CONTROLLABLE

Controllable  (kən-ˈtrō-lə-bəl); capable of being controlled 

Illustrated is a simple thrown and altered katakuchi pourer from two firings ago. Thrown round and pushed oval, a spout was pulled while still really wet and once tooled, I added a thick layer of white hakeme slip around the piece. This is pretty typical of the results I am getting with plus or minus effects unless I really go for a simpler look or a really, really runny one. I think you can see from the underside of this piece that though the glaze ran quite a bit creating a rather nice, multi-color cascade around the form, gravity was a bit impeded by the foot which is the intent and let’s be honest, the constant hope. Where multiple glazes, gravity and heat seem to come together, the results are as much a mystery as they are bonus. Though I said this surface is somewhat typical, the more I build up the surfaces the more serendipity plays a role in the final object and in this case the flowing glaze runs around the exterior and the way the surface runs from the spout into the center of the katakuchi are about as I would absolutely like them to happen even though my hand can only gently steer the outcome. I realize I have said this before but if this was completely controllable, I would have to move along and as long as there are surprises including becoming one with the firing plinths, I would not want it any other way.

 

THE GOOD

Illustrated is a slightly unusual Tamba rokkukei style chaire by Nishibata Tadashi. As is probably readily apparent is that this is an earlier work, likely from the 90s and is a wonderful study in form and surface which work in near perfect harmony with each other. The form is not what I would describe as a typical chaire form though the surface is classic Tamba and Nishibata, fire color and a wet surface surround the form with some patches of thicker ash present but what is not quite evident in the photo is the overall wetness and iridescence fumed onto the surface during the wood fired process. Between the form and firing process, just like the geological forces accrued over time, this chaire has become its own little gem where each turn of the form exposes a different but continuing landscape wrapped around this geometrically create piece. The pot is completed with a fine textured cloaked around the chaire and topped off with the purity of a fine slightly off-white lid which through careful consideration adds a completeness.          

Likely based on historical archetypes that came from China (karamono), through his handling and firing, Nishibata has created an object that is distinctly Japanese (wamono) and leaning into Tanizaki’s philosophy, the angular planes add a real sense of shadow and mystery while by used in the tea ceremony. Though this is early work, before his mature style had come into play, it is clear that his considered sense of form, purpose, function and firing collaborated, one and all to gift us this diminutive treasure for use or just a lifetime of visual pleasure where the “good” just never goes out of style.

IN THE MOUTH OF THE DRAGON

Illustrated is a quick photo I took years back of Kohyama Yasuhisa (b. 1936) who likely stands as one of the most vital figures in the contemporary Shigaraki scene if not that of all Japanese ceramics. Renowned for his part in reviving the ancient wood-firing tradition of anagama firing Kohyama is best known, especially in the West for his expanding the boundaries of sculptural form within ancient materials and techniques. Functioning and creating outside the traditional master/ pupil system, Kohyama pioneered a distinct aesthetic synthesis that bridges the unglazed, elemental heritage of historic Shigaraki ware with architectural, modern abstraction where craft and art collide.         

At the very core of Kohyama’s work and creativity is his relationship with the Earth, the local Shigaraki clay, coarse and feldspar-rich known for its durability and earthy texture. Though Kohyama did throw on the wheel, rather than exclusively relying on the potter’s wheel to fashion classic functional vessels, Kohyama developed a signature technique using a piano wire to cut, slice, and slice through thickly created and hand-built forms of clay. The immediacy and physically and visually tactile method leaves raw, subtlety rippled facets and sharp, crisp, geometric edges that mimic natural geological formations, appearing all-natural and evoking wind-sheared cliffs or tectonic plates. Many of his works features sweeping, wedge-like forms, like wind (Kaze) dynamically balanced, sometimes precariously and other times quite solidly though both challenge much of the generally accepted sense traditional symmetry of Japanese ceramic art.          

