SIMPLICITÉ

In the field of pottery, there are lots of potters who specialize in a particular tradition or style, others in a single glaze or a few more and then there are potters who have focused their attention on the glaze materials of which glazes made out of various wood ash is one possibility. One such potter is Kimura Morinobu, the youngest of the three Kimura brothers, Morikazu, Moriyasu and Morinobu who lives and works on the outskirts of Kyoto and collects and burns a wide array of woods (and bushes) to create one of the principle ingredients for his glazes. By burning the materials himself, Morinobu is able to control the unadulterated properties of the ash and work to formulas developed over the coarse of a lifetime of pottery and glaze making. In the end his work is made up of ash and clay and little else except perhaps a bit of water and a fair amount of fire.     

Illustrated is one such piece where the surface originated from locally sourced and prepared wood ash in the form of a thick, luxurious seihakuji glaze coving a simple, functional koro balanced on a stable tripod base. The lid has three simple cut outs in the form of teardrops while the body of the koro is decorated with slight distortions of the surface creating three abstracted plump, ripe persimmons and where the surface is depressed the glaze has filled in creating a rather pleasant visual texture.    

Over the years I have seen quite a few pots by Kimura Morinobu including in both Osaka and Kyoto and what has always appealed to me about his work is the simplicity and practicality of the pieces. Though rather attractive and noble in bearing, his pottery has a inviting appeal where the intended purpose of the piece, the appearance and the attention to use go hand in hand, In turn  this makes them at home with the aesthetic and function that most craft are admired for and sought after in Kyoto be they a simple koro or an article for chanoyu and just about everything else in between.