California Natives: Manzanita “Vandenberg” in a Vase by Bill Geisinger

January 18, 2018Bill Geisinger Research Tea

How should I select and arrange flowers in a vessel? For the tea room, Japanese tea master Sen no Rikyu (1522-1591) famously said that “the flowers should be arranged as they are in the field”.

As I walked my dog one fall morning last year and saw the misleadingly iconic imported palm trees and eucalyptuses against the blue California sky, I wondered “so what did Californian fields look like before these exotic plants arrived?”

Palm trees are ubiquitous in San Diego, and they seem to be considered representative of California

Looking out to the ocean from Torrey Pines State Natural Reserve. Natural reserves provide a glimpse of what indigenous California fields look like. The Southern California coast often starts gray in the morning, as seen in this photo, but then brightens as the sun breaks through for the rest of the day.

On one side of our back garden, I have a long strip of planter area that I had been been watching weeds grow for the last two years. My grand plan after all the necessary repairs were done inside the house, was to plant some beautiful flowers like camellias and peonies that are listed as ‘appropriate’ for the tea room. No I don’t have such a room yet, but it is part of my ambitious 20-year renovation vision that I promise to discuss with my husband who will first read about the plan in this blog.

I began researching camellias and read about the care and attention for the one type that I have always wanted. It is called Camellia Wabisuke and is a small single form camellia that I frequently see in photos of tea room alcoves. My desire for this flower was made stronger because of its perfect name, which includes the word wabi!

Japan’s oldest Wabisuke Camellia in Ryoanji temple Kyoto, conveniently labeled for tourists with a sign.

Then, I looked at a photo that I took of Japan’s oldest Wabisuke plant in Ryoanji from a past trip to Kyoto, and realized that I was crazy. Camellias really belong where there is regular rain and sufficient humidity, which is usually where luscious mosses can grow and cover the ground. When I mentioned this to my tea teacher who has been growing tea flowers in San Diego for the last 50 years, she shook her head and confirmed that “camellias are the most difficult to grow and care for” in Southern California.

Single form white camellia that will be close to impossible to grow in Southern California. White camellias are especially difficult to grow according to my tea teacher.

Feeling defeated before even planting a single flora, I looked through my tea ceremony guide book and re-read the seven rules of Sen no Rikyu, which led me to the opening question of this blog.

After some research, I was surprised to discover that there are thousands of plant species in California, many of which can be found nowhere else. Many also bloom with beautiful and unostentatious flowers. I excitedly thought that I should try turning my back-garden dirt strip into a native flower cutting garden and started to investigate which plants I should grow. This was no easy task because the actual plants are not commonly sold in nearby nurseries.

Tree of Life Nursery in San Juan Capistrano

Finally when I attended a native garden workshop I discovered the Tree of Life nursery in San Juan Capistrano that is owned by Mike Evans. I was inspired when he said that “your garden should provide a sense of place and it should be a place where you want to spend time engaging and enjoy caring for”. Tree of Life specializes in native plants suited for Southern California and each plant is provided with a detailed description for the care that it needs, which is very helpful for a novice gardener like me.

The first native flower I planted was an Island Bush Poppy. This should grow to over 5 feet.

So far, I have planted 8 native grasses and flowers and they all seem to be thriving. One of them is the Manzanita “Vandenberg,” so called because it was discovered on the central coast near Vandenberg Air Force Base. The planting direction that I follow is: “dig a hole twice as big as the container, plant with no fertilizer, no soil amendments, just some mulch and native soil.”

Manzanita Vandenberg with deer grass in Bill Geisinger’s wood-fired vase. Its flowers look like lovely upside down vases when looked at closely, its fruit look like mini apples (manzanita in Spanish).

Today, I cut a stem from the Vandenberg and put it in a vase by Bill Geisinger, which is made from California native clay. I do not know what Master Rikyu would have thought about this arrangement, but it was a moment when I realized that the wisdom he had left behind over 400 years ago continues to be relevant as a guide for figuring out a good perspective, and a way of life. Above all, I am grateful that these plants provide a sense of connection to California, even for a transplant like me.