Central to his unique style is the absence of applied glazes, they are made and fired, “au-natural”, known as shizen-yu to the Japanese. To complete his work and his vision, Kohyama relies entirely on the unpredictable atmosphere of the wood-burning anagama kiln, a single-chamber tunnel kiln he helped reintroduce to the Shigaraki region in the late 1960s which is usually fired continuously over a number of days with temperatures exceeding 1,200°C, his pieces interact directly with flying ash and roaring flames where experience and serendipity work hand-in-hand.  This intense process yields natural ash glazes, where the surface shows off a pebbly like surface together with rich hiiro and thin coats of olive-green glassy deposits formed where circulating ash melts against the clay surface. The physical placement of each object or pot within the kiln becomes a precise architectural decision based on an experienced understanding of the clay, the wood, the pathway of the flame and the void that is the anagama where Kohyama orchestrates how the velocity and currents of the fire and ash will sweep across his carved planes.        

Kohyama’s work occupies a compelling middle ground flirting between vessel, object or pure sculpture. While his pieces often retain functional interior voids and volume capable of a wide array of functional duties, to some degree their monumental presence demands consideration as freestanding art, where the visual and intellectual interaction are the concluding act of this multi-part play. By allowing the intrinsic qualities of Shigaraki earth, fire, and air to dictate the final surface landscape, Kohyama achieves an organic minimalism and his work pays homage to the medieval kilns and varying traditions of Japan while putting forth a bold, contemporary voice that has earned him acclaim in major public collections worldwide.      

On a personal note, I was very fortunate to spend time with Kohyama Yasuhisa back in the early 1990s. I was working as a tech at CSU at the time and had had a variety of experiences but this exposure gave me a real understanding of how this potter worked and what it would mean for me as a potter moving forward. From the creative process, materials and firing, it was an invaluable experience and this photo shows Kohyama-san in the mouth of the dragon, loading and getting prepared for his next firing of which I am sure that have been many, many more since then!  

“Many kinds of impressions inspire me to create art; nature manifests itself in my work.”  Kohyama Yasuhisa as translated by Wakamoto Nakae (Cleveland Magazine)

SIMPLE GREEN

Illustrated is a rather simple and small paddled jar glazed in my Oribe with a variety of washes over the surface. If memory serves me, this was specifically made as filler to fit between a group of larger covered serving bowls and thus falls under the “filler” category. I wanted to take a moment and clarify the term filler, it is not meant to lessen or diminish the variety of pieces that are made to go between larger pots and in fact some are orders as well, I just can’t necessarily think of a better more apt descriptor than that. At any rate, this current surface that I am using really shows off the paddling quite well and the light, white stoneware also makes for a brighter surface that I then muddy up a bit atomizing various oxides onto the pot which starts out as a simple green. As I mentioned it is a rather simple, even conservative pot that has found its way to Canada which I will remind readers, is still one of our largest trading partners on Earth.

TRAJECTORY

Illustrated is a small Oribe vase that despite its size, commands its space and a certain amount of attention through its sheer, unyielding presence. Almost totemic in nature it has balanced a bold texture with a subtle, stepped tapered form, a series of distinct horizontal tiers that give the verticality a rhythmic, segmented weight like some ancient stone monument. The stance is completely grounded, and the posture hints at movement that appears entirely intentional rather than accidental. The rim slopes gently inward, creating a tight, focused aperture that concentrates the interior space and compels the viewer for further inspection. The small, flanking lug handles near the shoulder are compressed against the body, serving less as functional utility and more as punctuation points that bracket the upper tier and break up the linear nature of the form.    

The surface is all about the tactile (and visual) capabilities of clay where a heavily textured, chattering pattern wraps entirely around the exterior, leaving deep, ridged furrows that trap light and shadow as well as glaze (and sometimes dust!). The texture feels eroded, raw, almost aggressive but not contrived and fussy. The surface is natural and organic, a rare and almost herculean feat of creation. Over this intense patterning, a rich, pooling deep green Oribe glaze has been applied. Where the glaze runs thick, it transforms into an opaque, vitreous moss green, collecting in deep, glassy pools within the crevices and creating a dark vertical streak down the front face where thickness and gravity battled in the ferocity of the fire and gave way to movement. Where the glaze thins over the crests of the horizontal ridges and elsewhere, it breaks cleanly to reveal the warm, buff ceramic skin underneath adding to the depth of the texture of the overall form. The interior reveals a completely different micro-environment: a dark, concentrated glaze pooling at the bottom, offering a stark contrast to the variegated exterior.        

