Tetsubin are cast iron water kettles which were popular in Japan as everyday household utensils and for informal and semi-formal tea drinking. During the second half of the 19th century, tetsubin made especially as tea utensils came to be highly esteemed. Fine ornamental tetsubin were preferred by the upper classes for the sencha style tea ceremony. A common characteristic of sencha kettles was that one side more heavily decorated than the other. In the sencha tea ceremony a tetsubin, held by the host in his right hand, is looked at by the guest with the spout pointing to the right. This is the side of the tetsubin which is usually more ornately decorated in order to enable the guest to admire the kettle’s “best” side.

Tetsubin can be classified according to their level of quality, separating those of higher technical quality and more decorative external features – the so-called “ornamental” kettles – from those of lower technical quality and less decorated ones. High relief ornamental tetsubin like this one are magnificent examples of Japanese ironwork which are very much sought after by collectors today.

Although the tanuki is a real animal that resembles both a badger and raccoon, it is the mythical and magical tanuki which plays such a prominent role in countless Japanese legends and tales. Such a tanuki possesses the mystical powers to transform itself into any living or inanimate shape, and this mischievous animal is deeply entrenched in Japanese minds.

“Bunbuku Chagama” is an old Japanese folktale with numerous variations which gained popularity in Japan during the Edo period when tanuki were the subject of many folk stories and every family had an iron kettle kept hot above the family hearth. In one version of the tale, a tanuki is helped by a poor man who saved its life, so the tanuki turns into a chagama to help the old man make money. The woodsman sells the kettle to a priest, who in turn orders his assistants to clean it and use it to make tea. The tanuki-kettle was unhappy with temple life -- it was polished and used on the fire, which really hurt. So it returns to the woodsman, and thereafter makes money for the "woodsman turned traveling entertainer" by dancing as a kettle on a tightrope. In another version, a priest tries to catch a tanuki to eat for dinner, but the tanuki escapes by transforming itself into a tea kettle. The priest carries the kettle back to the temple, but when placed on the fire, the kettle sprouts arms, legs, a nose, and ears, and soon resumes its true tanuki shape. Artistic manifestation of this tale is seen on Japanese scroll paintings and on Japanese iron tea kettles like this one.

The casting of the figure and the tiger on the “right” side is strongly rendered, and the bold relief decoration exceeds a half an inch (15 mm) in depth. The high relief stylized tiger (“tora”) with its open mouth and exaggerated features has its head turned upright towards the figure. The figure represents Kato Kiyomasa, one of the celebrated generals of the sixteenth century. As a Japanese art motif, Kiyomasa is sometimes shown killing a tiger (“Kiyomasa no Toragari”). On the “left” side, a poem written in running script characters is cast in low relief within a smooth-textured panel, making this kettle an example of an “uta-tetsubin” (a kettle showing a poem on its body as decoration). There is a low relief landscape scene surrounding the poem.

Fine ornamental tetsubin of this type were preferred by the upper classes for the sencha style tea ceremony. A common characteristic of sencha kettles was that one side more heavily decorated than the other. In the sencha tea ceremony a tetsubin, held by the host in his right hand, is looked at by the guest with the spout pointing to the right. This is the side of the tetsubin which is usually more ornately decorated in order to enable the guest to admire the kettle’s “best” side. High relief ornamental tetsubin like this one are magnificent examples of Japanese ironwork which are very much sought after by collectors today. (There are two tetsubin of similar style, i.e., high relief on one side and a poem on the other, in major museum collections which are illustrated in Figures No. 36 and 37 in TETSUBIN by P.L.W. Arts.)

The casting on both sides of this tetsubin is very strongly rendered, and the incredibly bold relief decoration exceeds one full inch (2.5 cm) in depth. The front side is decorated with a large thatched roof house in a rocky landscape, and the reverse side has a gate station near a curved bridge crossing over the water descending from a waterfall. Even the handle mounts are cast in the shapes that continue the landscape scene. (For a similar example of this style and decoration, see illustration No. 69 in TETSUBIN by P.L.W. Arts.)

