KOCHU-GAMA

I know I have mentioned the story of our first trip to Shigaraki and literally standing in the rain in front of a potter's home and last week while converting more slides into digital images, I came across the most appropriate photo. Illustrated is the front gate of the home and studio, Kochu-gama ("Kiln inside a Tsubo") of Honiwa Rakunyu II from late October 1990. Today the kiln is maintained and run by Rakunyu III where many of the studio pottery and ideals of the kiln are carried on. To this day I can only say of all the places to be lost and confused at, this turned out to be one of the absolute best.

Also illustrated is a three-view image of a classic Honiwa Rakunyu II chaire showcasing an excellent firing and surface. The decorated shoulder is covered with a sheet of glass which also spills off and down the form at several points including over the dark face of the piece where the pot rested near charcoal and reduced to this sobering coloration. As the image shows, this chaire is like a three act play with each segment narrating a different aspect of the story yet in the end, all is tied up in to one complete package.

 

 

VERSES

Illustrated is a medium size V-bowl with a tall foot with triangular cut outs on opposite sides of the foot. Using wax, I painted out my abstrakt verses design around the interior and exterior of the bowl and once dried applied a very thin coat of black slip over the surface and once bisque glazed it in an amber glaze.  The verses design is basically a fluid rendition of mostly nonsensical elements which at one point were based on the print works of Haku Maki and both soshu and tensho style kanji; now they are more about movement and relationship as the move about the surface. Working like this is fun, because of the use of wax, you need to work fast and there is little room for error or it shows up quite readily. I should relate an interesting story, while Kohyama Yasuhisa was in Cleveland, my wife and I had him over to our house several times and on one trip, I had hanging a large kakejiku scroll on which I had painted two bold lines of calligraphy in the verses style. Kohyama-san walked up to it and with his finger started tracing the individual elements and admitted, he could read some of it but the others were just baffling, I explained what it was and he gave me a small smack on the back and one of his sly, understanding grins. Every time I paint out the verses patterns since, that moment where he was tracing the characters always springs to mind.

NON ITINERIBUS

To say our first trip to Japan (1990) was not exactly well planned out would be an understatement. We flew in to Osaka in late mid-November and made our way to Kyoto by shuttle. In what can only be described as tourist hubris I assumed my ability to read kanji and speak a few necessary lines of Japanese would be fine and we would wing our itinerary. This worked well in Kyoto, Osaka and Nara while visiting museums, temples, shops, galleries and other must see places but not so much in our first trek to Shigaraki to meet with various potters. We departed Kyoto by train, transferred to bus and made our way along the winding roadway to Shigaraki where it had begun raining for which we were totally unprepared. We visited a few shops in town and wandered up the road in the direction I suspected Furutani Michio had his studio only to realize we had no idea what so ever where we were or where to go and it was all of 9:30am.

What we did notice was that we found ourselves standing in front of a very nice Japanese home, walled in with a decorative  fence and with a simple sign reading, Honiwa Rakunyu. Not sure what to do we stood there for a while, in the rain, like complete foreigners when luckily a young woman came out and asked us, in English, if we were lost. We explained what our intent was, to visit Shigaraki potters and she asked us into the house had us sit down and her mother brought us tea and sweets, each skewered with little sharpened sticks, complete with their bark. After about 15 minutes or so, Keiko Okuda (nee Honiwa) told us she would act as our guide for the day and had appointments made to see Ueda Naokata, Otani Shiro, Furutani Michio, Kohyama Yasuhisa, Takahashi Rakusai, Takahashi Shunsai, Tani Seiemon and several others. We were exceptionally fortunate to have ended up at exactly the right place at the right time and meet such a wonderful family and our surprise guide.

After we made our way around Shigaraki, the Honiwa family prepared us a very late lunch/ early dinner and we meet her father, Honiwa Rakunyu. Dressed in traditional Japanese haori and hakama he showed us around his studio, kiln and showroom, showing us secret treasures from his private collection as well as pieces on display for sale. Though a bit stoic, he was animated and gracious and very pleased that these foreigners who showed up out of the blue had a keen interest in his chadogu and Shigaraki pottery. He presented (presento) us with a well fired tanuki kogo and guinomi both in their signed boxes. We had selected a wonderful and noble chaire to purchase with an exceptional bag made by Keiko for her father's chaire. It was a fitting memento for an experience we will never forget, a simple act of Shigaraki serendipity.

Illustrated is avery nice example of Shigaraki chaire by Honiwa Rakunyu II (1929-2002). Made in the early 1990s, we recently found this piece on a ubiquitous auction website and we were immediately brought back to that moment in November of 1990 when we first saw his work. Honiwa Rakunyu II, though not a native of Shigaraki moved there and studied with Honiwa Rakunyu I, succeeded to the name in 1962 and set a studio and a noborigama, later building his first anagama in 1971 which he  named, Kochu-gama. Though Rakunyu II made a wide array of Shigaraki ware he specialized in chadogu tea wares and it shows in his mizusashi and chaire in particular. At first glance his pots would also seem to have a sense of stoicism to them, like the maker, but there is a nobility and grace to their forms and surfaces. I have always found these pots to be simple, contemplative objects that reward the viewer who takes the time to study and listen to what each piece has to say.

ROADSIDE HENKO

Illustrated is a slab and coil built Shigaraki henko by veteran potter, Furutani Churoku IV (b.1922). The vivid green glass and wadding scars together with the texture created when the piece was constructed create a wonderfully rich landscape and surface that brings the pot to life. The vertical form is a creative play on the slab henko most often associated with Furutani Michio, but these hand built forms pre-date both potters. Churoku IV, Furutanai Hiromu, is the fourth generation to work in Shigaraki and he was trained by his father and took the Churoku name in 1976. His works have been exhibited both regionally and across Japan as well as in England and Germany and he is best known for his traditional pursuit of tea ceramics, chadogu, as well as making tsubo based on old Shigaraki tea storage jars. Furutani Churoku is a must stop if you are in the Shigaraki vicinity where you can see a wide array of his pottery including his evocative hi-iro style pots which he is also well known for. Glistening like a lichen covered roadside Jizo stone statue after a rain storm, this henko makes me think of the highways which passed through Shigaraki Valley from a time long passed.