YURI-HAKKIN-SAI

Illustrated is a rather large bowl I was able to study a while back by Kyoto potter Furukawa Toshio (1949-2005) with the aid and assistance of my potter and I guess photography assistant, Khan. I was forced to take several shots of this large bowl on the floor as it is just about 20" in diameter and doesn't fit where I normally photograph and that is when curiousity got the better of the cat. Furukawa Toshio specialized in a number of glazes of which celadons proliferate including multi-colored celadons that create shaded seiji surfaces as well as rich, deep copper reds. This particular piece is created by putting cut and sgrafitto platinum foil under a very deep Persian blue style glaze a technique (yuri-hakkin-sai) that his son Takuro (b.1979) continues today. There are several pieces with this exact style of surface exhibited in the EXHIBITION OF TRADITIONAL JAPANESE ART CRAFTS and it would not surprise me if this piece was exhibited there as well though that will remain to be seen. There is a lot I could say about this piece but perhaps the most striking feature is how luminescent the surface is, catching and refracting (reflecting) light from every angle and any light source and as you can see, even Khan is drawn to this pot.

FINDING HIMO

There are a number of things that cat owners are painfully aware of from stuff suddenly gone missing to let's see if I can push this off the edge, the latter of which is particularly hazardous in a house full of pottery. I will start by saying that with Khan there has yet to be any incident and with Jun there was only one where I left a tall teapot in the middle of the floor and then was called away by the telephone, you can imagine the outcome, that being said, cats make far better pottery than photography assistants. I am fortunate to have pots come my way to study, photograph and occasionally sell for collectors but I also have a responsibility to safeguard the pot and send it where ever it is intended in the same condition I encountered it in, in others words, eternal vigilance is the rule of the day. I recently had a large hachi style mizusashi show up by Kumano Kuroemon which I carefully unpacked and then placed on a shelf and in the moment that it took to get my camera, the ribbon thief appeared like a ninja stalking a medieval Japanese castle wall. Khan, like most cats is especially fond of string, rope, ribbon and box cord (himo) and loves the little tufts at the ends which he can be seen going for as I was walking in with camera at the ready. I gently encouraged him out of the room and took the pictures of the mizusashi before packing up the box and packing material and placing them out of the reach of Khan, I can still hear him wailing away outside the door.