After my post of the Kimura
"cubist" henko, I was asked about the so-called football style henko.
First off, the football moniker is entirely mine and it is how I see the piece
from the perspective of viewing it straight on. Illustrated is one of these
molded football pots that I handled a number of years ago. Once the pot came
out of the plaster press mold, it was dipped in slip and once bisque, it was
glazed in a transparent ash clear glaze with a rich kaki accent on the mouth
and decorations of amber spots with copper squiggles over the whole in
an Okinawan (Tsuboya )style. The pot looks very dated as it appears having been
made sometime in the late 1950's or 1960's, but when used as a vase, it takes
on an entirely different appearance. Ultimately, it is the simplicity of design
and decoration and a dependence on the Mashiko tradition that makes exploring
the works of Kimura Ichiro so enjoyable.
.JPG)