Okabe Mineo (1919–1990) stands as one of the most significant iconoclasts of twentieth-century Japanese ceramics. As the eldest son of the larger-than-life potter Katō Tōkurō, Mineo forged his own path developing a style and work that could not be contained by the immense shadow of his family lineage and the somewhat traditional confines of both the Seto and Mino traditions. As a potter, Okabe wasn’t easily satisfied and rather than simply replicating historical Momoyama prototypes, he revitalized styles like Oribe and Shino by introducing highly personal, hand-built sculptural forms and heavily textured surfaces breathing life into a tradition dominated by stillness and sameness. Mineo rejected the idea that a potter should rely purely on the serendipity of the kiln or romanticized notions of chance forcing by sheer force of will and fine-tuned experience, his vision into his finished work. He demanded an exacting, intellectual approach to the craft, famously observing; "What meaning do instinct or accident have in achieving form? Without a concrete and accurate understanding of materials underlying technique, no development is possible."  

This specific Ao-Oribe Jomon hanaire (copper green rope impressed flower vase) perfectly captures that philosophy and effectively changed the trajectory of mid-century Japanese ceramics by treating Oribe ware as a medium for raw, tactile experimentation rather than simply a traditional canvas where the status quo dominated. The rough, chattered exterior and the heavy pooling of the green glaze are not the results of accidental distortion; they are the consequence of a deliberate, masterful manipulation of material limits. Mineo's work serves as a bridge between classical tea ceramics and modern expressive sculpture, securing his legacy as a titan who forced, even bent traditional clay into a fiercely contemporary dialogue.

OPEN ROAD

There is something seemingly quiet, a feeling of solitude leading to deliberate intimacy in holding a bowl designed explicitly for travel. The tabi-chawan, a tea bowl built for the road may hold certain demands other chawan may not, the balance between utility and presence spring to mind, a design challenge Kawai Takeichi meets with striking poise in this piece. Though it is more than likely this bowl was not meant to make its way along the Tokaido it processes those qualities even if the intent was to just make it across the vastness of a single room.    

Formally speaking, this simple bowl asserts a grounded, cylindrical mass where its vertical walls rise with an unhurried curve from a defined, sturdy foot ring (kodai), providing an immediate sense of both actual and perceived visual stability. The profile avoids ostentation, the superfluous details and throwing marks have all drifted away leaving a compact, self-contained volume that nestles comfortably in the hands. Like many pots of the Mingei movement and the Kawai school in particular, this is a vessel crafted not merely to be viewed on some distant shelf, often times collecting dust but created to be held, packed, unpacked, and used across some distances near of far even if it does end up on one’s computer desk.  

The surface, the fire painted canvas, is where Takeichi’s voice resonates most vividly and this bowl stands out from a sea of glazed ware. Covered in a rich, saturated iron glaze (tetsu-yu), the bowl becomes a surreal landscape of dynamic, dark-spectrum movement, where iron over iron punctuates the field and creates visual tension. Cells composed of golden rust, mottled ochre, and deep olive tones bleed into dark black-brown pools, creating a living surface where the dappled exterior catches the light across its gentle curving planes. Given the temperature and physics, the glaze melts and flows into subtle tendril-like runs, a testament to both chemistry and combustion. Frozen in time, the small bowl carries a wet, glossy depth that feels alive to the touch, animated and inviting, scenery constantly shifting under inspection.      

In this simple, unpretentious and noble (?) tabi-chawan, the shadow and spirit of Kawai Kanjiro, is undeniable, yet distinctly translated where Kanjiro channeled monumental energy and expressive unrestricted vigor into his creations, Takeichi absorbed those lessons and distilled them into a more disciplined and everyday functionalism. Though the expressive glaze work directly echoes Kanjiro’s mastery of the elements, Takeichi applied it to forms that for the most part remains strictly humble and utilitarian creating a mixture of both “beauty born of use” and a nobility of pragmatic creation. This bowl and works like it stand as a testament to lineage, taking Kanjiro’s fiery spirit and innovative creativity and shaping it into a quiet companion for a journey along an open road.

