IN ALL PROBABILITY

I can’t say that I have handled many pots by Mino potter, Kato Yoji but I can say it is often funny how things come in threes. This wood fired pot is the third Kato Koji I had encountered and is everything I like in guinomi with a fierce posture and form, flowing and active surface and looking every bit the chawan despite it actual scale. Having been fired on three small shells, the scars from the firing punctuate one side while also giving the piece a tremendously tactile adventure to the fingertips. The face of the guinomi is defined by soft throwing marks, drifting rivulets of green ash against a dark brown surface that as it wraps around the pot it shows off iridescence that flows into the interior as a most welcome surprise in the handling. If I am being totally honest, part of me wishes this was a chawan every time I see it but, in all probability, alter any one feature of this diminutive gem it is more than likely you strip it of what makes it so appealing, best leave things just as they are.