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Category: Karatsu

New Work by Mike Martino: The Sun and the Moon Shine Eternally Inside a Jar

By:
Ai Kanazawa
April 29, 2020Karatsu Ceramics Mike Martino

Ceramics by Mike Martino in our shop ->

As April comes to an end in San Diego, the parks and beaches have begun to gradually reopen. This marks the beginning of what will be a very long and uncertain journey to ending our physical distancing that began what seems a lifetime ago in mid-March. But the start of Phase One is an opportune reason to celebrate, and I’m delighted to be able to do this with new ceramic work by Mike Martino from Karatsu, Japan.

In this latest batch, I requested mostly pieces with brushwork that include lovely shrimps, which over the years have become Mike’s signature symbol. I find his lovely rhythmical brush strokes very comforting and meditative to follow with my eyes and I hope you do too.

Large Shino Bowl by Mike Martino with his signature shrimp drawings.

I would like in particular to introduce one of Mike’s pieces that seem to capture our current state of being quite nicely. It is a ekaratsu (painted karatsu) bowl that has the calligraphy letters “kochu nichi getsu nagashi (壺中日月長)” written on it. The literal translation of this Zen word is “the sun and the moon shine eternally inside a jar.”

This phrase was derived from an old Chinese anecdote of an elderly medicine vendor who always disappeared into a jar hanging in the front of his shop after the day’s work. Curious about where the old man was going every night, a local official befriended him and was able to get invited into the pot with him. Inside, the official found a vast palace with a large garden where the old man entertained the official with food and drink. After what seemed to be a whole day, the official returned to the real world to find out that decades had passed. The old medicine vender was an immortal ascetic.

Karatsu bowl with the calligraphy words “kochu nichigetsu nagashi” by Mike Martino

In Buddhist-speak, this may be interpreted as “the realm of enlightenment transcends time.” But I simply interpret this as “time is what you make of it” and unfortunately I fell out of making anything of it for a while during the seemingly unending lockdown. This was a sharp reminder that I was spending way too much time endlessly reading the dark news concerning the pandemic on my phone screen and feeling anxious. But I’m now finally crawling back into the jar.

Lastly, I’d like to add that a lot of time was squandered while I stared at Mike’s bowl trying to figure out which part of the calligraphy referred to the jar (壺), inside (中), sun (日), moon(月), and long (長), only to find that Mike wrote the whole Zen phrase in romanized Japanese. So now you can pronounce a sophisticated Zen saying in Japanese, and isn’t this a highly productive way of using your time?

Mike Martino is currently having an online sale of his work on his website in Japan 4/29-5/6/2020
(click here to visit his website).

Visiting Hanako Nakazato in Karatsu

By:
Ai Kanazawa
August 28, 2013Karatsu Ceramics Hanako Nakazato Travels

Ceramics by Hanako Nakazato in our shop ->

Japanese potter Hanako Nakazato is a tour de force of creativity and productivity. I had the privilege of glimpsing this at first hand when I visited her Japanese studio far away in Karatsu, Saga Prefecture in Kyushu this past spring. It took a long train ride to get there, but was a journey to savor and understand how a potter’s life requires not only talent but discipline, hard work, and –in Hanako’s case- a love of food and cooking.

Hanako Nakazato
Japanese potter Hanako Nakazato at her studio in Karatsu, Spring 2013

Following an early morning start in Kyoto and several changes on the way, the train finally pulled into JR Karatsu station shortly after lunch. After the long ride, I was delighted to be met by the familiar face of photographer-cum-writer Prairie Stuart-Wolff, Hanako’s partner and business manager for monohanako. The two travel between Maine and Kyushu every year.

monohanako studio
Overlooking Hanako Nakazato’s studio in Karatsu

Hanako’s studio in Karatsu stands on a lush green hillside in Mirukashi, about two miles from the train station. When I arrived at the studio, Hanako was working at her wheel making bowls. She got up to greet me, beaming with a friendly smile and gestured a “hug” from a few feet away saying “I have clay all over me”. I did not want to interrupt her work and at my request she went back on the wheel. I watched for a while as she whipped out bowl after bowl, amazed at how similar they are in shape and size, even though she never measured them.

Works
Work by Hanako Nakazato displayed in her showroom in Karatsu.

As Hanako worked, I looked around the clean and spacious studio that was divided into three sections. There was a showroom for guests to view and purchase her work. A second section was the kiln and glazing room where bisque and glazed pieces are stored next to the gas kiln. The last section was the wheel room where she was busy throwing her pottery.

