[Tea utensils/tea ceremony tools, incense holder] Raku ware, Sotan Fox, copy of Ryoin, made by Shoraku Sasaki

●What is Sotan Fox?...Shokoku-ji Temple is a Zen temple and one of the Five Mountains of Kyoto. In one corner of its vast grounds there is an Inari shrine called Sotan Inari.
This Inari Shrine is home to a white fox that has taken the form of Sen no Rikyu's grandson, Sotan, the tea master who promoted Rikyu's wabi-cha style and revived the Sen school.
The fox was watching Sotan's tea ceremony and was so impressed by its beauty that he wanted to try it himself.
One day, after a tea ceremony held at Shokoku-ji Temple had finished, Sōtan's disciples and tea master guests gathered in the waiting room to converse and praise the magnificent tea ceremony that Sōtan had just completed.
At that moment, for some reason, Sotan suddenly appeared in the waiting room, and the tea ceremony was held again.
This happened several times, and when his disciples became suspicious, they went to check on Sotan's home while the tea ceremony was still taking place and found him still there.
When they questioned Sotan, who was at the tea ceremony, he confessed that he was a white fox that had been living in Shokoku-ji Temple for a long time.
The white fox was forgiven after he apologized sincerely and demonstrated superb tea ceremony skills that were on par with the real Sotan.
And because it transformed into Sotan, this white fox came to be called "Soutan fox."
This Sotan Inari shrine enshrines the white fox "Soutan Kitsune," which is said to have appeared before people disguised as Sotan, the grandson of the famous tea master Sen no Rikyu, and there are many anecdotes about this "Soutan Kitsune."

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Size: Approx. diameter 4.4 x height 6.8 cm
Author: Akira Sasaki
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My grandfather built it in Kiyomizuzaka, Kyoto.
Born in 1944 in Kameoka City, Kyoto Prefecture.
In 1962, he inherited the Matsuraku tradition as the third generation.
Thanks to the goodwill of Deguchi Onisaburo and Oda Setsudo (1901-1966), the former 11th abbot of Daitokuji Temple (504th head priest), he opened a kiln in Kameoka again in 1944.
He is currently studying under the second Shogaku.
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Box: Wooden box