Cheek Armor Cup, Tiger Form, Mt. Fuji

Koga's popular Hoyoroi-hai (Cheek-Armor Cup) series, as its name suggests, mimics armor that fully covers the chin and cheeks — a unique sake vessel that makes the drinker appear to be donning armor as they sip.
The motif is the "kawari-kabuto" — the distinctively individual, unconventional helmets worn by warlords of the Warring States period. Koga was moved by the way these men, risking their lives on the battlefield, still competed in a uniquely personal sense of beauty — the impetus behind this work.

As social media has developed, the present era has become one in which anyone can wield influence — an age of gekokujo (the low overthrowing the high), as Koga sees it. "If you have the will and resolve to open up the era, you can rise regardless of your origin." Through making {Hoyoroi Sakazuki}, Koga continues to send encouragement to today's high-minded warriors.

This piece is themed on Takeda Shingen, representative of the legendary warlords of the Sengoku period, inspired by his epithet "Tiger of Kai," and is distinguished by the menacing set of the tiger's mouth. It forms a pair with a work themed on Uesugi Kenshin, known by the epithet "Dragon of Echigo."

Rendered in white, purple, and indigo, expressing Mount Fuji with snow still capping its peak.
The white is the natural color of the porcelain body; the areas ranging from blue to purple use a cobalt-based glaze that changes color when a glossy, transparent glaze is applied over it. As a result, the piece offers a gradation of two textures and colors — a matte purple and a glassy indigo.