Kensui

Kensui

Water container with an inscribed poem and a frog inside

Otagaki Rengetsu  (1791-1875)

Ceramic, diameter 12  cm.

Shaped as an ancient shape derived from Yayoi Period pots (300 BCE~300 CE), the inglazed clay has been rather high fired, giving it the appearance of fine Bizen clay.

Kensui are wastewater containers used in the tea room during the preparation of matcha. The water is colored by the matcha it has washed away, so, in use, the frog seems to be standing just beside the shallows of a green forest pond.

The inscribed summer poem refers to the frog itself:

水ぬるむ
いけのかはづの
聲きけば
やがてねぶりぞ
もよほされける

When I hear
the voice of a frog
in the waters of a warming pond
before long
drowsiness sets in