Hatsuhana
- Japanese: 初花 (hatsuhana)
Hatsuhana, or "First Flower," is a tea caddy (chaire; used for storing and carrying powdered green tea) formerly owned by Oda Nobunaga, Oda Nobutada, Toyotomi Hideyoshi, and Tokugawa Ieyasu.
Made in China during the Southern Song Dynasty, the chaire is covered in an iron-brown glaze that was allowed to drip down over the surface of the object. It is roughly 8.4 cm tall and 8 cm wide at its widest point, and is described as possessing a katatsuki ("having shoulders") form, a reference to the horizontal portion where the neck of the bottle meets the body.
Having survived the 1582 Honnôji Incident, the caddy passed into the hands of Toyotomi Hideyoshi; it is said to have been one of his most cherished possessions.[1] Hatsuhana was later gifted to Tokugawa Ieyasu by Tokugawa vassal Ishikawa Kazumasa. It is today in the collection of the Tokugawa Memorial Foundation.
References
- Morgan Pitelka. "Art, Agency, and Networks in the Career of Tokugawa Ieyasu." in A Companion to Asian Art and Architecture. Wiley-Blackwell, 2011, 455.
- ↑ Pitelka, 455.
