ADAPTIVE

It is pretty clear as you look at this glaze surface that the inspiration comes from the original and unique Oni-Iga surfaces first pioneered by Tsukigata Nahiko back in the late 1970s and early 1980's. What is also clear are all of the differences from Tsukigata himself, the form is not quite as rugged or immediately persuasive, the surface is perhaps not quite as rich and some of the other details from how the lip and kodai are finished are unique to this potter and this chawan. Catering to her own vision of this style, Ayukai Kogestsu made this Oni-Iga chawan in a slightly less masculine style though it does have an earthy expression and an eminently usable appearance. 

I think as I study (well studied) this chawan there is a softer countenance to the bowl, it is less masculine and less aggressive and has a smoother atmosphere which easily settles down in the hands for a rather comforting experience. Like her master, the use of this glaze style has produced a wide array of variations about the surface from rich iron blooms to the plains of dark area being broken up by running ash to tendrils of white feldspar breaking through the surface making for a visual menagerie of all the possibilities of Oni-Iga. Though very much in the style of Tsukigata Nahiko, Ayukai Kogetsu has adapted this surface and techniques to her way of working in clay and as such she has bent the idiom to her vision and sense of a rich and apparently adaptive style.