Cheek Armor Cup, Tiger Form, Mt. Fuji

Themed around Takeda Shingen, a legendary and representative Sengoku-era warlord, inspired by his nickname "Tiger of Kai."
Paired with Uesugi Kenshin, the "Dragon of Echigo," this work features a blue-and-white gradation evoking Mount Fuji.

Among Koga's works, the highly popular “Hoyoroi-hai (cheek-armor cup).”
Taking the motif of the eccentric helmets (kawari-kabuto) of Sengoku-era warlords, it expresses a person's way of life and spirit.

Chanoyu, the tea ceremony, developed as a comprehensive Japanese art tied to samurai refinement. Sake vessels developed as kaiseki tableware inheriting that lineage.
Koga describes this work as "a porcelain sake cup in the form of cheek armor, arrived at inevitably from the close ties among the tea ceremony, Sengoku warlords, and craft — ceramics in particular."