SHOWING OFF

I am pretty sure the name Tabei Kenji is not exactly a household name in the West but for some while now I have encountered a number of his pots and to be honest each one has its own charm, each being a rather solid, functional work. Tabei’s life in pottery started while attending Waseda University before he moved on to work at the Gifu ceramics Experimentation Station (?) after which he left Japan to teach ceramics in Pakistan while studying the roots of Buddhism. Once he returned to Gifu prefecture, Yoroyama Village he founded his studio and later founded the Yoro-yaki Pottery Village and a pottery in Nago in Okinawa. His work seems centered around various Mino traditional styles as well as wood fired haikaburi techniques. 

Illustrated is an early, interesting wood fired yohen style Shino chawan that was thrown out of a sandy, buff clay with an array of color changes from a soft caramel colored surface to areas of rich red with ash effects as well as lustrous and iridescent details on the lip as well as punctuations making their way through the pours of the glaze. The intriguing surface clothes the form complete with throwing marks to a T while also hiding small areas of spatula work that break up the uniformity of the bowl. At its core, this was made as a rather practical chawan, there are no bells and whistles and the pragmatic form and well attended kodai are meant for use while through experience and firing the surface has added a rich environment to a pot that be just perfect in use or as I am constantly saying, just hanging out on a shelf and showing off just ever so slightly.