Tea Ceremony Utensil: "Black Raku Tea Bowl" by Sosaku Sasaki (Supervised by Ginza Tougado) ================ Tougado Note: Ota 7 Gen (Honya Sokichi, the 6th generation), a merchant from the mid-Edo period, entered the Ota family from the Hibino family. Around the Kansei and Bunka eras, he was a connoisseur of tea ceremony utensils. He submitted many famous tea utensils, such as the Fuyuki Hakuan tea bowl, a re-creation of a famous item owned by the wealthy Fuyuki family of Fukagawa, to Lord Matsudaira Fumai of Unshu. From this, he aspired to the Way of Tea. (Based on the Tokyo-do edition of the Tea Ceremony Dictionary) Later, he received the family crest of Nakain Gosan-no-Kiri from Lord Fumai. In the 10th year of Meiji (1877), he took over the pottery division and the Maruhon trade name from the head family, Ota Sokichi, and opened a wholesale dealer of ceramics in Kakigaracho. He borrowed the Nabeshima warehouse from the Nabeshima family and handled direct imports by ship from Imari Port. This is considered the founding year of Tougado. Later, in the 25th year of Meiji (1892), he opened a store mainly dealing in Kiyomizu-yaki in Nihonbashi 1-chome. He moved to Ginza 1-chome in the 9th year of Taisho (1920). In the 5th year of Showa (1930), he devised the Tougakai (1 yen or 2 yen per month) in a distribution association format. Gradually, using this format, he handled masterpieces by artists such as Zouroku, Dohachi, Sozan, Seifu, and Rokubei. ================ ※ We will discount the shipping fee only for bulk purchases. Please contact us in the comments (*^▽^*)