Both of these “Kimamori” make me sense autumn

I’d like to introduce one of my tea bowls.

This tea bowl was modeled after a historical tea bowl called, “Kimamori”.

Its unique red shade is so beautiful.

The genuine Kimamori was made by Chojiro in the Azuchi-momoyama period.

He created many tea bowls by order of the great tea master, Sen No Rikyu.

It was the beginning of the Raku tea bowl.

Kimamori was one of his seven masterpieces.

Unfortunately, it was shattered by the Great Kanto Earthquake of 1923. 

After that, a piece of broken Kimamori was embedded in a newly made tea bowl.

Today, it is recognized as kimamori.

“Kimamori” was named by Sen No Rikyu.

That name come about because of a minor tradition.

When people in old times picked persimmons, they purposely left one persimmon on the tree.

It was an offering to a god, and it contained a wish for a good harvest of persimmons in the following year.

That remaining persimmon was called, Kimamori.

That is an appropriate name. 

A Kimamori tea bowl looks like a ripe persimmon, but I think that the name has deep meaning and shows me how Sen No Rikyu thought a long time ago.

Kimamori is a type of Raku tea bowl.

Raku tea bowl is made by hand and a scraper without using a potter’s wheel.

That is the greatest feature of a Raku tea bowl.

By the way, the name of this Japanese confectionery is also Kimamori.

As its name suggests, it is the confectionery that was inspired by a custom of Kimamori.

It is a wafer cake filled with persimmon jam. It tastes very good.

Both of these Kimamori make me sense autumn.

So now is the perfect time to enjoying them.