Any new publication on Japanese ceramic art in English is a welcome addition to the few books on the subject. Like “Masterpieces of Modern Japanese Pottery from the Gisela Freudenberg Collection” currently showing in Frankfurt, Germany, many of these publications coincide with exhibitions and ...

As noted in this column last month, Japanese ceramic art is finding a wider audience overseas. Many collectors search out the great potters of the past, such as Shoji Hamada (1894-1978) or Kanjiro Kawai (1890-1966), while more savvy collectors are looking to find out ...

Japan has long been fascinated with outside influences, and voraciously absorbs them in order to create something totally unique. This can be found in almost all aspects of Japanese industry and culture — and it is nowhere more apparent than in the pottery born ...

New Asian art becomes the talk of the town each spring — not just in Tokyo or Beijing — but in New York City where its annual Asia Week is now in full sway. Exhibitions abound in the Big Apple with some of the ...

“On a sunny day I go to the fields, and, when it rains, I read. Simple enough, isn’t it?” Sounds like the words of a cute obachan out in the countryside, but these are the words of former Prime Minister Morihiro Hosokawa who now ...

In Japan it is quite rare to find women woodfire potters, who make their work in a traditional anagama (tunnel kiln) or noborigama (chambered climbing kiln). The reasons are historical, as women were not allowed to do such work for fear of insulting the ...

“Everybody sets out to do something, and everybody does something, but no one does what he sets out to do,” said Irish author George Moore of the good intentions that abound in life. Setting an idea in motion is often more important than the ...

Kyoto ceramic artist Shin Fujihira creates works imbued with a childlike glee and an overflow of intelligent — rather than intellectual — energy that it’s impossible not to fall in love with. The man, as a favorite singer of mine says, “has sharpened his ...

The traditional Mino pottery styles of Shino, Oribe, Yellow Seto and Black Seto have been the pride of the Japanese ceramic world since the Momoyama Period (1568-1615). However, Mino pottery just isn’t what it used to be. Gone are its chadogu (tea wares) days ...

The city and pottery style of Bizen hold a special place in my heart; in a sense, Bizen was my “first love” in the ceramic world. When I was first given a Bizen yunomi (tea cup) twenty years ago I had never held something ...

The stereotypical image of a chadogu (Way of Tea) potter is of an elderly gentleman with a wispy beard and sharp piercing eyes, clad in a samue (artist’s working clothes). You would assume he had come from a family dating back generations and that ...

During the 20th century, Japanese studio pottery made by individuals came to the fore. Up until then, many potters worked for large kilns or were artisans involved in a production-line method; one man molded the pots, while another decorated and so on. The first ...