Illustrated is a rather subtle but powerful haiyu jomon mizusashi by the godai (5th generation) Kato Sakusuke, Kato Shinya. This low, wide basin form looks like stone with incised decoration at first glance but it is a stone like texture with inlaid white decoration entirely around the exterior and interior of the pot covered over in a thin layer of ash glaze and finished off with a wide, custom made lacquer lid. There is almost a trompe l'oiel feeling to this pot, like a carved out stone basin with incised decoration filled with some pigment or another sitting in on the ritual of tea and reflecting the moon. The form and aesthetic is rather appealing and speaks of a much older time free of ego and any superfluous detail yet relying on tradition and certain guidelines of purpose and function. Kato Shinya is a rather diverse Seto potter schooled in tradition by not only his father Kato Sakusuke IV and family but also by Ningen Kokuho Fujimoto Yoshimichi and Tamura Koichi, producing Ki-seto and Oribe works as a staple of production at his kiln.
There are quite a few examples of this haiyu kamon work that has been exhibited around Japan and won awards and in 2004 he was made Aichi Prefecture Intangible Cultural Property for his Oribe and Ki-Seto works though in my opinion his haiyu kamon is perhaps his most innovative and modern work that is likely to best be remembered in decades to come. On a side note, the picture at the top right corner is from an exhibition catalogue showing this mizusashi. I am always surprised to encounter an illustrated piece given the sheer number of pots made across all of Japan and by an individual potter together with the few catalogues I have in relation to all those pots. I would think the odds are strongly against being published but given the nature of this particular pot it doesn't surprise me at all since it is easily exhibition quality and at the very top end of Kato Shinya's work.
"A stone basin,
Filled to the brim,
The full moon embraced."
.JPG)