PROTAGONIST

Though the kinuta form originated sometime in the Song Dynasty (1127-1279), the form likely goes back quite a way from there having originally being made of wood and used as a type of “hammer” during the neolithic age. That being said, once the jump to clay, the wide array of interpretations of this form has been rather varied and during the 20^th century in Japan, kinuta-hanaire become not only popular but wildly diverse. Illustrated is a rather classic, even textbook kinuta form by Furutani Michi who has left quite a number of examples for our appreciation and study and though not any real achievement, I think I have seen well over quite a few pieces in person and certainly several dozen more in illustrations.   

This mallet vase is a wonderful, very well fired Iga piece with a number of effects creating a rich landscape which is currently highlighted by the mid-day’s sunshine bringing out the color variations, the crackling, the ash build-up and the texture created by being in just the right spot during the firing. Though not particularly large, many of this form, this one included, presents itself as a rather imposing, stoic form, which has fought against the ferocity of its firing process and emerged the victor, the protagonist which has defied the odds with its defiant posture and unique and expressive presentation. Though I will readily admit a bias, I think many of Furutani Michio Shigaraki and Iga pieces are truly outstanding but this Iga kinuta is clearly timeless with a rather medieval visage something the potter excelled at imbuing his pieces with history, tradition and a sense of self, there is little more that you could ask for.

SIDE NOTE

Though I have written and posted about Okano Hosei previously, I have to say, this oburi Shigaraki chawan just captured my attention when I first saw it. Large and in charge probably describe the attitude of this bowl which was well fired, upside down to boot where gravity defying effects are painted across the surface creating a rather captivating landscape. The form itself is simple but from a non-chanoyu person’s perspective and thinking of it as a vessel, it is nearly perfect; full, round, the perfect silhouette where volume, posture and attitude reign supreme*. The interior, the mikomi and at the other end, the kodai are both very well attended completing this simple package or rather aiding in tying it all together. There are a number of details when all assembled, create a captivating chawan, perhaps (?) the best one I have seen by Okano, excepting one, illustrated in an exhibition catalogue.   

On a side note, at some point after the purchase of this chawan, the new owner(s) wrote to Okano-san and asked about the bowl and its “unexplained” details to which he replied with a lengthy letter complete with several drawn illustrations of how the bowl was fired upside down and where it was placed in the kiln. This letter accompanied the chawan to the “New World” and with any luck will continue on through time as a testament of a wonderful bowl and a connection between potter and customer, possibly friend that I suspect has been echoed throughout history. 

(* Yes, that was an IRON CHEF reference.)

THE DEVIL IS IN THE DETAILS

I recently had a prolonged conversation about what makes a good pot and though I am neither expert or terrifically insightful, judging a pot may start with the whole but may end with the details. In as much, I think in judging a potter, like Tsukigata (or any other potter) there are a variety of factors that push a piece into the upper 5% of their work, the “good stuff”*, then you judge those pieces on acknowledged masterworks and go from there. I realize I don't have a monopoly on pottery knowledge and aesthetics but I have read quite a bit, seen and handled a lot of pots as well as having attended conferences and lectures by people much smarter than me. I try to use objective aesthetic theory and principles in judging a pot and determining what is a "good" Tsukigata and what is worth just moving on from trying to avoid relying on pure emotions. Pots aren't coins where you can judge them on standardized criteria, pottery, most art is all about the nuances and subtleties. I think I have come to the conclusion that something good may have an infinitesimal difference from something that is not, it is all about how the details are all stacked up, that is why I am so detail oriented and post about this on my blog and elsewhere. The devil truly is in the details.

 (*Though not intended as a B-52s reference, it worked out quite nicely none the same.)

THE SPIRITS OF TESTING

I suspect at its core, this surface probably seems like a lot of the surfaces I like working with, this one is a bit subtle but I think has some potential for being upscaled at least to a teabowl size before I decide if I should continue on. Using a small faceted guinomi this is a bit different in that the base glaze has an ash glaze over it that also has some manganese carbonate in it, a material that doesn’t get nearly enough credit but, in this case, where it had a secondary “dose" applied with a brush, it creates nice waterfalls of streaking that perks up the surface quite a bit.      

As you can see in the picture, the surface runs quite a bit as well which is why the ash glaze was only dipped to the skirt and still managed to run all the way down to the foot where it looks like a disaster must have occurred but through kiln-god providence, it stopped a micron short of becoming one with the plinth it was fired on. Time to make up a bit more glaze and sacrifice a teabowl to the spirits of testing.

CHOICES

I recently handled a rather interesting and illustrated Iga chawan by Kojima Kenji. At first, I kind of ignored the catalogue and focused on the bowl, the captivating form, the movement of the bowl, the slightly undulating lip, the glassy, well fired exterior and the classic Kojima kodai built for stability and purpose. As time ticked by, I finally made my way to the catalogue packed with all kinds of pots I would just love to handle until I came across the teabowl in hand. I must admit, the first thought that sprung to mind was, why did they choose this angle to photograph the bowl as there are a multitude of perspectives this could have been shot from, at least four strong and impressive points. To my eye the catalogue photo shows a rather strong chawan, one certainly worth getting to know the bowl better by but in my opinion, there are better vantage points that better articulate the nature of this Iga chawan. I guess I will continue to ponder the reasoning behind the choice which gave way to a larger question in my mind, just how many other catalogue photos just hide features that would have been better off to showcase? I am sure I will never get an answer to this question.

