A Couple of Ryoji's Pots

Having made a number of Oke, or buckets, I was interested to see how a Japanese potter went about making one. The Sake cup is now in my posesion - it was all I could manage to carry home. There were many lovely pieces in Ryoji's show room.

Kanayama Pottery

The main organiser for the 2002 Wood Fire Festival was Ryoji Matsumiya. His pottery at Kanayama was the venue for many of the activities of the Festival including meals, entertainment and kiln firing. His showroom was this lovely two story building shown here and among several kilns was this anagama which was later fired.

In Japan 2002

In 2002 I was invited to participate in the Aomori International Wood Fire Festival held in Goshogawara in Northern Honshu. Over the next few blogs I will show some pictures about the festival and the surrounding area. The activities were centered around this sports stadium with its fantastic opening roof. Sadly it was not until the last day of the ten day festival that the weather was good enough for the roof to be opened.

Ohara Village

The lovely village of Ohara, near Kyoto, has some wonderful old houses with thatched roofs. When we were there the rice was almost ready to be harvested.

Lovely Gardens

A short bus ride into the hills from Kyoto takes you to Ohara Village and the Sanzen Temple. Even though it was raining lightly at the time I was able to take these photographs of the verdant moss and trees. It was very tranquil and relaxing.

Imperial Palace, Kyoto

The top image is of the Princesses rooms at the Imperial Palace. We could only look from outside but the quality of the paintings and woodwork were outstanding. The gardens were also very beautiful and we spent quite a long time looking at them.

Kyoto Images

Wandering through some of the back streets of Kyoto is a very rewarding experience. These old houses with their wooden shutters were real treasures. The Imperial Palace is worth visiting as well. The gravelled area outside the main building seems rather uninteresting but must be spectacular when all the costumed officials are assembled here.

More Kyoto Images

Following the other two pictures of the Hongashi Temple this view is looking out from the entry towards the lovely lantern and bell tower. The Kenzan dish was another in the collection of the Kyoto National Museum. There is an image of a more colourful Kenzan dish in Edmund de Waal's "The Pot Book", along with many other lovely, interesting and definitely weird pieces of ceramics.

Higashi Honganji, Kyoto

When we first saw this temple we could not believe the huge size of the pillars, the lovely details in the fine woodwork, or the high sheen on the polished entrance. No shoes are allowed onto this wooden entrance and the many stocking feet have worked this miricle.

Two Pots

The blue and white dish is by Prof. Zenji Miyashita of Kyoto. When he came to New Zealand he demonstrated this technique which, as you can imagine, was very time consuming but facinating to watch. The cut out vase is by Sanyo Fujii and was made when he was with us in 1983 and fired in our anagama. It was one of the first pots to sell at our joint exhibition in Osaka in 1984.