THROWBACK

Some while back I posted up a rather nice Iga guinomi by Umehara Isamu and thought to post up a rather strong Mino-Iga vase by the same potter. Clearly based on a late medieval archetype, this rugged vase has a rather purposeful form, with potters marks raked into the surface, classic lugs attached at the shoulder and a waisted in neck and flared mouth completing the pot. The surface is a masterclass in perpetually wet ash in varying tones of brown cascading down the hanaire, some in sheets, others in rivulets terminating at the dark foot touched by charcoal creating a dark and shadowy base. Though born in Osaka where he persued graphic design he became interested in pottery and studied diligently before uprooting and setting up a studio in Mino where he built an anagama to create wood fired Mino-Iga, Setoguro and Shino pottery to very good effect. Though you could assume such a classic and simple wood fired pot could get lost in the shuffle of our modern age, this throwback to an older era holds a rather firm footing in the modern culture of tea and ikebana where the old and new collide, preserving ideas and aesthetics essential to a national cultural identity.