NOW IS THEN; SHINO AND THE OLD MAN

Illustrated is a screen capture for a wonderful old Japanese documentary that I found about Arakawa Toyozo. The fact that this is subtitled is certainly a bonus but seeing footage of perhaps one of the most famous potters of the 20th Century gives one a great insight into a way with Shino. This documentary was made circa 1968 by documentary film maker/ director; Matsukawa Yasuo (1931-2006) and is known by its Japanese title, IMA WA MUKANSHI SHINO TO OKINA. I don't want to say that such videos are rare but they are not seen frequently enough outside of Japan and any insight in to the nature of a master's work is certainly not to be overlooked.

"Life is a succession of lessons which must be lived to be understood. All is a riddle, and the key to a riddle is another riddle."  Ralph Waldo Emerson

ORIBE EN MOUVEMENT

Last week I put up a blog post of an exhibited Oribe vase by Suzuki Satoru and as promised I put together a short video slideshow of the pot. Being a fan of Oribe in general, I really like how the glaze was used on this pot and how it accentuates the movement in the piece created through the use of this bold texture. The Oribe runs a wide array of thickness and color and creates wonderful visual accents literally from top to bottom showing Suzuki's intimate knowledge of his glazes. I hope the video slideshow helps fill out the scale, volume and presence of the pot which was enjoyable to have around to study and admire.

SHAKEN NOT STIRRED

Mining the very depth of playfulness, which is at the heart of the Oribe origins, Ikeda Shogo (b.1976) is equally at home with clay and potters wheel as he is with a brush and his wonderful designs which he has shaken up just a bit. This particular Narumi-Oribe style chawan is well thrown and the painted imagery which includes traditional devices as well as written English, trucks, cows and even a light bulb captures the essence of what is Oribe in modern times. His work is delightfully functional and at times visually provocative engaging the viewer and acting as both invitiation and inquisition regarding how and what we think of modern chadogu. Despite growing up in Kagoshima, Ikeda specializes in a variety of Oribe styles and what is readily apparent is that despite where he was born or works, he has grasped the very heart of this modern tradition and bent it to fit his own vision.

KOBU-SHINO

Soft white feldspar bordered by areas of rich, deep iron filled with cells of texture and color cover this pot from head to toe including the soft and undulating lid and purposeful knob. The truth is that every time you see a pot by Sakai Kobu, the Kobu-Shino immediately identifies exactly what you are looking at and though I have seen a number of mizusashi by him over the years, it seems like it is much more common to encounter his chawan than these larger pieces. As is readily apparent from the photo, Sakai throws his pots so they appear like that have a softness to them, the curvy lines almost look like the pot is in mid-collapse but it is these characteristic attributes that are so appealing to the eye and to the touch that are only accentuated by his skillful use of his modified Shino and iron glazes and his use of slips under the surface. Each pot paints a landscape, a portrait, a still life as the potter sees fit with his pieces resonating at different frequencies to different viewers, this is the beauty of his Kobu-Shino.

ANOTHER MALLET VASE

I was searching around on the web and came across this picture of a nice Shino mallet vase by Mizuno Takuzo, my original search didn't pan out despite searching for some time so in some ways this vase is a consolation prize of sorts. The form is certainly deliberate in nature with the type of inward taper moving toward the shoulder with the neck flaring out as it goes up giving the mallet just the right sense of proportions and geometry that appeals to me. Though there doesn't appear to be any iron slip applied, the Shino surface has blushed to pinks and orange flashes from top to bottom and coupled with the excellent texture makes for a rather visually engaging pot. I would be remiss if I didn't mention the shallow depression that moves from the shoulder to the neck which is highlighted by a spiraling texture that goes around the pot and is dusted with just a hint of wood ash especially in the depressions. I think if I was pressed I could come up with a reasonable explanation of what it is about the mallet form that interests me, but the short cut to the answer is simple, it appeals to me at a visceral level, I respond to the borrowed purpose and weathered aesthetic that is imparted on pots just exactly like this piece by Mizuno Takuzo. There is little more that I can ask or expect from a pot.

KUMO

I made a short video slideshow of another Shino chawan by Sakai Kobu. Glazed in a nice array of colors, the bowl is bisected by a waspy, drifting area of pure white like a rolling cloud bank drifting in front of a dark mountain range. Sakai well known for his patented "Sakai Shino" has a wonderful gift for creating chawan (and other pots) that have the sense of having been painted as much as they have been glazed and this kumo, cloud chawan is a good example of just that.