LIFE LESSON

I have spent the last three days making up glazes, washes and glazing up enough pots for two kiln-loads, possibly three. I am not a huge fan of glazing but am reminded of a very important (life) lesson, one I should adhere to, the time to make up glazes is when you notice they are too low to move forward and not the day you plan on starting to glaze. As with most things, this is not rocket science it is just proper planning and better time management than just rushing around trying to do too many things at once. There are several different glaze combos being fired, some tried and true and others just in their infancy so firings like this always make me nervous with more than a few pieces needed for a show and some orders. I’ll fire the first kiln tomorrow so time will tell and now it is advanced JuJu time. 

Illustrated is a Kuro-Oribe style tataki yunomi that was thrown and then beaten on and manipulated just a bit. It has a somewhat wonky appearance and rests on a foot, handcut using a simple sharpened shim stock wedge direct from the big hardware box-mart. I will say that I do enjoy making these, a process that is start to finish in  mostly under 30 minutes or so and on the odd occasion, they go right on top of the firing kiln and I am able to get them in a bisque the same day that they are made. It doesn’t get any faster than that.

EXPLORER

Yamada Masakazu (b. 1951) is a figure whose work exists at the sharp intersection of hereditary duty and individual exploration, he is both classic sakuhin craftsman and an explorer within his idiom. Born in Toki City, Gifu Prefecture, he is the current master of Hakusan Gama (White Mountain Kiln), an institution established by his great-grandfather at the turn of the 20th century. While he carries the weight of a multi-generational legacy, Masakazu has spent over five decades refining and defining his personal vocabulary that pays tribute to the Momoyama spirit of Mino-yaki while adapting to a contemporary aesthetic landscape.   

As with many potters brought up within a hereditary tradition, Masakazu’s study and apprenticeship began early and after graduating from the Tajimi Technical High School in 1969 he was immediately immersed in the duties and expectations of the studio. Working within this system, creativity and experimentation have borne fruit along the way as his career is marked by a consistent presence in the Japan Traditional Crafts Exhibition and the Asahi Ceramic Art Exhibition. Beyond his exhibition record, Masakazu has shown a wide array of skills from clay and glaze science to kiln firing that has earned him the title of Director of the Mino Ceramics Association.    

Yamada Masakazu is best represented within the styles of is proficient in Shino, Oribe, Seto-guro and Ki-Seto, it is likely his identifiable style and glazing of Shino that often tells the story of his temperament. Unlike the more dramatic and flamboyant styles of many of his contemporaries, Masakazu’s work often feels a bit quiet, reflective and contemplative emphasizing a softness, where the snowy feldspathic glaze seems to have just begun to melt over a rugged terrain. In many respect it is the soft and quiet aesthetic that holds its appeal where the pot is substitute for a simple ink painting or a lofty poetic exchange. 

In this particular chawan, we see the hallmarks of Masakazu’s mature and developed style. The form is robust yet it possesses a gentle, undulating rim that invites the touch. The bowl is first glazed in a thin layer of Shino accounting for the rich iron effect over which a thick, pure white Muji-Shino is applied and a finger is struck through the glaze in a casual and almost random fashion adding to the landscape of the bowl. Across the bowl, there is just enough punctuated yuhazu style pinholes to activate the surface creates a surface taking on the soft appearance of orange peel or weathered stone, as with most pots, how one sees or interprets what is in their hand is as varied as the breath of the human experience. 

In some ways this is a bowl about story-telling, its form and surface are the narration, the interplay between the thick, milky-white and the exposed, burnt iron glaze underneath creates a sense of high-contrast drama. The iron wash beneath the glaze is applied adding to the landscape it is a bowl that celebrates the casual, and quiet nature of the materials, where reminders of the potter’s hand is barely visible instead depending on the glaze and fire to complete the tale.   

Masakazu’s work along with many of the other traditional Mino potters, serve as a vital bridge between what was and what will be, the very future of Mino-yaki depends on these potters. Masakazu maintains the functional integrity required of a traditional chadogu maker while endeavoring to infuse each piece with a distinct presence and a unique voice. His simple bowls are not merely containers for tea; they strive to become environments of texture, form and shadow, inviting a quiet, contemplative engagement where the fundamental elements of earth, air, water and fire unite in a single bowl.

