Heian Kouzan, 5.5 x 3.5 x 1"

A pre-war green glazed Heian Kouzan with rope detailed rim.  A very old Kouzan with a marvelous patina.  The glaze has become rough and pitted with tiny imperfections over the years, its feel is like fine grained sandpaper, while the clay body has become so smooth it feels like it has been oiled, two characteristics of very old pots that have seen heavy use. The clay body is white(Now nearly dark brown with age), a clear indication of pre-war and early edition pots.

Clockwise from top Left: Suizan, Siewafu, Haruyoshi

A few small sometsuke pots, by three very different painters.  The Suizan has a marvelous patina, and is quite old.  The Siewafu and Haruyoshi pots are both unused.  Haruyoshi has become a very popular painter in Japan in the last few years, and his pots are often seen in major shows.  His 5 color painting pots command the highest prices, and are quite nice!  Ill be writing a post featuring his Sometsuke in the coming months.  Siewafu is a Seto area potter, producing very nice pots with classical Seto style paintings.  I like the dragon on this pot, the use of negative space and foot and rim details are also quite nice.

Ino Shukuho, 5" x 3" x 2"

A typical example of the marvelous handmade pots by Ino Shukuhou.  Like the Ino pot posted for comparison to Tofukuji in the last post, this pot has a very fine overglaze of silver, with blue green underglaze and nice fine crazing.  Cut corners and feet are well done, perfect angles and proportionate lines.

Shigeru Zyubei, 4.5" x 2"

A marvelous glazed pot in greens, blues, and browns by Zyubei, a relatively unknown potter in the U.S. who is one of my current favorites.  His glazes are reminiscent of Tofukuji, Shukuhou, and Kouyou.  The feet, angles, and rim of this pot are relatively thin, and sharp…this should give you a good idea of the thickness of the glaze!  Extremely thick glazes of this quality are rare, common for Tofukuji, not so common for contemporary potters.  I love the center bottom.  The varying glazes come together in a perfect single drip so well placed and formed, it appears to be foot detail!  The glare hides it, but there is also a very nice, fine crackle to the glaze.  In the next post I will feature my favorite 10 pots from this potter.

Watanabe Kazuhiro(Ikkou), 4" x 3" x 3"

A light blue glazed deep, banded rectangle by Watanabe Kazuhiro(Ikkou).  I love the blue glazes of Ikkou, as well as his greens, yellows and unglazed clay pots.  The is the most common blue color glaze from Ikkou, and looks especially nice on Mokko(Quince flower) pots.

Watanabe Kazuhiro(Ikkou), 4.5" x3" x 1"

Another Ikkou oval with green and brown glaze and blue highlights.  A really nice patina has started to form on this Ikkou, which will only improve as I cant wait to plant it!  I really like the subdued greens and blue notes, very refined and versatile.

Mino Kenzan, 7"x 4" x 2"

A very nice deep blue glazed oval from Mino Kenzan.  Kenzan makes very classical glazed and unglazed pots, never flashy, or even overstated.  This makes them highly versatile and useful, as can be seen from the patina on this pot.  I like the pots of Kenzan, high usability and better quality than most production line Tokoname.  That all of his pots are classical and functional, is, to me, a virtue of this underappreciated potter.  After all, is not understatement a virtue when matching a tree to pot?

Thanks for reading, I hope you enjoyed it.  In the next post I feature the pots of Shigeru Zyubei, then on to the unglazed pots and clay of Tofukuji, along with a pictorial guide to his Hanko and Rakkan.