Last week, there was a festival “Matsuri” at our neighborhood temple (YOU TUBE video), the Komyoji. Every year they have an event at the temple called Ojuya, which means a Buddhist memorial service for the repose of the dead for 3 days. The temple belongs to the Jodo ... Continue Reading
Last night and this morning we experienced a typhoon! Our little house was shaking from the terribly strong gusts of wind and the rain mixed with sand from the beach was slashing against our windows. We had closed our shutters which are made from iron which increased the sound o ... Continue Reading
And then last Saturday, learning what it was all about, we took a two-hour Experience class. The Masters Committee is headquartered in the Kamakura Kaikan, Assembly Hall, above the museum. The committee was established in 1961, and at present consists of twenty-one groups and s ... Continue Reading
Mount Koya (Koyasan) is a 900 meter high plateau surrounded by eight peaks. The eight peaks are thought to represent the eight petals of a lotus in bloom, which is suggestive of the core of a mandala with its eight deities arrayed on the eight petals of a lotus, and with the cen ... Continue Reading
The “zaimoku” in the name Zaimokuza means “lumber,” and the “za” generally means a guild of merchants and artisans who did business under the patronage of the large shrines, and temples in the Kamakura (1185/92-1333) and Muromachi periods (1335 ... Continue Reading
After returning to the International School of Sacred Heart we glazed bisques pots for the raku we would do the next, last day. Kusakabe-san showed us how. In the evening we enjoyed our last dinner together in a Balinese restaurant. Milan, Ixchel, Euan, Jennifer, Helen, Cat ... Continue Reading
Kusakabe-san showed us the next day how to trim Japanese tea bowls. Every tea bowl has its own characteristic foot “kodai”. He starts out trimming with a bamboo stick to make it even and to clearly mark the beginning of the bottom part of the bowl. And of cour ... Continue Reading
The 9th World Art Educators’ Workshop in Tokyo, Japan started in the evening with a first meeting for signing in and dinner. But before that we prepared for the coming days. Steve Tootell was the organizer of the workshop. The two Master Potters were Euan Craig and Kasakab ... Continue Reading
Masakazu Kusakabe-san and Marc Lancet gave a workshop together on Spetember 13 in Santa Clara at ClayPlanet. They wrote a book together about Japanese Wood-Fired Ceramics and built the Dancing Wood Fire Kiln at Solano College in California. Marc Lancet is the Director of the Dep ... Continue Reading
The Fire on the Mississippi banks of New Orleans, Louisiana, NOLA Fired-Up! It was a great success! Beautiful sculptural kilns and great fires all around! Filling up the paper clay “VASE KILN”. Closing of the kiln. Starting the fire. Fire from within. Continue Reading
