ORIGINS STORY

Anyone who is a comic book fan and by extension has interest in the film adaptations of comics knows the importance of the origins story; it sets the stage, the mood of the narrative and is the basis for the character development. To that end, I thought I would relate just how I met Kohyama Yasuhisa and was fortunate enough to go and study at his studio. Back in 1992 I had luckily struck up a relationship with Michael Cunningham the curator of Japanese Department at the Cleveland Museum of Art and at one point he showed me a gift he had recently received by a potter in Japan. The pot in question was a kamo-tokkuri with a soft green surface and pebbled texture with incised line decoration around the piece by Shigaraki potter Kohyama Yasuhisa and at that moment I was just hooked. A few months later my wife and I were invited to a small dinner party at Michael's home and when we got there we met a local Cleveland ikebana expert and Kohyama Yasuhisa and his assistant, Nakamoto Wakae. We talked about the museum, Japanese arts and of course pottery, we seemed to hit it off and later that week, Kohyama-san came to our home and looked over our small collection of pottery as well as my work. Two months later I received several letters from Japan saying that I could come and study with him for several months, a cycle of making, drying, firing and unloading. Needless to say, this whole process and relationship started with a rather brilliant but humble tokkuri.

Illustrated is a classic tokkuri and pair of guinomi by Kohyama Yasuhisa. Though unadorned with incised decoration, the soft green surface and the resisted areas tie this set together and could be recognized as Kohyama's work from well across the room, they have a soft, inviting quality that calls out to be enjoyed and perhaps fondled just a bit in their use. Taking his cues from Edo period kamo-tokkuri (duck bottles), Kohyama has added wonderful element to this unique form which is much more ancient in presentation like the Sueki wares which he admires but is grounded in sense of modernism that pervaded Japan as the foundations for his form and designs were being formulated. However one arrives at this point, there is no denying that just seeing this form makes one smile just a bit both inside and out.