Living Artists of Japan: The Wonder of Clay – Ceramic Artist

Japan has one of the world’s oldest ceramics traditions, going back nearly 10,000 years. Today it is home to about 30,000 potters and is currently experiencing a true golden age of ceramics. One could arguably say that if you combined all of the ceramics activities in the world, it wouldn’t equal the breadth of style, skill level and artistic level of what is going on in Japan today.

This rising star is a Kyoto born-and-raised ceramic artist and it shows in his rich and fresh approach to his art in a Sodeisha challenging mode. He was born in 1976 and is now a teacher at his alma mater, Kyoto Saga University of Arts in Kyoto, with works already placed in the Museum of Kyoto and the Hyogo Ceramic Art Museum. His thinned walled sturdy shell forms are fired twice and he uses three kinds of clay and two slips, then he meticulously adds his minute lines–looking like pine needles– in mesmerizing detail. He adds a colored glaze, a signature deep cyan blue that darkens part of the slip or an iridescent brown that refracts the warm light of a Kyoto day. His works speak of the birth of life itself. The artist is deeply interested in pursuing this theme as his studies at university were religious and philosophical.

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