Recently I was involved
in a discussion regarding the potters Hori Ichiro and Yamada Kazu revolving
around how they worked and the wellspring of their inspiration. Quite naturally
the conversation was steered toward the Enbu-Shino work of Yamada Kazu and the
origins and technology of the glaze and it brought me back to a stellar chawan
only recently made in that style that I had handled back in 2012. This
Enbu-Shino chawan came from a collector that had decided to part with his
collection so he sent it to me and I was able to handle it for several weeks as
well as take quite a few photos of the piece from just about every conceivable
angle. My initial take away from handling the chawan was the raw energy
transferred from the fire, trapped in the surface and the tension created, over
time that impression has lasted and I still have that same sense, I see a
lyrical, almost abstract presence painted on the surface. From my perspective,
this style is another in a long line of potters, especially in modern times,
pushing the clay, glaze and firing to find where the limits really are and as a
by-product of this experimentation often wondrous results unfold. No matter how
you interpret Yamada's Enbu-Shino, it is certain to leave an impression and
spark a conversation.
The following is a part of the description
that I used when it was put up for sale on Trocadero; "Powerful, dramatic, enigmatic,
there is a nearly unending number of descriptions that would still all fall
short in describing this large Enbu-Shino chawan by Yamada Kazu. Enbu literally
means "dancing fire" and it is that dancing fire that pushed the clay
and glaze of this chawan to the very limit where the glaze turned to molten
glass and began to flow like lava down the sides and into the interior of this
pot. But pushing the limit is nothing new for Yamada Kazu who has broke new
ground in his pursuit of Shino, Oribe, Ki-Seto, Seto-Guro and even Shigaraki
pottery."
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