One afternoon a few months ago I had the pleasure of taking a visiting dignitary around Tokyo to view pottery. While we were riding around in his limousine and talking about Japanese pottery he said many times how sublime he thought it was.
His comments still echo in my mind, for here was a man involved in designing some of the most advanced technologies in the world, and yet he found inspiration in the forms, colors and textures of medieval Japanese yakishime (high-fired stoneware) pottery.
Well, I admit I'm biased, but I couldn't have agreed more. He may find some line in a pot suitable to work into a console he as on the drawing board, while I find the yakishime cup on my desk a place to rest my tired eyes, if only for an instant. A piece of pottery can be like a visual haiku, a meditative space to draw inspiration from or a quiet space to ponder while the mind is recharging. A Bizen potter who is also a well-known haiku poet once wrote, "without a single thought, I lifted my head from the wheel, spirit refreshed by a single flower in a hanging vase." We could easily change "wheel" to book, television, or computer screen.