Introducing Kikuchi Yuka: Porcelain Potter Who Stands Out From the Crowd

September 3, 2013Ceramics Kikuchi Yuka

Ceramics by Kikuchi Yuka in our shop ->

In my travels around Japan, I sometimes come across richly talented artists who are little known but whose work stand out from the crowd. One such gifted potter is Kikuchi Yuka, who makes beautiful and functional works with black inlay (zougan) and blue-and-white (sometsuke) porcelain.

Amakusa porcelain dessert plate with black inlay by Kikuchi Yuka

Yuka shines because of her exceptional ability to produce forms that marry contemporary elegance with simplicity and tradition, and in portraying nature through stylized patterns in her blue-and-white porcelain.

What adds to Yuka’s talent was the experience that she gained from learning from one of Japan’s great Kyoto sometsuke masters, Kondo Hiroshi. Kondo was an internationally famous potter and an avid teacher who took her along on his workshops overseas. Yuka spent seven years studying under Kondo and she was his last apprentice before his death in 2012. While Yuka learnt a great deal, it was also a humbling experience and she initially found it difficult to escape her master’s shadow. “For a long time I was bound by my self-inflicted pressure not to disappoint my teacher”, she said.

But with Kondo’s passing, Yuka has finally begun to find her own way, which is allowing her to produce work with style and vigor. “I now think that I should simply make the best pots that I can make”, she said.

Potter Kikuchi Yuka throwing on the wheel at her studio in Minamiaso

Yuka’s zougan works are simple but uniquely elegant vessels. “I design my work to compliment the food, so its presence is felt but does not overwhelm“, she explains. Her sometsuke work, which she only started making recently, is a display of exceptional skill in brush techniques and stylized expressions through shades of blue. It is a fitting homage to her late teacher.

Blue-and-white porcelain mamezara depicting Higo camellia by Kikuchi Yuka

Yuka makes her wares by throwing clay on the wheel, which is trimmed down to the shape she requires. She alters the clay’s hardness depending on the size of the piece that she throws. The size and shape of each pot is determined carefully for its usability. But she says it is difficult to control the shape because when the piece dries, the clay often warps to the way that it was thrown, almost like it has a memory.

Higo camellia is the pride and symbol of Kumamoto, a prefecture often overlooked in Japan.

One reason why Yuka is little known is that her studio and house, Ennyo-gama, is located in the distant village of Minamiaso about 25 miles east of Kumamoto in Kyushu Island. It is on the volcanic caldera of Mt. Aso and is famous for its healing hotsprings. I had the opportunity to meet Yuka at her studio this past spring when I traveled to Kumamoto with a pottery tour group organized by Bill Geisinger and Ben Horiuchi.

Kikuchi Yuka’s studio and kiln Ennyo-gama

All of Yuka’s work is made using porcelain that comes from the Amakusa Islands, which are just off the coast from Kumamoto. Amakusa porcelain is famous for its pure white color, durability, plasticity and minimal shrinkage and slumping when fired. While Amakusa supplies as much as 80 percent of the Kaolin used for porcelain clay production in Japan, porcelain pottery made in Kumamoto is not well known.

Kikuchi Yuka’s showroom in Minamiaso, Kumamoto. All of her work is made using local porcelain from Amakusa.

Yuka said that when she announced in 2008 that she was ending her apprenticeship in Kyoto and moving home to open a studio in Kumamoto, “almost everyone around me asked if there was any pottery there”. Yuka pointed out that while “Kumamoto is best known as the raw material provider and agricultural center of Japan, there is a lot more happening here.” She hopes that her work will help people recognize Kumamoto for its culture, history and tradition, an accolade that it very much deserves. We at Studio Kotokoto will certainly be paying attention to Yuka and Kumamoto as we enjoy the creative elegance and flair that she brings to porcelain pottery.