CHOICES

I recently handled a rather interesting and illustrated Iga chawan by Kojima Kenji. At first, I kind of ignored the catalogue and focused on the bowl, the captivating form, the movement of the bowl, the slightly undulating lip, the glassy, well fired exterior and the classic Kojima kodai built for stability and purpose. As time ticked by, I finally made my way to the catalogue packed with all kinds of pots I would just love to handle until I came across the teabowl in hand. I must admit, the first thought that sprung to mind was, why did they choose this angle to photograph the bowl as there are a multitude of perspectives this could have been shot from, at least four strong and impressive points. To my eye the catalogue photo shows a rather strong chawan, one certainly worth getting to know the bowl better by but in my opinion, there are better vantage points that better articulate the nature of this Iga chawan. I guess I will continue to ponder the reasoning behind the choice which gave way to a larger question in my mind, just how many other catalogue photos just hide features that would have been better off to showcase? I am sure I will never get an answer to this question.

PASS OR FAIL

Just a simple couple of yunomi with hakeme slip decoration under a soda blue glaze. I have received a bit of feedback from “un-named” critics* who don’t like the degree of inward curve to the lip but to my eye and lip, this is what makes this form work but does it pass or fail? The basic idea was to use the same general curve starting from the base in different directs but essentially mimicking each other, one good to grip and the other good to drink from. Having these in hand, I think they work well and the use of the opposing curves is exactly what makes this form. I would welcome any feedback as even all the years on, I am always looking to see other viewpoints beyond my own. (*One of these critics is a very good friend and I greatly appreciate his input despite the fact that he is wrong!) 

HIDDEN ASSETS

I am sure I am not alone in this, I suspect every collector has a potter or two that they think of as hidden assets among modern Japanese pottery. They are potters where you just like the way they work, fire, handle clay, decorate, their pots speak to you but in the general collecting scheme of things they are not one of the “top dogs”, they are not LNT or on the circuit of the big galleries but to you, there pots are rather underrated. When I think of these potters, I constantly come back to this motto I have come up with where “it is better to have a great pot by a good potter than a good pot by a great potter”. Seeing where a potter has excelled beyond his skill set, these are pots than speak to me and at their core carry out a long and lasting conversation over the years and even decades.   

Among this group of hidden assets, I count the work of Masamune Satoru and Kimura Morinobu at the top of my go to group of good potters who make great pots and this chawan is just another classic example of that philosophy. This Chinese inspired temmoku chawan was made by Kimura Morinobu likely during the 90s and has a wonderful, celestial style surface of minute iron crystals punctuated across the surface inside and out and further arranged by the five-point hoshi star burst in the center of the bowl. This bowl was thrown thinly and has almost seems weightless in the hand, the fine form culminates in a thin, delicate lip and a shallow cut kodai harkening back to numerous Chinese temmoku archetypes. This chawan typifies what draws me to Kimura’s ash or iron glazed ware; thoughtful and considered forms, glazing, decoration and firing, what more could one hope for from a potter?

QUEST

I suspect there are a number of collectors who are unaware there is a very neat book on Tamaoki Yasuo entitled; I AM ORIBE. Though this book is well illustrated with varying types of pottery that Tamaoki pursues, there are also a number of his Oribe pieces, both semi-tradition and much more modern like the one illustrated here. Using a somewhat limited palette of black, white, coral, greys and greens, Tamaoki has come up with a rich and engaging style, playful at its core but flirting with modernity with each creation. Many of these Oribe pieces use his “basic” forms as their canvas but that is where the commonality ends, his selection of space both positive and negative and random floating forms or devices hover of whites and coral rich backdrops making for the perfect backdrop, an abstract canvas folded like origami into three dimensions. 

If you have followed the work of Tamaoki Yasuo it was clear all the way back to his roots in the 70s and 80s that he was on a pathway of dedication and discovery. Plumbing the depth of what is Mino pottery and what novel approaches can be added the wide array of a living and moving tradition is at the heart of this potter’s work and this Oribe work is part of that quest. 

BORN TO RUN

When it comes to hand building, I am never quite sure how I got there or honestly exactly what I am doing. In my mind I had this idea that would play on the fact that some of my glaze surfaces run quite a bit, born to run if you will and, in this case, the piece sprung up from that central theme and decoration. Obviously, slab-built, out of stoneware, the main goal was the creation of a form that then had diagonal channels carved into it to allow the glaze to collect and run as it most certainly did. In this instance, the pot was glazed in my Kuro-Oribe surface though only the top two thirds, the bottom third was straight Oribe. Had I decided to go all in with Kuro-Oribe even the simple fact that this was fired on wads, placed on soft brick slabs, one inch thick, I suspect the pot would be a permanent resident of the shelf on which it was fired. 

