SIMPLY RADISHING

Now I know a bad pun can be considered a sign of a short attention span (or worse) though Alfred Hitchcock considered them "the highest form of literature" but since we were talking about radishes, I just couldn't help myself and let the jeering commence. I found this illustration on the internet quite some time ago and though I am not a huge fan of radishes as food, I found that this ink painting by Kitaoji Rosanjin captured the essence and even spirit of the ubiquitous root vegetable. If you look at it from Rosanjin's point of view as artist, arbiter and gourmand, the scroll painting makes perfect sense as natural as sparse lines and color can be. If you had asked me a hand full of years ago what I thought about the humble radish I doubt I would have much to say but after encountering Momoyama pottery, Kato Tokuro and Rosanjin all linked by this little veggie, I dare say there is certainly more here than meets the eye.

RAPHANUS SATIVUS II

Over the years I have seen a number of wonderful Ki-Seto pots with various decoration of which the simple incised and accented radish design has always sparked my imagination. Considering I don't have a decent dry style Ki-Seto glaze I decided to make due and blend the design with the Oribe tradition to create moderate using pieces including this large sake cup. While still wet the mouth of the cup was lobed to compliment the natural theme of the piece and then the Momoyama influenced design was incised into the bottom of the cup. I used my rich lepidolite based Oribe glaze for the piece and I think that for the first and only of the production run, the results are not to bad. At nearly five inches across it will certainly make most aficionados pleased with the volume within and the design cloaked in the clarity of their favorite sake.

RISK = REWARD

Up for Monday is a rich and lustrous hiki-dashi-guro tokkuri by Gifu-ken Important Prefectural Cultural Property (2003) and Mino specialist, Ando Hidetake (b.1938). This tokkuri has a pleasant and inviting form with slightly diagonal ribs dividing the piece and making the pot seem a bit bigger than it is. The deep black glaze has a wonderful landscape with a profuse amount of curdling to the surface which helps give the piece a rather timeless appearance. The trick to this glaze is that it must be snatched out of the red hot kiln at precisely the right moment, at the height of the glaze's maturity to create such a perfect black pot. Many a piece shatter due to the extreme shock of going from red-hot temperatures down to the ambient temperature outside of the kiln, it is a risky technique. Though a high risk/reward maneuver, a positive outcome is  bolstered using the right clay and glaze and having decades of experience with the process.

Ando Hidetake is truly a master of many Mino traditions which he learned under the tutelage of ceramic giant, Kato Tokuro. Ando creates exceptional works in Oribe, Shino, Ko-Seto, Ki-Seto and hiki-dashi-guro style Seto-Guro. It is nearly impossible to discuss Mino-yaki without discussing the works of Ando in the same sentence as Suzuki Osamu and Hayashi Shotaro. Though his pottery has a more restrained and understated elegance to that of many of his contemporaries, he has obviously traveled along the route which best fits his style and once you have seen his pottery, the unique and personal qualities of his work are readily identifiable.

"I cannot deny making ceramics is like entering a labyrinth. From selecting the clay to finding it is a simple line into which I must find a way of weaving myself." Ando Hidetake

ROYAL RED

When I think of Aka-Shino, I think of rich, deep, even mysterious surfaces where the iron rich slip percolates up through the feldspar glaze. It is the really deep reds, royal reds that are so captivating, like the surface is alive with iron, where the transition between Aka-Shino and Murasaki Shino blurs. There have been a number of great potters who make Aka-Shino and no list would be complete without the original masters; Arakawa Toyozo and Kato Tokuro and his elegant Murasaki-Shino (Murasaki-Nioi). Though both are an exceptionally high bar of achievement, there are a handful of living potters who have also rightfully set the bar very high; Hayashi Shotaro, Suzuki Osamu, Yamada Kazu and Tamaoki Yasuo. Often considered one of "Mino's five great hopes", Tamaoki Yasuo (b.1941) is now one of the greats among the diverse Mino traditions creating Shino and Oribe works that are those exceptional blends of the old and the new, among which, his use of swirling and undulating resisted decoration is a welcome and adventurous addition to modern day Shino.

Dating from the early 1990's, this wonderful Aka-Shino bowl is an exceptional example of the work of Tamaoki Yasuo. The powerful form, tapering into the mouth with its undulating lip conjure up long past memories of the Momoyama era while firmly planted in more modern time. The rich red to orange tones are cloaked over in thicker running milky feldspar creating an evocative landscape that changes as the bowl is moved. It is the experienced hand of a master potter that bends happenstance into artlessness and beauty, for Tamaoki, this is a skill that appears to emanate naturally from his work.