ASOBI

When you come face to face (or even face to image) with a chawan by Tamaoki Yasuo a dialogue begins, and participating in a conversation the likely dates back four hundred years of aesthetic rebellion. In this way of thinking, this modern Oribe chawan is not merely a ritualistic vessel but conceivable it is the embodiment of controlled, purposeful chaos, the visual and tactile manifestation of asobi, playfulness that characterizes much of the Momoyama period chadogu curated under the guidance of Furuta Oribe (1544-1615), which continues to pulse through the Mino hills today.      

The form of this chawan is unapologetically and even intentionally robust and though based on the basics of the idiom, the mechanical symmetry of the wheel becomes quite secondary favoring a slightly manipulated presence that conveys a naturalistic warmth rather than manufactured. The walls rise with a deliberate unevenness, creating a rim that wanders like a mountain path, dipping here, rising there and extending an invitation in its use and unabashed appreciation. It is on the surface where Tamaoki truly pays homage to the Oribe tradition while asserting his contemporary voice, a dramatic interaction between the deep, glossy and textured black and the warm, salmon-hues are worked across the white background like a spontaneous and playful abstract landscape. Combining elements of Kuro-Oribe, Narumi-Oribe and E-Oribe, Tamaoki brings Oribe into the modern age while relying on tradition and fundamental Momoyama aesthetics including negative space (MA) to forge through the crucible of fire the very honesty of the piece. The use of these elements infused into a single pot is a bold exercise in exhilaration and pauses which allow the viewer, the user moments to breathe through the encounter.    

Searching history, Oribe ware was born in the late 16th century, creating a radical departure from the quiet, somber tones of wabi-sabi. Named after and guided in its origins under the tea master Furuta Oribe, distorted shapes and vivid patterns were introduced and persisted into modern times where Tamaoki Yasuo, carries this pursuit of balancing function, aesthetics and the sense of playful beauty into the 21^st century. In the context of Tamaoki’s overall body of work, this chawan celebrates a modern potter’s transformative power within an age-old tradition. While he is recognized for his classic Shino, his Oribe work displays a specific type of visual daring, understanding that for a bowl to be truly "playful," it must first be technically perfect and the "play" is an intentional subversion of mastery, not a lack of it.            

In Japanese art, playfulness is a serious endeavor, it is the rejection of stiflingly perfection or rather the perfection of the imperfect. This chawan is all about the concept of asobi through its visual wit creating a well-read narrative of centuries of pots that have come before interacting with new thoughts, new ideas and a new voice added to the story-telling. Tamaoki’s modern Oribe interpretations challenges the user to find beauty in the asymmetry of the surface and the willingness to break from an orthodoxy which has become a bit rigid over the centuries. In its use in tea, where every movement is prescribed and standardized, the Oribe bowl provides a moment of visual surprise and freshness that reminds that nature, and by extension ceramic art, is not stagnant and is always moving, evolving even if it is not always easy to see. Tamaoki has captured that fleeting, rebellious spark, where the clay (tsuchi), decoration (kazari) and flame (hi), result in a work that is as much a challenge as it is a comfort.    

(This image is composed using two actual photographs of the tamaoki chawan and set into an AI generated scenario)

NARUMI-ESQUE

Illustrated is a simple, small faceted covered jar glazed in my Kuro-Oribe style surface with several iron panels with inlaid black decoration and at some level is just a really big teabowl with a lid. I decided on calling this style, “narumi-esque” after the Narumi-Oribe style of pottery which if you squint while wearing your imagination cap you may see some similarity or at the very least, influence. Way back when while working at Cleveland State, I started making pots with panels like this that interrupted the overall surface, they were at first a combination of a dark black glaze called blackbird-vitro and Secrest celadon which quickly expanded to temmoku and celadon and several others. I figured my Oribe surface would look good with the iron panels so I started small and went from teabowls to small covered pots and a few medium size bowls. It seems to work consistently and there is no crawling between the two glazes so that is a plus though I have been criticized (by a known heretic*) that the inlaid decoration on some of the pieces seems a bit like the Peruvian Nazca lines but you know what, I’ll take that any day. At any rate, here is the covered pot that was recently fired in normal lighting and in the sunlight which I think really shows off the details and the texture of the clay underneath. I am aware this isn’t going to change the world but for me, the more I can squeeze out of copper and uses for this current Oribe, the more satisfied I am and that is the best I can ask for. 

(*This is not an insult but rather an inside joke)