Tetsubin are cast iron water kettles which were popular in Japan as everyday household utensils and for informal and semi-formal tea drinking. During the second half of the 19th century, tetsubin made especially as tea utensils came to be highly esteemed. Fine ornamental tetsubin were preferred by the upper classes for the sencha style tea ceremony. Tetsubin can be classified according to their level of quality, separating those of higher technical quality and more decorative external features – the so-called “ornamental” kettles – from those of lower technical quality and less decorated ones. High relief ornamental tetsubin like this one are magnificent examples of Japanese ironwork which are very much sought after by collectors today.

We specialize in high relief tetsubin, and we have sold a number of them over the years. However, we have never seen another one cast in quite this level of detail and high relief. It is an extraordinary piece with a marvelous sculptural quality.

Seaside landscape scenes cast in high relief decorate both the front and back sides, enhanced by raised silver inlays. All the inlays are done in the taka-zogan technique, the process of hammering the silver into grooves cut into the iron. On one side, two silver sea birds (“chidori” or plovers) skim over rough foaming waves, where inlaid silver spots sparkle as foam on the breaking crests. On the other side, a silver full moon rises above the waves, which are also dotted with sparkling silver bubbles of froth. Temples and lanterns cast in low relief appear on the distant shores. The ends of the removable bronze handle, which is also inlaid with two silver chidori, were forged into large curls that fit through the arched cast iron bodies of two kylin dragon-like creatures that form the unusual handle mounts. The inside of the bronze lid is unsigned, and the bronze finial is inlaid with silver.

Tetsubin were popular in Japan as everyday household utensils and for informal and semi-formal tea drinking. During the second half of the 19th century, tetsubin made especially as tea utensils came to be highly esteemed. They were often elaborately decorated with cast iron ornament or with inlays of copper, gold or silver. Fine ornamental tetsubin of this type were preferred by the upper classes for the sencha style tea ceremony. A common characteristic of these sencha kettles was that one side more heavily decorated than the other. In the sencha tea ceremony a tetsubin, held by the host in his right hand, is looked at by the guest with the spout pointing to the right. This is the side of the tetsubin which is usually more ornately decorated in order to enable the guest to admire the kettle’s “best” side.

Tetsubin are cast iron water kettles which were popular in Japan as everyday household utensils and for informal and semi-formal tea drinking. During the second half of the 19th century, tetsubin made especially as tea utensils came to be highly esteemed. Fine ornamental tetsubin were preferred by the upper classes for the sencha style tea ceremony. A common characteristic of sencha kettles was that one side more heavily decorated than the other. In the sencha tea ceremony a tetsubin, held by the host in his right hand, is looked at by the guest with the spout pointing to the right. This is the side of the tetsubin which is usually more ornately decorated in order to enable the guest to admire the kettle’s “best” side.

The lotus (“hasu”) is a water flower that rises above large fan-shaped leaves, growing in still, shallow bodies of fresh water and mud. Buddhist traditions hold that the lotus is a sacred flower. In secular Chinese art, the lotus has many auspicious meanings, variously symbolizing harmony, love, sympathy and prosperity. Boxwood, the hardwood of choice for Japanese carvers, is usually carved into smaller items such as netsuke and okimono, so a boxwood carving in this size is quite unique and rare.

Oribe ware, a folk pottery produced in kilns located in Mino and Seto, is particularly Japanese in taste and was never made for export. Its bold and spontaneous designs and contours were generally asymmetrically executed in styles that were distinct, imaginative and vigorous. Oribe pottery derives its name from Furuta Oribe, a famous 16th century tea master. His influence over the pottery production of his day led to the development of a certain type of ware that was later named after him, nearly all relating in some way to the tea ceremony. He was a tea master who set the standard for tea ceremony ware and changed a utilitarian ceramic industry into one that was primarily concerned with pottery as works of art.