As you can see, the glaze collected just as planned and ran down so precariously close to the base that as the kiln was colling, I still thought that I had a disaster on hand. Once cool enough, I picked it up and it came along without any issues. My general working process does not usually begin or revolve around an intended occurrence but in this case, how I wanted the glaze to respond and behave certainly was the genesis for the slab-built pot and likely not the best way to proceed in the future.

BIZAN-GAMA

I can’t really say I know a lot about the maker of this wood fired mizusashi but over the years I have seen a number of his pieces with a wide variety of surfaces and effects. Made by Oki Yasushi (b. 1948) of the Bizan-gama kiln at the foot of Mt. Koya in Kami-Amano, he has had a working studio since the early 1970s which he set up after studying in San Jose, California.       

As you may be able to tell, Oki specializes in yakishime, shizenyu style pottery relying on the wood, fire and kiln to complete the pot through its own distinctive process. This cylindrical mizusashi has an ancient feel to it like it has spirited away elements of Kofun and Sueki pottery and infused them into modern clay. The only potter’s decoration on this piece are several incised bands around the bottom half of the pot which in conjunction with the all-natural running ash is more than enough to present a rustic and simple aesthetic perfect for the tea ceremony or adorning one’s shelf or desk and an object of contemplation.  

Though this particular pot is in a typical, signed wood box many of the pieces of Oki Yasushi are adorned with quick, abstract drawing of the contents within. This is just another thoughtful feature and detail to go along with such an elementary clay vessel, steeped in history and tradition with a hint of the modern within its grasp.

SURPRISES

It is rather rare that I would collect a used koro, I have been burnt in the past, no pun intended regarding the overwhelming and sometimes offensive odor that is next to impossible to get rid of. I decided to take a chance on an obviously used koro recently, mostly because it is a less often encountered style by Yasuda Zenko, Kuro-Seiji (Black celadon). When the package arrived, I first set it in front of Khan, our first line of sensory defense and in mere seconds he moved on without interest, I opened the box and then unpacked the bubble-wrapped wood storage box, back to Khan and once again nothing. Feeling emboldened, I unpacked the wood box to find two distinct surprises, first off, the koro had almost zero scent, perhaps a lingering trace from years gone by but nothing of an issue whatsoever. The second surprise was that the lid is pure silver and weighs in at 57 grams and in spot value actual exceeds the cost of the koro in the first place.     

As for the Yasuda koro, it is rather traditional in form, resting on three feet, with an unglazed ring where the firing support went, the interior and exterior are glazed in the same manner presenting a somewhat dark and brooding appearance. I imagine the overall appearance is quite enhanced with wafting smoke coming through the three leaf like apertures, cut and then bent out of the lid with fine lines, delicately chased between each of the three leaves. Though not exactly a typical or traditional surface, what Yasuda Zenko created is rather modern expressive with a hint of an enduring Kyoto aesthetic, I think maybe I won’t scrap the lid after all(!).

 

BANDED & STAMPED

I fired two kilns last week and these banded and stamped Oribe pots were in the first firing. I made two sets to get one though both came out and the one set is now at its new owners. The idea was to make a set of teabowl and water jar for someone who had no intention of using it for tea and requested it in a more Western aesthetic. Both were thrown out of stoneware with pronounced banding around the forms before they were stamped with different but complementary stamps. The surfaces match and are just plain, old Oribe without any topical additions making for a rather crisp, clean look. There is nothing complicated here, straight forward throwing, tooling and glazing and most of the time, this is just what I prefer.

CRAZY

                             

                                  

There isn’t much I can say about this yohen temmoku style chawan other than what crazy pattern. The pattern is vivid, multi-colored with a sheen of gold across the surface which has its own topography which appeals to the touch and the eye. This chawan was made by Yamamoto Noriyuki, a potter I know almost nothing about, the pictures are a better narrator then I could be.

 You can see more of this chawan over on my Trocadero marketplace;

https://www.trocadero.com/stores/albedo3studio/items/1507990/WILD-YOHEN-CHAWAN-BY-YAMAMOTO-NORIYUKI

WATATSUMI

Illustrated is a rather generous and thoughtful gift that was sent to me some while back, sort of a thank you for helping out a new collector get their bearings, along with some basic translation help and hints as to what to avoid. This specific piece was sent to me because of my interest in texture as well as Ki-Seto glazing, made by Goto Hideki clearly his watatsumi guinomi has both in spades. This guinomi is a little on the large side and the visual and physical textures are both wonderfully complimentary to the evocative, twisted form. Considering our recent excursion into collecting guinomi, this was a very nice addition and let’s be perfectly honest, based on my usual choices in pottery, this little gem certainly stands out like a Godzilla in the Tokyo bay.