WET & DRY

Though perhaps not a household name outside of Japan, Takezawa Nobuo (b.1944) is a stelwart practitioner of the revitalized Echizen pottery tradition. A product of Echizen himself, born in Fukui, Takezawa founded his pottery, Hachikugama in 1973 and uses locally dug clay and fires in a traditional kiln using techniques that date back centuries to create what is readily identifiable as modern Echizen-yaki. Like the other Rokkoyo, the Echizen pottery was traditionally wood fired without glaze and the resulting surfaces known as shizen-yu or at times haikaburi, the method in which many of Takezawa's works and this pot in particular was fired. The taut thrown tsubo was incised about the surface with a sharp tool and then the firing took over the rest of the decorating and glazing duties of the piece. Covered in a wide array of wood fired attributes, the surface ranges from areas of wet and dry textures and light and dark tones that are both visually engaging and communicate a sense of the old and new and some subtles mysteries as well. Having a reserved appearance if you listen carefully it has quite a lot to say about not only the tradition of Echizen but of the way in which it was fired and about the potter, Takezawa Nobuo himself. I hope this slideshow video gives a sense of all these things and more.