently transferred some of his tea, so it could be transported and kept in a second location (while the hon-tsubo remained in his primary residence).  The Hashi-tate watashi-tsubo bears Rikyū’s kaō on the bottom (certifying that the jar contained his tea, and that it was transferred by his own hand).

¹²Yaki-mono ・ sake,  horo-miso,  shiru ・ tara,  meshi  [焼物 ・ さけ、 ほろみそ、 汁 ・ たら、 めし].

    These are the four dishes that were served on the zen:

- sake [さけ = 鮭] is salmon (usually brushed with salted water) grilled over a charcoal fire;

- horo-miso [ほろみそ]:  probably hōro-miso [ほろみそ  = 法論味噌]*, akin to yu-miso [柚味噌]†, where the flavored roasted miso‡ is served as a dipping sauce for raw vegetable spears (carrots and cucumbers were popular);

- tara [たら = 鱈] is cod, which would have been cut into pieces and boiled (with vegetables such as daikon and leeks) into a clear soup;

- meshi [めし = 飯] is steamed rice (it was shaped in a sort of mold, so each guest received the same-sized portion; and, depending on the shape, the rice may have been decorated by sprinkling on condiments). __________ *Hōro [法論], “discussion of the [orthodox Buddhist] doctrines,” suggests that this sort of flavored miso originated in the temple.  Some say that hōro-miso was first made at the Tōdai-ji [東大寺] in Nara, while others hold that it was created by a monk of the Gangō-ji 元興寺] (also in Nara); and the name hōro suggests that it was served as part of the refreshments following religious assemblies.

†As a class, these kinds of things are referred to as name-miso [嘗め味噌], which would be translated as "flavored" miso.

‡According to the old writings:  yaki miso wo tenpi-boshi ni shi, kurumi, goma, onomi, sanshō nado wo maze-kon de aru [焼き味噌を天日干しにし、胡桃、胡麻、麻の実、山椒などを混ぜ込んである]:  “roasted miso that has been dried in the sun, with kurumi (walnuts), goma (sesame seeds), onomi (rapeseed; also known as oil-seed), sansho (sometimes called ‘Japanese pepper’), and things of that sort, mixed into it.”

    The various seeds and spices would have been minced, or coarsely crushed in a mortar, before being mixed into the miso, so that the resulting paste could be used as a dipping sauce.

    The miso (flavored with the crushed seeds and spices) was formed into bricks that were “roasted” next to an open fire (to form a hard skin on the bricks) and then laid out in the sun to dry for several days.  Usually this was done in late autumn or early winter.  (After that, the bricks could be packed in net bags and hung from the rafters under the eves of the cookhouse for months.  Hanging helps to prevent the growth of mold.)  Rikyū’s serving of hōro-miso at this chakai suggests that he had just received a newly-made brick from someone at the Tōdai-ji (or another temple that preserved the custom).

    Before being served, the brick is cut open, and the soft, thickened miso is scooped out.  It is served with the raw vegetable spears on a plate.

¹³Hiki[-mono] ・ namasu [引 ・ 鱠].

    Hiki-mono [引き物] are dishes that were brought out later, probably as side-dishes to accompany the service of sake.

    Namasu [鱠] is a sort of raw salad made of slivered daikon and carrot, dressed with a mixture of vinegar, mirin [味醂] (a sweet, thick kind of sake, with a lower alcohol content, used for cooking) and soy sauce.

¹⁴Kashi ・ fu-no-yaki, yaki-guri [菓子 ・ ふのやき、 焼栗].

    Again, Rikyū‘s “favorite” kashi (perhaps because they were both tasty, and easy to prepare), fu-no-yaki [麩の焼] (azuki-an-filled crêpes) and roast chestnuts.