I'm not so sure that I want to tell you about this wonderful Mino potter who's having an exhibition in Tokyo next week. It's like spreading the word about your favorite restaurant, and you can never seem to get a reservation thereafter.

The fact is, this Mino potter has been around for decades. He could have ridden a wave of accolades and prestigious titles, since he studied with renowned Mino potter and Living National Treasure Toyozo Arakawa (1894-1985) for 13 years, ending his apprenticeship in 1968. He just hasn't been interested in promoting himself in big department store exhibitions or in joining any associations; he's like a sennin (mountain aesthete) distancing himself from the world and focusing on his art.

More than his sterling resume, though, it's his work that shines. It's not the kind of work that dazzles like a fireworks display and as quickly disappears. Quite the contrary: It seduces one's senses on a very subtle, wabi-sabi level that one will never grow tired of and will only cherish more as time passes, like a good friend.

Okay, I'm going to spill the beans. Yoshihiko Yoshida (b. 1936) is his name and a special showing of 30 chawan (tea bowls) runs Nov. 16-20 at Nihonbashi's Kochukyo (03) 3271-1835, located on the south side of Takashimaya department store.

Yoshida's workshop is set within a dense forest in the hills of Toki City, Gifu Prefecture. Toki is where Mino pottery was first made in 1573 by Kato Kagemitsu (1513-1585). Mino, the name of the old province, is used as a broad name to cover Shino, Oribe, Ki-Seto, and Setoguro wares. Yoshida fires all of the above except Oribe. This exhibition includes Setoguro, Aka-Shino (red Shino), ash-glazed, Ki-Seto, and white-glazed wares as well as regular Shino.

Most of his chawan have a rounded or cylindrical (tsutsu-gata) form and an air of quiet dignity. Their organic forms are not pretentious or proud. It's their simple nobility and honesty that draws the viewer in. A good chawan seems to "ask" to be used, and all of Yoshida's works do. The delicate pastel colors and the inviting lips of his chawan beg to be held in almost a sensual way.

Yoshida's Shino chawan don't have the thickly applied feldspar glaze (choseki-yu) characteristic of most Shino chawan, but a thinner, delicate covering that doesn't cosmetically mask imperfections. Yoshida's are the Sophia Loren of chawan in their perfection and beauty.

Yoshida is one of only a handful of potters to fire Shino in a makigama (wood-fired kiln), and this accounts for some of the personality of his chawan. Small unglazed areas can often be seen around the base; these are called yubi ato, finger impressions, showing where the potter held it while dipping the pot in a vat of glaze.

Yoshida feels that in order to fully appreciate a chawan it must be held in the hands. These days most chawan are purely visual. Although they may have a chawan shape, they are not true chawan, but only sort of fancy rice bowls in masquerade. Yoshida encourages visitors to his exhibitions to pick up the bowls.

A few words on chawan-viewing etiquette: Always remove any rings or other jewelry that might touch the chawan before you pick it up. Never raise the chawan high in the air; it's best to kneel and raise it only a few centimeters above the display shelf.

In Japan, tea and Zen are the same, and it takes a man of Zen to make a worthy chawan. Yoshida, in his "no complexity," "no mind" and the way he distances himself from civilization has given us city dwellers the chance to drink from a small well of tranquillity.

The gods of Mino must be favoring us this month, for another excellent Mino potter is exhibiting in Kyoto at Tachikichi until, (075) 211-3143, Nov. 23 (closed Nov. 17). I will spare you the suspense and just say that his name is Ichiro Hori (b. 1952). My two favorite contemporary Mino potters in the whole world are Yoshida and Hori; what a coincidence that ceramic lovers in both Kansai and Kanto have a chance to view their work this month.

Hori also fires a makigama and does the whole repertoire of Mino except, like Yoshida, Oribe. His pieces are chunkier and bolder than Yoshida's and overflow with power. He makes more use of a carving spatula and his work has more undulation.

This exhibition will feature close to 100 pieces, including tobako (ceramic boxes), henko (large jars), chawan, hanaire (vases), mizusashi (fresh water jars) and mizubachi (water vessels) among others. Do go and see this rising star of Mino -- but don't tell too many of your friends.

And believe it or not, a couple more Mino exhibitions:

In Gifu City, at Yanagase Takashimaya department store's ninth-floor gallery. Soon to be the 14th-generation potter in his family, Shoji Kato shows his stuff Nov. 18-23.

At the Sano Museum (0559) 75-7278 in Mishima, Shizuoka Prefecture until Nov. 30, a Mino yakimono exhibition showing all Mino styles from the Momoyama (1573-1615) and Edo (1615-1868) periods.

At Shinjuku Keio department store's sixth-floor gallery until Nov. 18, Ken Matsuzaki's huge (about 200 pieces) and always very popular exhibition. Matsuzaki studied in Mashiko with Living National Treasure Tatsuzo Shimaoka, starting in 1972, and established his own kiln, Yu-Shin (Playful Spirit) near Shimaoka's in 1978. Matsuzaki doesn't hold fast to the Mingei creed, but has found a more individualistic voice in his work, which these days focuses on ash-glazed pieces fired in his new makigama. He also fires a very rich dark purple Shino, Aka-Shino and creamy white Shino as well.

At Shibuya Seibu department store's B Bldg. eighth-floor gallery until Nov. 15, Kyoto's versatile Kazuo Takiguchi shows his skillfully painted tableware.

At Shinjuku Isetan department store's eighth-floor gallery until Nov. 15, a showing of some fine sake utensils including many Living National Treasures such as Toyo Kaneshige, Koichi Tamura, Kyusetsu Miwa and Uichi Shimizu.

At Kandori Gallery on the first-floor lobby of the Hotel New Otani Nov. 14-21, celadon specialist Shinobu Kawase's extraordinary koro (incesne burners).

In Osaka until Nov. 23, American anagama specialist Peter Callas at Central Gallery (06) 4396-0530.

In Osaka at Gallery Dojima until Nov. 18, a good chance to see some fine Bizen pottery as it hosts a look at some 100 selected works. Call (06) 6345-9363 for information.

For those interested in medieval Ko-Shigaraki tsubo (jars), an incredible exhibition is bringing together almost 200 pieces for the first time ever, and never likely to be repeated, at the Miho Museum in Shigaraki, Shiga Prefecture. The exhibition is titled "Kochu no Ten (Heaven in a Jar)" and comes from an old Chinese tale where an old hermit, Hichobo, climbs into a tsubo and there finds a heavenly world. Until Dec. 15; call the museum at (0748) 82-3411 for more information.

Robert Yellin is available to talk to groups or lead tours to potting centers for groups or individuals. E-mail [email protected] or check out his new Web site at www.japanesepottery.com