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Born a son of Ogawa Naohachi, a ske brewer from Tanba, the present Kameaoka-city in Kyoto, he was taken into the Raku family as Tannyu's son-in-law. he secceeded as the 11th generation in 1845. He retired in 1871, assuming the name of Keinyu. The period he lived through was an age of transformation from the feudalism of the Tokugawa Shogunate to the modernization of the Meiji government introducing the modern cultural prospects from West. At the same time he saw the collapse of traditional culture includeing the tea culture. Over 60 year long production of ceramics under such unfavourable circumstances, Keinyu, however, vigorously made a variety of ceramics, not only tea bowls but other tea utensils as well as decorative objects. Influences from Dõnyu and Ryõnyu are distinct in his work. His tea bowls are generally thinly modelled, the trimming being fine and unconstrained, revealing a superb command of the spatula. |