Arakawa Toyozo was a “National Living Treasure” because of his exquisite Shino and Setoguro ceramics works. He rediscovered the Shino ware. They said Shino ware was produced in Seto, but he found shards in Mino to prove that the Shino wares were fired around Toki and Tajimi C ... Continue Reading
We went to a Signature Dinner from Euan Craig at Toyado Restaurant in Nihombashi in Tokyo. At the same time, he had a ceramics exhibition at the Ebiya antique store across the street. The chef specially prepared a menu to go with Euan’s dinnerware and Euan designed his war ... Continue Reading
On Saturday, I did my first oil kiln firing in the kiln from Mr.Sato. This is the motor with the flu. Here you can adjust the amount of oxygen, so the oil will burn well and to its fullest. When you see black smoke coming out of the chimney, you increase the air/oxygen. You al ... Continue Reading
A potter in Kamakura, Sato-san, generously offered me some space in his workshop to work. It is a 20 minute bicycle ride from my house and a little bit in the hills. A wonderful natural exercise. It was a very old house. While renovating, he put this workshop in one of the rooms ... Continue Reading
Of course we also visited Lee’s workshop and anagama in which we did a firing. Lee Love is the organizer of this Mashiko gathering workshop in visiting a lot of prominent Mashiko potters. He did a wonderful job and I think we were all able to see some divinity in the master ... Continue Reading
Other potters we visited are Baba Yochiko, Euan Craig and Douglas Black. Yochiko-san works in her studio by herself. She was an apprentice “deshi” from another quite well-known potter from Mashiko: Takauchi Shugo. Her work is beautiful: white slip with on top an ele ... Continue Reading
We also visited Kamiya Shouichi. He lives also in Mashiko and is a 5 minute walk away from Furuki-san, the tougei place we stayed at. He is a former apprentice “deshi” of Shimaoka-san and worked with David McDonald. Shimaoko had told him, when he was going to build ... Continue Reading
Matsuzaki Ken is born in 1950 in Tokyo and graduated from the Fine Arts Ceramics Department at Tamegawa University in 1972. Directly after that, he apprenticed for five years with Shimaoka Tatsuzo. He established his own kiln, “YuShin (Playful Spirit)” in 1978. Matsu ... Continue Reading
Shimaoka Tatsuzo is born in 1919 in Tokyo. When Shimaoka was a teenager , wondering what to do when he grew up, he visited the Nihon Mingeikan (Japan Folk Crafts Museum in Tokyo) in 1938. There he discovered the beauty of Mingei advocated by Yanagi Soetsu (1889-1961). Shimaoka ha ... Continue Reading
In the next couple of days, we visited Hamada Shinsaku, Shimaoka Tatsuzo and Ken Matsuzaki. Hamada Shinsaku is Hamada’s Shoji’s second son. He is born in 1929 in Tokyo. He studied Art and Craft at Waseda University before becoming an apprentice with his father at his ... Continue Reading
