As
difficult as it is for me to admit this, not everything wonderful pot has to be
wood fired. The diversity, power and beauty of modern Japanese ceramics never
ceases to amaze me and the various fields of polycrome enamels and sometsuke
wares are certainly no exception. I was a major fan of the work of Ningen Kokuho Tokuda
Yasokichi III (1933 - 2009) and his imaginative and inventive use of design and
color and it is only fitting that the name and school linage carries on through
Tokuda Yasokichi IV(b.1961). Daughter of Ningen Kokuho Tokuda Yasokichi III (1933-2009)
she suceeded to head of head of the male dominated family in 2009 taking on the name as the fourth
generation. Though her work is certainly inspired and even partially directed
by her father's works, her approach to the modern tradition of Kutani porcleain
glaze painting has its own road to travel and is clearly created by a different
hand and voice. This mizusashi is cloaked in a series of blues within blues that
present an alluring illusion of everything from waterfalls to rich fabrics all
on one pot while accentuating the vertical thrust of the form culminating in a
lid and finely conceived knob. It is quite clear from the work of Tokuda
Yasokichi IV that she has her own inspirations and ideals to a tradtion started
by a Yasokichi nearly a full century ago.
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