VADE MECUM

 

I have a real love for books, in our last move from Virginia to central NY State we moved literally tons of books on a wide array of subject matter but certainly pottery is one of the main focuses. I really love finding books on Japanese pottery from the 50's and 60s which I am constantly on the look out for. Recently I found one on pottery by the 100 leading chadogu makers, published in 1968 and selected and written by acknowledged pottery expert and found of Kuroda Toen, Kuroda Ryoji. Though there are usually a handful of color photos at the beginning of this type of book, the majority of photos, signatures and seals are all in B/W which makes for good crisp photos and honestly a treasure trove of information. Many of the greats from the post-war era are highlighted in the book from well established potters to a group of up and coming  and there is also a three page spread on Tsukigata Nahiko which is one of the earliest references I have for him in my library. I am guessing that since the book was published in 1968 it was written and researched from 1966 through 1967 and I would further assume that Tsukigata was already a well known potter and on his way to perfecting his Oni-Shino style.

Illustrated next to the book cover is a kinuta mallet vase glazed in Shino glaze that has a certain aggressive quality to it and though not Oni-Shino, this glaze quality represents a clear departure from that of Arakawa Toyozo though the wonderful proportions of the  vase were quite well learned from the master and show a style and form that becomes quite distinctly Tsukigata's own in only a few years from when this piece was made.  There are a number of Tsukigata mallet vases on my blog so you can compare this one to latter ones and there is another, very early piece which was made in 1967 so it is easy to see the pace at which he was moving toward his more signature style. It is great to find books like this, they are exceedingly useful at piecing together the chronology of a potter's work and having a clearer picture of avenues that they pursued, some to folly and others to fame.