Side-handled Teapot (kyūsu)

Aoki Mokubei made 100 identical teapots bearing the four-character inscription from an ancient Chinese tea poem, "He who desires to know the pure, cool taste of flower buds [tea] must be the man of sleeping clouds and creeping stones." The compact body of this pot is unglazed, and the rough, wheel-thrown spout, handle, and cover are simple and well-proportioned. Mokubei made the pots for a tea gathering planned for the spring of 1833 at Kitano Shrine, Kyoto. The grand affair was to be in celebration of the festival of plum blossoms for which the shrine was famous. But the party never took place because Mokubei died unexpectedly. His daughter gave the 100 teapots, the last Mokubei ever made, to his friends to remember him by. Only three or four of the teapots are thought to have survived.