Robert Yellin on sat 14 mar 98
To all you Clayart creators interested in Japanese ceramics-
Here is an article thet appeared in today's(Saturday-14th) Japan Times,
'Echizen keeps kiln flames burning'
Also just got Kawai Kanjiro and Shimaoka Tatsuzo catalogs-
single copies- please e-mail me directly for info.
Any feedback on the article would be appreciated.
From a still Nippon night,
Robert Yellin
In this world of ever-changing fads and trends it's nice to see that in
Japan, where there's always something new, quite a few medieval ceramic
traditions are still active, even after the passing of a thousand years
or so. The so-called Six Old Kilns of Japan(Seto, Tokoname, Echizen,
Shigaraki, Tamba, Bizen) have been major potting centers since the
Kamakura period. Areas like Bizen in Okayama prefecture and Seto in
Aichi prefecture are thriving areas of ceramic production even today.
The traditions have been kept alive in part by the demands of the tea
ceremony and daily functional needs, as well as their locations which
enabled them to have access to major distribution links.
This hasn't been the case for Echizen ceramics in Fukui prefecture
though. Echizen was never popular with tea masters and thus lacked
official recognition and support, on top of that trade routes were weak,
and the harsh winters of the Japan Sea where Echizen is located have
kept this kiln from finding the prosperity of it's ancient comrades. In
fact production almost ceased during the beginning of this century, but
a revival after World War II, thanks to scholars like Fujio Koyama and
Kyuemon Mizuno, helped keep the Echizen fires from being extinguished.
In 1970 a togei-mura(pottery village) was established that offered cheap
land and facilities to potters who came to settle from all over Japan.
In addition, an Echizen potters association was formed and the twenty
current members are holding a show of their works at the Fukui
Prefectural Museum through March 15.
The president, and a pillar of the organization, is the eighth
generation Echizen potter Juroemon Fujita(b.1922). He was designated a
Fukui Prefecture Intangible Cultural Property in 1986 for his role in
preserving the coil method of building large jars(tsubo).
In medieval times tsubo were essential kitchen items used to store
water, sake, or grains, but now are used mostly for decoration or to
display large flower installations. The Fujita tsubo in the current
exhibition is as dynamic and bold as its ancient cousins. Fujita begins
with a slab as a base, and twists, presses, and pinches very thick coils
connecting them one at a time to build the walls. This process takes
approximately twenty minutes to finish and the coils must dry for
several hours before the next one is added. Carving the interior of the
tsubo to an even thickness takes additional time, all in all a large
tsubo will need about ten coils and will take over a week to complete.
Surprisingly, in the current exhibition only five out of the twenty
exhibiting potters works can easily be recognized as Echizen-
Fujita and his son Tomio, Shigematsu Kitamura, Seiemon Sakon, and Kosei
Masudaya all use local iron-rich clay and their pieces display natural
ash glazes so characteristic of Echizen.
This low number of classical Echizen potters suggests the association
wishes to have pottery production survive in historical Echizen rather
than to be purists and possibly watch it fall on hard times again- thus
the exhibition features a variety of styles.
One of the Japan's pre-eminent 'oil spot'(yuteki) tenmoku potters is the
celebrated Morikazu Kimura who moved from Kyoto to Echizen in 1977. He
is exhibiting chestnut brown iron rich glazed pieces with his trademark
award-winning yuteki gracing the edges. Kimura's apprentice Nobuyasu Ito
is showing an elegant yuteki tenmoku incense burner in the shape of a
chicken. Other novel pieces include Chizuko Naito's sake flask shaped
gilded lamp and Takayasu Kitano's hanging wall clock
One can also sees ash-glazed(hai-yu), cobalt blue
underglazed(sometsuke), and green glazed(midori-yu) wares among others.
All in all over eighty pieces will be shown and praise should be given
to these Echizen potters for keeping their kiln flames burning against
the strong winds that blow times and fashions out into the Japan Sea.
A potting center that has not been as fortunate as Echizen, almost no
potters these days, is Shidoro- yaki(pottery) located in the western
part of Shizuoka prefecture. The Shimada Museum(0547-37-1000) in Shimada
city, Shizuoka prefecture is hosting a Shidoro Pottery exhibition until
April 22.
Shidoro once thrived as one of 'Enshu's Seven Kilns'- potteries where
the legendary tea master and garden designer Kobori Enshu(1579-1647)
commissioned tea wares. Enshu's other favorite six kilns were Zeze from
Shiga, Kosobe from Osaka, Agano and Takatori from Fukuoka, Asahi from
Kyoto, and Akahada from Nara.
Shidoro is at times difficult to distinguish from Ko-Seto(old Seto)
pieces due to the identical rich, dark caramel brown iron glaze that
covers the body- I have in my collection an Edo period tea storage
jar(chatsubo) that one expert says is Shidoro and another swears is
Seto; I put my tea leaf bet in the Shidoro chatsubo. Shidoro produced
such chatsubo to transport Shizuoka's famous green tea(ocha) to daimyos
and other wealthy patrons, especially during the 18th and early 19th
centuries, but it can trace its beginnings back to the 15th century.
Tea utensils such as chaire(green tea caddy), mizusashi(fresh water
jars) and chawan(tea bowls) as well as everyday wares will be on
display.
New Zealander Kelvin Bradford will be at Aoyama 1-chome's Yufuku
Gallery(03-5411-2900) from the 19th until the 28th.
His ceramics at first glance show a very Japanese influence, a rustic
aura and gritty clay for starts, but his original 'fuming' technique and
the fact that he covers some of his pots with globs of seaweed that burn
off leaving subtle markings of greens and charcoal tones, speak of his
own ceramic vision.. His vigorous faceted(mentori) vases and 'pumpkin'
boxes are also worthy of note.
Yufuku also has a book shop that offers the best selection of pottery
books in Tokyo. To get to Yufuku take the Ginza or Hanzamon subway to
Aoyama 1-chome and walk past the Honda building. Take the third left, an
Asahi Bank is on the corner, and Yufuku is down the street on the left.
A Bizen favorite of mine, Makoto Kaneshige is at Nihonbashi
Takashimaya's sixth floor gallery from the 18th-24th.
The outstanding Kyoto ceramist Kazuo Takiguchi will have a 'fun things
for the house' exhibition at Osaka's Gallery Dojima(06-345-9363) from
the 16th-28th.
I'm planning a trip to Bizen for this year- to visit potters homes,
museums, and old kiln sites and would like to know if any readers of
Ceramic Scene would be interested in joining me. Please send a postcard
to me at:
Nishisawada 637, Numazu-shi, Shizuoka-ken 410-0007 or e-mail me at:
rlyell@izu.co.jp
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