BROAD SPECTRUM

Exuberant, whimsical, spontaneous, all three of these words spring to mind as I look at this Iga hanaire made in Echizen by Yamada Kazu. Quickly thrown and marked up a bit by Yamada, the form transitions from the solid base to the slooping shoulder and determined neck and wavering lip and moth while being flanked by two assymetrical and almost uncorodinated lugs that add movement to the upper form. The casual nature and movement of the vase is the perfect canvas for the woodfired surface that adds even more movement and visual interest to the pot from running green ash, areas of slight charcoal scorching to thick brown ash here and there.  

Despite the fact that Yamada Kazu is presumably best known for his various Shino glazes, Oribe and Ki-Seto, he was brought up under the watchful eye of various Tokoname potters and family before relocating to Fukui Prefecture, the home of Echizen-yaki. Though he is well known for his pursuit of the varying Mino traditional wares including his rather idiosyncratic Enbu-Shino, Yamada makes a number of wood-fired pots as well as mishima and even Karatsu pottery. Diverse and inquisitive, his body of work is rather broad and this clearly playful Iga style vase is a rather illustrative example of that though as even a casual observer may remark, his works are unified by his casual throwing and the bones of his pottery. These attributes tie his pottery together, perhaps not exactly neatly but well enough to spot his work out of a crowd of other potters intent on creating works on a broad spectrum of styles, surface and forms.