Daishimei (Grand Master of Fate) is a Black Raku tea bowl created by Raku Kichizaemon XV, now Raku Jikinyū, for his 2008 exhibition Four Love Songs at the Raku Kichizaemon Pavilion, Sagawa Art Museum. Its title derives from Da Si Ming (“Grand Master of Fate”), one of the Nine Songs attributed to the ancient Chinese poet Qu Yuan. The bowl is the fourth in a series of six bearing the name, each associated with different lines from the poem. The verse inscribed inside its box evokes a deity moving between yin and yang, unseen yet determining mortal fate.
Across the bowl’s dark surface, areas of glaze have fallen away during firing, exposing the body beneath. Jikinyū initially regarded this accidental glaze loss as a failure, but through experimentation came to employ it as a pictorial effect. Even then, its occurrence remained unpredictable; only three bowls successfully achieved the effect, including Daishimei.
This interplay between conscious intention and accidental occurrence is fundamental to Jikinyū’s artistic practice. In Daishimei, chance is neither corrected nor merely decorative, but becomes an active participant in the work’s creation. The bowl thus extends a central concern of Jikinyū’s work: pursuing individual expression within the inherited language of Raku while allowing uncertainty to open possibilities that intention alone cannot produce.
