I
first saw this rich black chawan on a website in Japan and really liked the
glaze quality and the wonky form and I suspect it is very enjoyable to hold.
This photo was taken on a rather sunny day in France and I thought this
informal portrait gave a different, less sterile appreciation of the form and
surface. Showing the balancing act between the shiny and the slightly coarse
qualities of the piece together with the casual throwing brings the chawan to
life, animated in the sunlight and just begging to be picked up and put to
whatever use you have in mind. At the end though I wonder just how much better
off this Tsujimura Kai chawan is bathed in sun than sitting high off on some
distant shelf just collecting dust. "How clear, how lovely
bright, How beautiful to sight Those beams of morning play How
heaven laugh out with glee Where, like a bird set free Up from
the eastern sea Soars the delightful day. To-day I shall be
strong No more shall yield to wrong Shall squander life no
more; Days lost, I know not how, I shall retrieve them
now:Nor I shall keep the vow I never kept before. Ensanguining
the skies How heavily it dies Into the west away Past
touch and sight and sound Not further to be found How hopeless
under ground Falls the remorseful day." A.E. Houseman
.JPG)