JUST ANOTHER VASE

 

Illustrated is a tall, conservative E-Shino hanaire by Hori Ichiro. Thrown out of a buff, mogusa (?) clay, the casual form shows off its pronounced throwing marks and is sub-divided by a rough and perfectly placed should that defines the body and neck of the pot. The face of the pot was spontaneously decorated with a grasses design which it is clear that Hori has completed countless times before, all leading up to the rather serendipitous glazing where the interplay from thicker to thin and the running Shino all enhance and quite frankly create the rather feudal appearing landscape.      

Though just another vase at some level, the final appearance makes for a rich surface where the underglaze iron, the purity of the white glaze and the various other cast of characters work in perfect harmony to make for a Shino vase that to my eye is quite unique or perhaps idiosyncratic to Hori Ichiro. In thinking about the general field of the modern Shino tradition, there are a number of potters who have developed rather unique looks from Kato Kozo to Suzuki Goro with Hori fitting into that group how have decided to use the past and their inner voice to unlock the potential of a specific orthodoxy allowing it to be present and help move it along, one pot and firing at a time. To this task and within the categories of Ki-Seto, Seto-Guro and Shino, I think few are as up to the challenge as is Hori Ichiro.