I
was working on cleaning up some images of the Kato Tsuneyoshi Mino-Iga
mizusashi that I had taken on the path to building a slideshow video of the
piece and came across this image. Though this pot has a great deal of rich
green ash areas it is on the lid where it really shines; deep, emerald green
pools that look like a mineral cluster or outcroppings any adventurer would be
thrilled to stumble upon. I have to admit, I am more than smitten with this
effect both shizen, all natural in its occurrence as well as through some
artifice of technology though it is all the more impressive when it happens
through the intensity of the firing and astute choice of varying woods. In
either method it still appears as if some guiding provenance has touched the
pot and created a surface that one can get lost in and spend any amount of time
in some degree of contemplation. There it is, a wonderful shortcut, just a
simple arrangement of a handful of certain chemicals, elements collected to create an effect
as close to perfect as my eye can see and unlike actual emeralds you can forego
the extreme temperatures, dynamic pressure and the millions of years in the
making.
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