OLD SOURCE

Admittedly I am more than a bit partial to any variety of Persian or Raqqa style glazes but my favorites revolve around the work of Kato Takuo and Kato Kenji as seen here. This very simple sun soaked bajohai-guinomi is decorated inside and out tying the piece together in design and surface. Perfectly thrown out of a red earthenware style clay the piece is neither heavy or too light and feels just great grasped between the fingers. The pale blue Toruko-ao (Turkish blue) has an quality that harkens back to antiquity beside being made more or less in modern times where the near transparent surface allows the finely detailed decoration to take center stage in this concise three act play. 

From my observation I think one of the main reasons that Kato Kenji resonates so well is that he came to understand the "old source" materials, the pots of Persia and Turkey from antiquity and grasped the spirit and attitude of the pottery while moving onto his own vocabulary of forms and surface treatments he strove to imbue his own work with the ideals of the archetypes he studied. In the end, Kato Kenji was extremely adept at bringing  clay, decoration and glaze together in harmony where each played its role in the creation of his work that spans the ancient Silk Road all the way to 20th century Gifu prefecture and Japan writ large.