I first wrote about Shigeru Zyubei in my third article here, all the way back in May 2011, in Glazed Pots by Shigeru Zyubei. Since then, his star has certainly risen, taking first prize in the 2014 Modern Shohin Potters Exhibition at Gafu-Ten for glazed containers.
From Zyubei 2: “His name is 濱田 重章(Shigenori Hamada) and his kiln named Hin Zyubeiei though his pots are commonly referred to simply as Zyubei. He was born in 1946 in Osaka and began creating shohin bonsai in 1972. By 1973, he was teaching classes in shohin at Shunshoen. In 1981, he began making bonsai pots, and purchased an electric kiln in 1989. After retirement in 2009, he began making bonsai pots professionally.”
Zyubei is obsessed with the old Canton Ao(green), Ruri(indigo) and Shiki(multi color) type glazes and has sought to reproduce them in modernity, to great effect. All of the containers(or similar) are available if any of you readers are interested in acquiring a piece(or 3!). Special thanks once again to Rie Aketo for the photos!
Now, On to the pots!

Zyubei’s Gold award winning entry in the 2014 Modern Small Potters Exhibition.

Two sides of a flambé glazed riveted hexagon. Really nice random mottling.

A fantastically thick glazed small square showing multiple colors and some pitting. Vibrantly Tofukujiesque.

For comparison, here is a famous Tofukuji showing similar warmth and glaze.

A very interesting oval! This glaze is utterly unique, and it’s understated swirling complimentary colors are sublime.

A reddish ochre glaze shot through with streaks of black and cream speckles. Another unique Zyubei glaze.

This is one of my favorite Zyubei glazes. A canton style glaze with running multiple blues. Absolutely gorgeous. One can easily see in this container that Zyubei is quickly approaching Tofukuji’s mastery of Canton style glazes.

A green Tofukuji with similar streaking, in Canton style Oribe.

3 different versions of a swirling Kinyo type glaze. Really interesting patterns that come up like reptile skin or swirling water.

Another of my favorite Canton blue style glazes, Ruri. Zyubei’s Ruri type glazes are often shot through with steaks light blue, green, or white, like lightning, or sometimes running water.

Five different versions of another unique Zyubei glaze. This one is like wave crests at night to me, or a starry sky far far away from the city.

And we’ll finish up with something new from Zyubei. These 6 super mini shitakusa containers are made by Zyubei, and painted by his wife, Momoka(百花). Very quaint and charming.
For the last month my free time to work on articles has been greatly taken by travel to clubs near and far to lecture on bonsai containers, so, sorry for the dearth of new articles!
Over the next couple of weeks I’ll be finishing up several, including Imaoka Machinao and Wazyaku, so stay tuned!

Thanks for reading!