"There is one art, no more, no less; to do all things with artlessness." A short "gruk" by Piet Hein (1905-1996)

MOKU-TSUBO

Illustrated is a very stark and bold panel with the single kanji for TSUBO carved into the wood and then covered in what appears to be a pure white gofun (glue and powdered oyster shell) that is painted into the carved recess of the character. The tsubo kanji is flanked on the lower left by a carved seal painted in red which complements the panel rather nicely. Though not carved by Kato Tokuro,  he provided a calligraphy sheet which was then transferred on to the panel and carved by a professional wood carver. The rear is attested in ink by the carver that Kato Tokuro created the original art work for this panel. Having seen a number of calligraphies by Kato Tokuro, the carver has done a wonderful job capturing the attitude, posture and sincerity of the potter/calligrapher at his best. All in all, a wonderful panel that would look marvelous guarding over a tsubo in almost any setting.

ITS ALL IN THE WRIST

Illustrated is a fine shikishi by legendary potter; Kato Tokuro. This shikishi is painted in a rich, deep black with areas of "flying white" appearing like a noble pot, balanced in the center of the card with the depth of his spirit evident in the bokki of the image. It is quite possible it is all in the wrist, but far more likely it is the spirit of the potter that creates these dramatic calligraphies. Over the years I have seen quite a few shikishi and kakejiku by Kato Tokuro that depict the kanji for "tsubo" (pot) and each one is a bit different and unique, just like the pots of the master himself.

AKA-TSUBO

A bold and brisque interpratation of the kanji for "tsubo" (pot) by Koie Ryoji (b. 1938). Koie, well know for his spontaneous creativity in clay, carries that another step further in the use of red ink to paint the ubiquitous tsubo character used by a wide array of modern potters. The best known, perhaps being Kato Tokuro, whose calligraphy for tsubo, this work be Koie is very reminescent of.  Koie, like a few other modern potters, like Tsujimura Shiro, Kumano Kuroemon and Suzuki Goro, has inked a fair number of calligraphies, most being very much related to his work in clay in spirit and affect.

NOTHING(NESS)

A close-up of a rather evocative scroll with a single kanji for MU, “nothing(ness)”. This calligraphy is by 20th century pottery giant; Kato Tokuro (1898-1985).

ARAKAWA AS PAINTER

Arakawa Toyozo ( 1894-1985) is arguably the greatest Mino potter of the 20th century, known for his wonderful Shino, Ki-Seto and Seto-Guro masterpieces. Though known as this masterful potter, there is another facet of his artistic endeavors that one rarely sees excepting the occasional illustration in a catalogue or book. From early on, Arakawa painted in ink and watercolors, including a scroll of the famous Mutabora-gama which was his impetus for the rediscovery of Momoyama Shino.

Arakawa has left a fairly large number of his painted pottery, from stark and expressive sometsuke wares to colorful underglaze and overglaze enamel painted pottery running the gamut from traditional Japanese subject matter of flora and fauna to his own unique Nihonga inspired paintings. Some of these pottery works are iro-e style porcelains while others are seen in almost Rimpa, Ogata Kenzan inspired designs on slipware together with iron (tetsu-zu) designs on slipware and on and under Shino glazes.

Back before his discovery of the Mutabora-gama, Arakawa had been an assistant/student of Kitaoji Rosanjin (1883-1959). Rosanjin was a strict task master, a powerful ego and an artist of numerous talents which included pottery, calligraphy, painting and the designing and decoration of lacquer, metalwork lamps, furniture and seal carving. It was in this fertile and multi-disciplined environment that Arakawa was exposed to Rosanjin’s exceptional calligraphy and paintings (panels, screens, scroll, shikishi, etc.) that he also adapted to his pottery. With the literati tradition that Arakawa was exposed to under Rosanjin, it was only natural he would use his pottery as canvas as well as creating two dimensional arts as well.

There are quite a few scroll paintings (kakejiku) and shikishi (board) paintings left that illustrate everything from his friends, adventures, flora, fauna, pottery and his own artistic unique renderings. All of the works I am aware of were painted in sumi ink or watercolors. His style of painting can be divided into three main categories; simple Momoyama inspired “ink traces”, Rimpa and Nihonga inspired designs with color and definition, but not overly detailed and lastly, his detailed and precise painting showing highly rendered images. The same three broad categories are also seen on his pottery, to included precisely rendered enamels designs and patterns on porcelain. His paintings are all very expressive, individual and free spirited.

I have seen several Shino chawan and several other pots that were accompanied by kakejiku depicting the pot along with a short narrative. There are also pieces that have shikishi that were included along with a wide variety of pots. The illustration is of a Shino chawan and narrative by Arakawa Toyozo. It depicts a typical Shino chawan with underglaze iron decoration of mountains and pine trees. No doubt this once accompanied the illustrated chawan but has now been separated from the piece.

The relevant question, where is that chawan?