Iga
Mie, Japan
Iga potter Kojima Yosuke makes wonderful sake vessels. His tokkuri bottles are small, only carrying about 1 ‘go’ (180ml) of sake. The small bottles are popular among chefs who use his work at their restaurants because many serve a wide variety of sake. “People drink a ‘go’ of one type and move on try to another type with a new bottle,” he says. “So I make all kinds of little bottles to make that fun.”
Japanese potter Kojima Yosuke creates a staggering variety of vases and vessels at his studio in Iga that he established in 2003. His outstanding work that uniquely harmonizes with flowers and food has been selected by many boutique restaurant owner-chefs in Kyoto, Osaka, and Tokyo.
Kojima-san trained as a chef at the Kyoto Culinary Institute. After graduating culinary school in 1997, he became intensely interested in making bowls, plates and other containers for food and flowers. This is perhaps because he grew up in Iga, a historic pottery town with vigorous pottery tradition for the followers of the Way of Tea. He changed course and learned pottery from his own father, Kojima Kenji, an Iga pottery heavyweight in Japan, famous for his dynamic and original style of wood-fired work.
