WHILE I WAS THERE

During my time in Japan working at Kohyama Yasuhisa's studio in the early 90s I figured while I was there and had a day to spare (Kohyama was at a wedding) that I would make a trek in to Kyoto, stopping at a number of galleries, antique places and a few book stores. At one bookstore I found this book which was published in 1991 and in it was a contemporary set by Kohyama Yasuhisa, a kamo-tokkuri and guinomi and since I was leafing through the it the other day, I took a quick snap and decided to post it.

This is a classic example of one of Kohyama's highly animated and lively tokkuri with a rich array of ash effects creating three distinct zones of color and texture on the face of the pot accompanied by a simple guinomi with an inviting posture and spirited form. One aspect of this photo captures the wonderful shadowed area at the base of each piece, in many respects it almost appears like the pots are hovering, detached from the surface they are resting on. Despite the simplicity of these two pieces both tokkuri and guinomi show a well defined use of the details making for a rather unique and conscious pot based on years of experience, trial and error and a unique understanding of the Shigaraki tradition, its materials and firing to created objects formed and even sliced from the earth.