"a good omen
in the west, deep red
billowing clouds"  Kobayashi Issa (1763-1828)

A CERTAIN CLASSICISM

At first glance it is easy to see what appears to be a classic modern Shino bowl form in this illustration but the surface is neither typical of the pot or potter being fired Shigaraki style. Thrown and fired by Mino traditional veteran, Wakao Toshisada, this particular bowl form is highly typical of the potter who on occasion creates a number of pots that are distinctly outside his normal range including Karatsu, hakeme, kohiki, Shigaraki and over-glaze enamel pieces this chawan was thrown out of a durable Shigaraki clay and has a nice, rich coat of ash with areas punctuated by melting feldspar and fiery hi-iro patches making for a lovely wood fired pot that pays homage to traditions of the past, both Shigaraki and Mino. I have seen a wide array of pots by Wakao Toshisada and am always left satisfied by his ability to create thoughtful and classic works infused with his distinctive touch whether they be his trademark Rimpa style pieces or his more classic works in Shino, Seto-Guro and Oribe. Though not within the traditional boundaries of Mino, you can get hints of that classicism in this chawan through the posture, character and form that only a well seasoned and practiced potter could get away with.

"It is an unscrupulous intellect that does not pay to antiquity its due reverence."  Desiderius Erasmus (1466-1536)

DATABASE

As a potter, I am constantly reminded that ceramic history in the US is rather short compared to a country like Greece, the Mid-East, China or Japan. Though I have not had to go it alone in my studies, I am the first and most likely last of my family to make pots so much of what I have learned and experienced will end with me except what I share along the way. In Japan, things are much different having multiple generations to rely on, a vast tradition and pool of knowledge, a pottery database and experience to draw from, such was the case for the late Kato Yasukage XIV. As a potter, Yasukage was able to draw on a knowledge base that dates back to 1596 which certainly helps with the pitfalls of a steep learning curve where some but certainly not all the possible mistakes can be avoided. As I look at this rich Aka-Shino chawan by Kato Yasukage I can see the subtle influences of Kato Kageaki and Kagekiyo from his family lineage along with other Momoyama and modern attributes with possibly just a slight hint of Kitaoji Rosanjin thrown in for good measure. The rich red surface is decorated with a medieval fence design that stand out as bold white animating the piece and making a bold statement infusing the old with the new, a family tradition with the individuality of a modern potter. I cannot help but be impressed by a pot the straddles the past and present as skillfully as this classically conceived chawan without being entirely dependent on that tradition.

"Tradition is a guide and not a jailer." W. Somerset Maugham

OMOTE

Though most likely known for his Persian blue, Sancai and luster pottery, Kato Takuo (1917-2005) was first and foremost a Mino potter. Designated Juyo Mukei Bunkazai in 1995 for his Sansai/Sancai works, Takuo was a product of the Mino tradition and Kobei-gama's diversity before he became interested in Mid-Eastern pottery. Illustrated is a classic Kato Takuo Shino chawan, which along with Seto-Guro, he excelled at. This chawan has a wonderful tapering form and luscious surface which presents a great landscape further accentuated by the rich coloration of the piece. The horizontal ridge and the application of more glaze below it create an engaging face (omote) for this chawan and beckon to the observer, use me. There is a certain sophistication in the simplicity of good chawan and I think this bowl is no exception.

SHINO

After posting the Arakawa Toyozo Shino mizusashi last week, I remembered that somewhere I had another illustration of a similar design on a scroll painting. Illustrated is the image painted in ink from a mounted scroll, kakejiku by Arakawa. The image is a simple Shino chawan with a casual landscape decorating the bowl with the caption that reads; SHINO. It is unclear why the simple caption, but having seen a number of his scroll, several of this design and even more of his Shino chawan, this image is the epitome of Shino as the scroll clearly states.

"and when I think of the Momoyama, the first thing which floats to my mind is shino. If I think about shino, than Mino comes to mind. It seems as though shino has become rather famous."  Arakawa Toyozo

See this blog post for a previous version of the same image;

http://albedo3studio.blogspot.com/2011/09/chawan-scroll.html

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

LIVE OR MEMOREX?

In a previous post, I mentioned how Miyamoto Musashi understood the importance of studying master artists and craftsman across a wide array of pursuits in his pursuit of the perfection of his craft. There is something magical about watching a person who appears to have total mastery over their art/craft. The simplicity of their actions and spontaneity of the creation is both envious and intoxicating. Watching a master potter, like Suzuki Goro, either in person or on video (well dvd) is mesmerizing and seeing a chawan or mizusashi spring out of a lump of clay in an instant is  nothing short of an accomplished magic trick. The image grab from a dvd on Suzuki Goro shows him at the end of throwing a chawan, which may have taken a minute or so, sprung to life out of a lump of wonderful mokusa clay. It may well sound naïve or childish, but there is true wonderment when witnessing a master at work, irrespective of the art, craft or field.

Juan Hermosillo at work and at home;