Happy New Year

More from Bizen

This is another beautiful old pot from the Imbe Museum collection. While in Tokyo we were given a letter of introduction to Fujiwara Rakusai-san of Imbe. We found his place without too much trouble and spent a most wonderful afternoon with him. He could not understand English any more than Estelle or I could understand Japanese.
With the language of potters we seemed to communicate extremely well and he showed us many of his ceramic treasures as well as his kilns and workshop. He was a wonderful gentleman.

Seasons Greetings

Two Bizen Pots

These two photographs were taken at Imbe in Japan in 1978. We have always loved Bizen ware and understood the process used to produce it. On later visits, when we were viewing the Bizen pots in the department store collections, we would be approached by the manager or one of his staff, and told of the methods used. They were often somewhat confused about the process and, having succeeded ourselves with producing Bizen wares, we had to smile at their confusion.

A Different Salt Glazing

In 1978 Estelle and I visited Tokoname and in a small gallery saw these pots made by Masaaki Shibata-san. We thought they had been salt glazed but somehow seemed different from the usual salt glazing. On talking with the gallery owner we were told that the pots had been fired with rippings from logs that had been rafted for a long distance through the sea. The outside of the logs had absorbed salt from the water and, when used in their firings, had released the salt giving these unusual effects.

With Friends in Japan

My friend Kanji-san feeding a swan on one of the hydro dams we visited after which we went to a fish shop to get a fresh fish for tea. Harumi-san, Kanji's wife, had just caught a fresh fish from this tank, knocked it on the head, and taken it into the shop. Kanji looks as shocked as Estelle and I were at seeing this but the sashimi we had for tea was delicious.

A Kenzan Dish and Thinking of Christmas

A comment posted by Cambria Pottery about an earlier posting of some Kenzan dishes reminded me of this picture of another unusual Kenzan serving dish. The other picture is of Estelle and me talking with Kumau Ohta in his home with the newly formed garden in the background. Somehow it reminds me of Christmas as it was mid summer in Japan when we were there and, in New Zealand, Christmas is our summer time.