CONTINUITY

On the left is a picture I have used on my blog previously of a well articulated and decorated henko form by Kimura Ichiro and a short while back the henko on the right was put up on Instagram, this one being by Kimura Mitsuru. To recap, Mitsuru was the son-in-law of Kimura Ichiro and as such he learned about his working first hand in his studio, making, glazing and firing. At first glance or in passing these two forms like alike but if you study the proportions, depth and angles they are ever so slightly different from one to the other. I suspect Mitsuru made this homage henko as a means of creating continuity from studio to studio as well as keeping alive a tradition which Ichiro inherited by way of Hamada Shoji and that Mitsuru inherited from his father-in-law.     

The use of common forms within families is almost as old as ceramics itself and is one of the underlying factors of what builds a school, style or tradition. In this particular case, Kimura Mitsuru used the basic three dimensional canvas of the henko along with glazes perfected by Ichiro and decoration that would be recognizable as that of the Ichiro family. The use of the creamy nuka with its abundance of texture brings depth to a form already well versed in dimension that clearly narrates a story about Mashiko, Hamada, Kimura Ichiro and its inheritor, Kimura Mitsuru.  (Photo used with the kind permission of 20thCenturyARTophiles)