IMPRIMO

Of very simple design, execution and glazing, adroitly thrown and a constant reminder of what it is that makes Kawai school mingei work both popular and significant, this chawan was made by Kawai Takeichi (Bu'ichi). Using a slightly coarse clay as seen in the rough quality around the foot there is a texture created by a piece of chamois dragged on the surface while still throwing the wet clay, the impressed design was added a bit later using a turning roulette creating this effective and tactile decoration. For Kawai Kanjiro and his students and followers, the pots were kept simple, the superfluous is both unnecessary and unwanted, the "beauty born of use" a motto that helped create these pots where it is more about form and function than the concept of beauty for beauty's sake and Kawai Takeichi has left quite a body of work that typifies these qualities. Once decorated this chawan was glazed over in a single ame-yu, amber glaze which highlights the piece and allows the various throwing effects and tooling to show through giving the user an understanding of how the pot was made. I am a huge fan of pots like these; stripped of ego, purposeful, functional and certainly without pretense, this chawan could have been made in 1780 or 1980 with only the box and bio to tell us otherwise.

AT LEAST ITS NOT ORIBE

I made this porcelain chawan specifically to see what the combination of my temmoku with one of my ash glaze variants would do over a heavy texture and here is the answer. The temmoku became a super rich amber style glaze with subtle flowing tendrils running down the surface culminating in big, gravity defying drips on the underside of the bowl. Though a rather heavily saturated iron glaze, my temmoku becomes a translucent deep amber color which the ash glaze seemed to just melt in to though it creates a rich surface environment that shows hints of iridescence here and there especially just under the bowl where the glazes ran and formed drips. The teabowl was glazed overall in the temmoku and then had the inside poured and then was dipped in the ash to just below the transition line in order to keep the entire surface from ending up on the kiln shelves though the bowl was fired on a thin slice of soft brick as a precaution. Though I was hoping for a slightly more ashy effect, I am pleased with the results and think the porcelain, heavy texture and the glaze combination worked quite well together.

AME-YU HENKO

Illustrated is a rich ame-yu glazed henko by the last pupil of Kawai Kanjiro, Mukunoki Eizo. The molded stoneware bottle has a casual, decorative slip trailed design that though influenced by his master is readily identifiable as the work of Eizo and is clearly marked on the base to avoid even a passing confusion. Mukunoki, who has changed his name to Shunsui, was born in 1943 and spent  time as Kawai Kanjiro's last full time student from 1958-1966 and along with his master's guidance he was also taught by Kawai Takeichi adding to his education. This molded bottle form is a classic staple of the Kawai-mon style and has a solid and purposeful form with bordered panels creating four interconnected but different planes; the glaze has a certain depth and in person it absorbs color and light from where ever it is displayed making for a ever changing presence.

KO-TSUBO II

Illustrated is a small little jar made in Fujina, it is combed slipware with a soft greenish toned ame-yu glaze made by mingei purist; Funaki Michitada (1900-1963). Measuring in at less than four inches tall, this pot is a little gem with a swollen, full presence with a perfect little knob made just right to get the job done. Influenced by Old English slipware and Bernard Leach, Michitada and his son, Kenji (b. 1927) have carried out a crusade for creating beautiful and functional pots in a blended style of medieval England and Japan. This lidded ko-tsubo is made out of an iron rich reddish clay that just peeks out through the combed texture revealing a dark surface just beneath. Having a wonderful, natural feel in hand with a lid fits just right and the knob just asking to be grabbed this is a mingei pot through and through.

BEST POTS

There is a tremendous sense of economy and calculated simplicity when it comes to the chawan of Hamada Shoji. I am always impressed by the totality of his experience and years of repetition that have distilled form and function to a point where simplicity and economy reign supreme. This chawan is noble in its austerity, a form where the superfluous has been abandoned, the decoration is as elemental as possible and the use of a single glaze that has a great variety in its surface are all of the trademarks that create a bowl where neither editing or adjustments are either needed or possible. Few potters can make such a chawan and Hamada excelled at the art of the rustic which is so clearly on display in this ame-yu chawan. As I ponder the phenomenal array of modern pottery, there are few who can take such a simple bowl and create so much out of so little, culminating in a conversation that cuts across time and culture so effortlessly as the chawan of Hamada Shoji.

"These are the best pots, if they can be done at the best times." Shoji Hamada (from the book SHOJI HAMADA by Susan Peterson),