Full Kiln
Hanako’s gas kiln filled to the brim with bisque fired pots

The sliding door to the wheel room had a large blackboard that was covered with diagrams, numbers, and glaze types. Hanako carefully keeps track of the progress in the production of her wares by charting them on this board. Its an ingenious way of visually managing the production schedule that enables this prolific potter to put together a solo show almost every month during her stay in Japan. I even managed to visit her annual solo show at Manyodo in Ginza, Tokyo in May.

Blackboard
Production schedule charted on the blackboard

Watching Hanako work on the wheel was meditative. When I commented that it must be enjoyable to be able to throw with such rhythmic flow, Hanako laughed and replied that, “People might think that it must be fun to become a potter and throw pots on the wheel, but this is not the whole story”.

She explained that less than 20 percent of her day is spent on the wheel and that the rest of her workday is spent cleaning the studio and work equipment, loading and unloading the kiln, mixing and testing glazes, and preparing the clay. Hanako said that a three-year apprenticeship under her father and internationally famous potter, Nakazato Takashi of Ryutagama Kiln, had instilled into her the important habit of waking up early everyday to work, clean, and carry out other chores. Maintaining this discipline was indispensable to the running of a successful pottery studio.

Wedging clay
Hanako wedging clay. Much of a potter’s day is spent doing chores like cleaning the studio and preparing clay

Long and narrow boards on the racks in the studio were loaded with pots that were drying. These boards are easily over 5 feet long and they appear almost impossible to carry without dropping the pieces on top. Hanako said that it was just like the balancing pole that tightrope performers use to help them balance. She noted that, “the longer the board, the easier it is to balance on the shoulder with one hand”.

Muro
Bowls on a long drying board are placed into a pottery closet or muro. Freshly thrown pots are dried slowly in here to prevent them from warping and cracking.

On days when Hanako can work uninterrupted on her wheel, she can throw over a hundred pots in a day. On my visit, Hanako had to answer many phone calls, tend to visitors such as myself, and send a pugmill to repair. She finally wrapped up her work at 5 p.m. after throwing numerous bowls.

kitchen
Hanako cooking dinner at her home above her studio in Karatsu

In the evening, Hanako and Prairie cooked a delicious 7-course meal using Karatsu’s seasonal ingredients, each served on monohanako tableware. They put great care into preparing each dish and it was clear that they enjoyed cooking. As the famous Japanese ceramist and gourmet Rosanjin once said, “tableware for cooking is the equivalent of clothing for people.” He meant that the vessels that the food is served on is as important as the clothes that people wear and that people that are interested in food are inevitably interested in the wares they are served on. Consequently, many potters –of which Hanako is definitely a prime example- are excellent cooks and it was a real treat to be a guest at their dinner table.

Shio Uni
Salted sea urchin served on monohanako ware

Early next morning, Hanako was back in her studio finishing up the plates that she had thrown in the past few days on the wheel. She said she was in full work mode, firing work for shows that will be taking place after she was to depart for Maine in a few weeks time. I told her that her many fans in the U.S. were eagerly waiting her return. As we spoke, I realized that I was associating Hanako’s return with the changing of the seasons, just like a birder in anticipation of the annual migration.

Cut petal plate
Hanako finishing the edges of cut petal plates

Hanako worked until the late morning, and then we all left for a quick tour of Karatsu and lunch before I caught the bus to Hakata in the afternoon to start my long trek back to Tokyo. I was very pleased that I got to see a day in the life of this hard working potter, who is a rising star of the pottery scene in Japan and the U.S. While I discovered that being a potter might not be as idyllic and glamorous as it might appear, I am grateful that Hanako chose it as her profession. Her creativity has certainly brought style and beauty into our daily lives through the wares that we use to nourish our body and soul.

 

 

A Tour of the Pottery Towns of Southern Japan: Part I: Karatsu

By:
Ai Kanazawa
April 23, 2013Karatsu Ceramics Travels

Karatsuware in our shop ->

As the cherry blossom season beckoned in Japan this spring, I had a wonderful opportunity to travel to Southern Japan to be the interpreter for a tour of classic pottery towns organized by renowned American potters Bill Geisinger and Ben Horiuchi. It was a fascinating 10 day journey that covered a lot of ground and allowed the tour participants to meet and see the activities and lives of potters from all walks of life in Southern Japan. I will be sharing my observations of these towns and the accomplished potters that have made this part of Japan a vibrant and dynamic center of pottery creativity in this blog in the coming weeks.

Cherry Blossom
Cherry blossoms at Nakazato Tarouemon Studio in Karatsu, Saga, Japan

The first stop of the tour was Karatsu in Saga prefecture. Karatsu is one of the most famous pottery towns in Japan and its name literally means “port to Tang (China)”. This is fitting, as the town has been a major trading port to Korea, China, and the rest of Japan.

