As part of Kanazawa Tours Meet the Masters series, I would like to introduce you to the master potter and ceramic artist Ohi Toshio Chozaemon XI.
Ohi-san is the 11th generation of a long line of masters to take the name Chozaemon; a name that has been passed down through his family for over 350 years.
One of the specialties of Ohi-san’s studio is creating tea bowls and other utensils to use within traditional Japanese tea ceremony. In fact, his first ancestor to use the name Ohi Chozaemon came to Kanazawa from Kyoto in 1666 with Senso Soshitsu who was head of the Uransenke, one of the three original lines of Tea Masters descended from Sen-no-Rikyu, creator of the modern tea ceremony. They were invited by the Maeda family, the feudal lord of Kaga.