POORLY PLANNED

Way back when on our very first trip to Japan to say that we were ill prepared would be a profound understatement. I have mentioned previously regarding the hospitality and generousity of the Honiwa family in acting as our impromptu tour guides of the area visiting the Takahashi, Ueda, Furutani, Kohyama, Tani as well as a few others. Let it suffice to say that our Shigaraki trip went a bit better than some of our other day excursions that in retrospect were poorly planned though we somehow managed to met with almost 30 potters in all on our first trip to Japan, most through happenstance and serendipity. What I don't think I have mentioned previously is that our initial trip was partially guided by the book; EARTH'n'FIRE by Amaury Saint-Gilles and a thin, nearly worn out catalogue from some exhibition from 1989, a catalogue that was lost during our move from Cleveland to New Hampshire. From these "resources" I compiled a list of potters that I was keen to meet or at the very least see some of their work which included Tamaoki Yasuo, Furutani Michio, Kaneta Sanzaemon VII among perhaps a group of about 20 most of which we did not meet on that trek. Among the potters that I had earmarked to visit was Kanemori Sowa (Noburo) but he was not at home when we called. As we visited several galleries no one had any pots by him at the time excepting one small yunomi which was just not our taste so for yet another potter, we left empty-handed. Many years after that trip, a gallery sent us a large number of past exhibition cards of which one was for a show of Kanemori's work and just a short while after this the vase pictured on the exhibition card popped up so we were fortunate to collect the piece.

 Illustrated is the super-fired Shigaraki vase by Kanemori Sowa that is best described as a lesson in texture of every form and variety where at points the built-up, pebbly ash is actually close to 1cm thick and thicker in some areas. The face of the hanaire is quite dark koge effects that is smooth to the touch and a bit ominous in appearance that gives way on either side to rather radical accumulation of texture reminding my of some of the ash and firing effects from the works of Kohyama Yasuhisa and Kanzaki Shiho though taking a bit further than these potters. In the midst of the koge effects and all the texture are small pools of green glass punctuating the surface adding a slight break to the somber and stoic quality of the vase and its exterior. It was a rather long wait to actually end up with a Kanemori pot and from my perspective worth it as the rich and unique environment that this vase presents is unlike anything else I had handled up to that point, did I mention not one month later a Shigaraki mizusashi showed up with what can only be described as equally idiosyncratic surface looking like it had just dropped in as a nearly spent meteor though with a lid and a box. Serendipity 2.0.