The colorful ceramic culture of Kyoto meets the darker, subdued world of Karatsu potter Jinenbo Nakagawa this week at the Tachikichi department store in Kyoto.

Jinenbo Nakagawa's oku-korai chawan
An example of bamboo-node footing

Kyoto porcelain and stoneware are bright and vibrant, reflecting still the bourgeois taste of Kyoto in the Edo Period. Nothing could be further across the ceramic spectrum than Nakagawa's somber and inward oku-korai chawan (tea bowls) and other Karatsu works.

The oku-korai style, just one of Karatsu's varied offerings, first appeared in the Azuchi-Momoyama Period (1568-1600). The Karatsu potters then were emulating Korean Ido and Komogai chawan. They are devoid of any flamboyant motifs and sit "simply robed" in silence like meditating monks. Buff-toned, with a wide form, they are the embodiment of the wabi-cha that Sen no Rikyu perfected in the 16th century.

Since oku-korai chawan are not embellished or fancy in style, there is no way for a potter to posture with grand techniques to make up for lack of spirit. An oku-korai chawan reflects a potter's soul, and as an Echizen potter once put it: "There are no bad kilns or bad clays, only impure potters' hearts."

Nakagawa is a pure potter and one of Karatsu's finest. His first name means "nature boy," and it is apt. Born in 1953 in Saga Prefecture, he took an apprenticeship in 1977 at the Kyozan kiln, which specializes in chadogu (tea utensils) for the Urasenke tea tradition. All his works are fired in a noborigama (chambered kiln) that he built when he established his pottery in 1982.

Nakagawa does the gamut of Karatsu styles. These include muji-garatsu, a plain, undecorated ware with a feldspar glaze containing wood ash; madara-garatsu, covered with a thick, opaque white glaze of straw ash containing traces of iron, which melt during the firing process to emerge as flecks in the surface of the glaze; and e-garatsu, Karatsu's most well-known style, which has a thick, coarsely crackled buff glaze and is decorated with various geometric designs and themes from nature, such as reeds and grasses. There is also the darker chosen-garatsu, which is made with a transparent dark-brown glaze overlaid with the white glaze of madara-garatsu. At the exhibition you'll be able to see all these styles.

There are a few other styles as well, reflecting the influence of Korean potters. An oido chawan is representative. Meaning "large well," an oido chawan has a very deep "pool" and a large and bold footring, or kodai

Often some crawling of the glaze appears, creating a landscape or keshiki favored by tea folks. This keshiki is called kairagi and can be found anywhere on a pot, but is most appreciated around the kodai. The kodai is of extreme importance for a chawan; one collector told me it shows the "power" of the potter. It also shows the beauty of the clay, as the kodai is often left unglazed. Various forms of kodai exist, but the one most often found on oku-korai chawan is a takenofushi, or bamboo-node, one. Other kodai include wari-kodai (split foot), mikazuki (crescent moon), tokin (helmet), chirimen (crinkled cloth) and kugibori (nail-carved), among others.

When viewing kodai, remember: Hold the piece only a little way above the display counter, for safety, and always take off any jewelry first, to avoid scratching the piece.

We live in such changeable times, always with some new product bombarding our minds, regional conflicts compromising humanity, and schedules that leave many of us racing against the clock. Yet humanity's need to find peace and contentment within one's self has not changed since Rikyu's time, nor the need to share them with others. For some, that awareness and way of living has come about through tea and its association with Zen. Finding grace within and without is an essential part of Zen self-actualization. An oku-korai chawan is a hand-held koan that helps one locate that sacred inward zone. Maybe one made by the "nature boy" master potter himself, Jinenbo.

Jinenbo Nakagawa, till Sept. 18 at Kyoto Tachikichi's third-floor kogei salon. Closed Sept. 12.

Yoichiro Kamei's "Little Receptacle" won this year's Asahi Grand Prix.

The 39th Asahi Ceramic Exhibition is touring Japan now and offers a chance to see a wide range of ceramic styles. More ambitious than most juried exhibits, the Asahi often gives its Grand Prix award to up-and-coming younger ceramists. This year Yoichiro Kamei was selected for his work "Lattice Receptacle." Looking like an architect's model for a new high-rise, the work is a cube that reveals more about technique than vision.

In fact, that appears to be the case with most of the prize-winning works, which lean toward small-segmented works, with white a favored color.

The judges are all seasoned potters, and one art columnist, who had to work through 588 submitted works to narrow them down to the 109 selected pieces.

The exhibition's ports of call are: Sept. 15-Oct. 14 in Shigaraki, Shiga Pref., at the Togei no Mori; Oct. 17-Nov. 25 in Fukui at the Fukui Prefecture Togei-kan; Nov. 29-Dec. 27 in Osaka at the Sakai City Cultural Hall; Jan. 26-Feb. 24 in Takahama, Aichi Pref., at the Yakimono no Sato Kawara Museum; then finally, April 3-May 6 in Tokyo at the Meguro Museum.

Other noteworthy exhibitions kicking off this cultural season include:

Chiharu Kon's Shigaraki works at Shibuya Kuroda Toen, (03) 3499-3225; Sept. 1-19.

Ryo Mikami's fun-to-use tablewares at Kandori in the lobby of the Hotel New Otani, Tokyo; until Sept. 16.

Rising Bizen star Manabu Suehiro at Nihonbashi Mitsukoshi; Sept. 18-24. At the same venue, new works by living national treasure Tatsuzo Shimaoka are also on display; until Sept. 24.

Bizen's bona-fide star Ryuichi Kakurezaki at Matsuzakaya, Nagoya; today until Sept. 18.

Hagi's Kazuhiko Miwa's stunning flower vessels can be seen at Takashimaya, Yokohama, from today until Sept. 18, before the display moves to Takashimaya, Nagoya, from Sept. 26-Oct. 2.

Last, but not least, a retrospective of Shino's living national treasure, Osamu Suzuki, is at Takashimaya in Osaka Sept. 19-25; in Kyoto Oct. 10-16; and Yokohama Oct. 31-Nov. 6.