PASS OR FAIL

Just a simple couple of yunomi with hakeme slip decoration under a soda blue glaze. I have received a bit of feedback from “un-named” critics* who don’t like the degree of inward curve to the lip but to my eye and lip, this is what makes this form work but does it pass or fail? The basic idea was to use the same general curve starting from the base in different directs but essentially mimicking each other, one good to grip and the other good to drink from. Having these in hand, I think they work well and the use of the opposing curves is exactly what makes this form. I would welcome any feedback as even all the years on, I am always looking to see other viewpoints beyond my own. (*One of these critics is a very good friend and I greatly appreciate his input despite the fact that he is wrong!) 

HIDDEN ASSETS

I am sure I am not alone in this, I suspect every collector has a potter or two that they think of as hidden assets among modern Japanese pottery. They are potters where you just like the way they work, fire, handle clay, decorate, their pots speak to you but in the general collecting scheme of things they are not one of the “top dogs”, they are not LNT or on the circuit of the big galleries but to you, there pots are rather underrated. When I think of these potters, I constantly come back to this motto I have come up with where “it is better to have a great pot by a good potter than a good pot by a great potter”. Seeing where a potter has excelled beyond his skill set, these are pots than speak to me and at their core carry out a long and lasting conversation over the years and even decades.   

Among this group of hidden assets, I count the work of Masamune Satoru and Kimura Morinobu at the top of my go to group of good potters who make great pots and this chawan is just another classic example of that philosophy. This Chinese inspired temmoku chawan was made by Kimura Morinobu likely during the 90s and has a wonderful, celestial style surface of minute iron crystals punctuated across the surface inside and out and further arranged by the five-point hoshi star burst in the center of the bowl. This bowl was thrown thinly and has almost seems weightless in the hand, the fine form culminates in a thin, delicate lip and a shallow cut kodai harkening back to numerous Chinese temmoku archetypes. This chawan typifies what draws me to Kimura’s ash or iron glazed ware; thoughtful and considered forms, glazing, decoration and firing, what more could one hope for from a potter?

QUEST

I suspect there are a number of collectors who are unaware there is a very neat book on Tamaoki Yasuo entitled; I AM ORIBE. Though this book is well illustrated with varying types of pottery that Tamaoki pursues, there are also a number of his Oribe pieces, both semi-tradition and much more modern like the one illustrated here. Using a somewhat limited palette of black, white, coral, greys and greens, Tamaoki has come up with a rich and engaging style, playful at its core but flirting with modernity with each creation. Many of these Oribe pieces use his “basic” forms as their canvas but that is where the commonality ends, his selection of space both positive and negative and random floating forms or devices hover of whites and coral rich backdrops making for the perfect backdrop, an abstract canvas folded like origami into three dimensions. 

If you have followed the work of Tamaoki Yasuo it was clear all the way back to his roots in the 70s and 80s that he was on a pathway of dedication and discovery. Plumbing the depth of what is Mino pottery and what novel approaches can be added the wide array of a living and moving tradition is at the heart of this potter’s work and this Oribe work is part of that quest. 

BORN TO RUN

When it comes to hand building, I am never quite sure how I got there or honestly exactly what I am doing. In my mind I had this idea that would play on the fact that some of my glaze surfaces run quite a bit, born to run if you will and, in this case, the piece sprung up from that central theme and decoration. Obviously, slab-built, out of stoneware, the main goal was the creation of a form that then had diagonal channels carved into it to allow the glaze to collect and run as it most certainly did. In this instance, the pot was glazed in my Kuro-Oribe surface though only the top two thirds, the bottom third was straight Oribe. Had I decided to go all in with Kuro-Oribe even the simple fact that this was fired on wads, placed on soft brick slabs, one inch thick, I suspect the pot would be a permanent resident of the shelf on which it was fired. 

As you can see, the glaze collected just as planned and ran down so precariously close to the base that as the kiln was colling, I still thought that I had a disaster on hand. Once cool enough, I picked it up and it came along without any issues. My general working process does not usually begin or revolve around an intended occurrence but in this case, how I wanted the glaze to respond and behave certainly was the genesis for the slab-built pot and likely not the best way to proceed in the future.

BIZAN-GAMA

I can’t really say I know a lot about the maker of this wood fired mizusashi but over the years I have seen a number of his pieces with a wide variety of surfaces and effects. Made by Oki Yasushi (b. 1948) of the Bizan-gama kiln at the foot of Mt. Koya in Kami-Amano, he has had a working studio since the early 1970s which he set up after studying in San Jose, California.       

As you may be able to tell, Oki specializes in yakishime, shizenyu style pottery relying on the wood, fire and kiln to complete the pot through its own distinctive process. This cylindrical mizusashi has an ancient feel to it like it has spirited away elements of Kofun and Sueki pottery and infused them into modern clay. The only potter’s decoration on this piece are several incised bands around the bottom half of the pot which in conjunction with the all-natural running ash is more than enough to present a rustic and simple aesthetic perfect for the tea ceremony or adorning one’s shelf or desk and an object of contemplation.  

Though this particular pot is in a typical, signed wood box many of the pieces of Oki Yasushi are adorned with quick, abstract drawing of the contents within. This is just another thoughtful feature and detail to go along with such an elementary clay vessel, steeped in history and tradition with a hint of the modern within its grasp.