A kuro oribe tea cup is a kind of Minoyaki pottery produced at kilns in Gifu Prefecture, Japan. Such tea cups are created by deliberately applying no black glaze to some parts to leave them white and drawing a variety of pattens on them. They are characterized by a bold transformation through the distortion of the cup’s original shape.
When kuro oribe tea cups are pulled out and rapidly cooled off after being baked in a kiln, the color of the iron glaze turns pitch black. At this point, if the shape alone is distorted without a pattern being drawn onto them, they become “oribe kuro,” while “kuro oribe” refers to the technique when patterns are drawn by exposing the white glaze.
In the second half of the 16th century, Goryeo tea cups imported from Joseon were favored at tea ceremonies in Japan over those imported from China (tenmoku tea cups), and later, tea cups produced directly in Japan began to gain popularity. Senno Rikyu went beyond merely selecting and using Goryeo tea cups, which suited the aesthetic sense of wabi-style tea, to create tea cups that expressed his aesthetic consciousness. As a result, they are referred to as rikyu teacups. Kuro oribe tea cups are a representative type of tea cups produced in Japan that was popular in the 17th century of the Edo period, a time of evolution for the art of Japanese tea ceremony.