SHOCHU-CHOKU

According to Wikipedia and other internet sources, the best way to describe Shochu is is that it has about 25% alcohol by volume and it is usually distilled from "rice, barley, seet potatoes, buckwheat or brown sugar" although there are exceptions to include other japanese indiginous vegetation. As with most drinks, Shochu can be served all by its lonesome or on the rocks, with water (hot and cold), mixed or with beer added as well. Though I have had shochu a couple of times in japan, this is the extent of my knowledge about this beverage and please pardon any faux pass in desribing this especially to those who are seasoned aficionados.  At any rate, the reason for this slight background is that I recently acquired my, well our very first Shochu-choku and from my perspective it was a very good starting point.      

Illustrated is a rather robust T'ang sancai style choku by Kato Kiyokazu who has dedication himself to working within this sancai and T'ang styles using elegant, streamlined forms and truly wonderful, luminous colors over a very, very pale clear glaze with a hint of yellow. His use of amber, purples,  blue and bright green breath life into his pots and create a rather visually stunning surface which is a bit further enhanced by your friend and mine, the Sun. One of the other features of note is the rather natural use of pigments where though they are obviously applied they present a more organic appearance, for me nothing ruins a sancai style pot faster than ill applied or ill conceived use of decoration/ pigments. The form of this cup is just ideal for the decoration and considering my interest in T'ang ceramics and sancai wares goes all the way back to the BMFA, the Met and CMA, ending up with a classic sancai choku by Kato Kiyokazu makes for a perfect little pot that I may just have to give a test run though likely not with shochu any time soon.