Japan Archives - Patricia Shone Ceramics

Visiting Kanzaki Shiho (1942-2018)

I had the priviledge to visit Kanzaki Shiho at his studio last November. Hearing that he passed away I want to share this. I visited Shigaraki for a day, 4 years ago and left dissatisfied – a wander around the cultural park with not a lot happening, and a sprawling, seemingly empty town. It was…

Day trip to Bizen ware

Bizen ware was not high on my list of priorities when we were deciding our itinerary. What came to mind was naked beige clay body with random lines of shiny red/orange scorch marks reminisent of sunburn on a pale Scottish body. However JG was very keen having become excited about the work of Isezaki Jun.…

Hagi yaki bowl

This was the last pot to be unwrapped when I got home. I think I was scared I’d made a poor choice and wouldn’t like it enough to justify the expense. (No, I’m not telling, NPP doesn’t know either). The next 5 photos are the bowl before use, fairly good representation of the colour. The…

4 years later – Hagi yaki

I was full of good intentions to resurrect this blog on the return visit to Japan. The blogging didn’t happen but the Japan trip did, in November for 3 fabulous weeks with two potter friends who were also with me the first time. Non Potting Partner declined to come with us, a wise decision on…

Buying pots, continued

We fell out of the gallery Toko with our purchases, like drunkards looking for the another bar, which happened to be on the other side of the road in the form of Moegi, another gallery. A modern building on three floors with a central atrium surrounding a maple tree, just beginning to turn in colour.…

Mashiko part 3, actually buying pots

Pot number 1, a small tenmoku dish from Hamada Museum, for my good friend who drove me to Aberdeen airport at 5am to catch my flight to London to connect with the Narita flight. No photo of this. Pot number 2, a white glazed vase. Half way down the high street at 3pm and despairing…

Mashiko part 2, buying pots

Nothing is – Look, and it is. Not seeing at all, We cannot see all there is around us. Everything is but an expression of the self. ……… I buy something – I have bought myself. From ‘The Windows of Life’ …. Some thoughts by Kanjiro Kawai No matter how I try to justify it…

Mashiko, 12&13 Nov. part 1

We arrived in the early afternoon after a 3 hour 3 train journey from Tokyo. You know you’ve arrived in Mashiko by the presence of an enormous pot standing at the station. Took a taxi to the hotel to drop off the luggage, then into town to be deposited at the feet of a giant…

From Cumbria to Japan

In May 2013 we fired the anagama at Higham Hall for the last time. During the less stressful of those long and eventful 60 hours we joked about having to go to Japan instead of doing our autumn firing. As the hours passed and we faced a firing which wouldn’t go above 1000 on the…