The development of Karatsu-ware began more than 400 years ago. A key reason for this was the arrival of craftsmen from Korea brought by Japanese warlords following two invasions of Korea in the 16th Century. These potters produced ware for tea ceremonies that were very popular among the Japanese elites during this period.

Chosen Karatsu
An example of “Korean style karatsu” or “chosen karatsu” vase welcomed us at the Nakazato Tarouemon studio.

The Korean craftsmen brought with them two technologies that revolutionized Japanese pottery making: the kick-wheel, and the multi-chambered climbing kiln. These technologies allowed for faster and larger scale pottery production in comparison to the hand-wheel and Anagama kiln that was used in Japan prior to this technological revolution.

Ochawangama
The multi-chambered climbing kiln of Nakazato Tarouemon pottery built in 1734. This kiln was in use until the early 1900s.
(Photo courtesy of Beorn Johnson)

Karatsu-ware or Karatsuyaki, is made of clay high in iron content that fires to a reddish-gray color and encompasses many styles. The styles that I am most familiar with are ‘picture karatsu’ or ‘e-karatsu’, which have simple drawings of plants and birds, and Korean style karatsu or ‘chosen karatsu’ that has a black glaze with runny white ash glaze over it.

Many Japanese, including myself, find that simplicity is more appealing than glitter and complexity, because one can only understand the beauty of simplicity through experience and the steady accumulation of knowledge. It is a very personal appeal that is nurtured and intensified over time and repeated use. It is similar to the sentiment you will have towards your favorite t-shirt or tea mug that is so comfortable because you have used it over the years.

Karatsu-ware today is sought-after by avid collectors and formal tea drinkers for their simple and rustic elegance. Although I am not very familiar with the formal way of Japanese tea ceremonies, even I know the Japanese saying, “Raku first, Hagi second, Karatsu third”, which denotes the rank order of the three preferred types of pottery used in Japanese tea ceremonies. But some of my Japanese friends who are knowledgeable about tea ceremonies say that they are most drawn to Karatsu-ware.

Paddle tools used to slap the coil built vessel walls. This method is called tataki giho.
Paddle tools used to slap the coil built vessel walls at the Nakazato Tarouemon studio. This clay forming method is called “tataki giho”, a traditional method that was lost but revived by the late living national treasure, Nakazato Tarouemon XII.

In Karatsu, I was especially excited to visit the Nakazato family kilns. The Nakazato name should be well known to anyone who regularly visits the Studio Kotokoto website because of Hanako Nakazato, who is one of our most talented artists. The Nakazato family has resided in Karatsu for the past four centuries and they include famous potters such as Nakazato Tarouemon, Nakazato Takashi and Nakazato Shigetoshi who are all relatives of Hanako. It was my private mission to get a glimpse of where Hanako came from to gain an appreciation of the traditions and lifestyle that have shaped her and her style of pottery.

Petal-edged or rinka plates at Nakazato Shigetoshi's Sangengama.
“Petal-edged” or “rinka” plates at Nakazato Shigetoshi’s Sangengama.

The sturdy, unpretentious beauty of Karatsu-ware profoundly moved me. I felt very familiar with their time-tested and functional forms because I have witnessed their essence in Hanako’s work.

Bob Okazaki's beautiful studio was built in the traditional Japanese style without nails
Bob Okasaki’s beautiful studio was built in the traditional Japanese style without nails

Another potter we visited in Karatsu was Bob Okasaki, who is a native of California but is now settled in Karatsu. Bob opened his own kiln called Tourigama after many years of apprenticeships under Fujiwara Yu, a famous potter in Bizen, followed by Nakazato Takashi, Hanako’s father, and Nakazato Tarouemon XII, who was a living national treasure.

I love what Bob does because he has so many beautiful works adorned with drawings of animals and plants. Bob and the Nakazato family are very close because he married Keiko, a daughter of Nakazato Tarouemon XII. Hanako, who was busy loading a kiln for a show in Tokyo, stopped by at Bob’s studio and I was happy that I got to meet her to say hello.

Bob Okazaki Urinbo
Baby boar plate by Bob Okazaki.

The tour group had a wonderful time in Karatsu, a town in a remote corner of Japan but with a very open and international feel to it. This undoubtedly stems from the town’s proximity to Korea and China, which makes it an important regional cultural gateway.

In my next tour blog, I will talk about our visit to Onta, a pottery village hidden in the deep mountains of Oita.

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