"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 leads a quiet, secluded life.
Hosokawa was the founder of the Japan New Party (Nihon Shinto) and prime minister in 1993-4. This man, who hails from a famous family, is now turning the wheel to create simple and deep chawan, a tea bowl fit for a daimyo, or feudal lord. I met up with him in early February in the hills of Yugawara, Kanagawa Prefecture, where his grandparents built a mountain retreat to which he has added a pottery studio.
When was your first encounter with yakimono?