Introduction:
Hosai is a 16th-generation head potter at a 400-year-old atelier called Asahiyaki in the famous tea region of Uji. The two major goals of Asahiyaki are the making of tea utensils and porcelain works. Asahiyaki history began with making matcha bowls for tea ceremonies, particularly for feudal lords and tea masters. During the Meiji era over 150 years ago, the craftsman would get orders by postcard. Hosai continues the lineage of Asahiyaki. This includes evoking self-awareness, appreciation for nature and a spiritual connection between those sharing the moment are the essence of this ritual.
The techniques range from digging the clay, and using a potter’s wheel, to making the glaze and firing the kiln. Firing in a climbing kiln or a wood-fired kiln is a skill that requires a lot of experience, and the knowledge that the atelier has cultivated over generations.
He combines the natural properties of the clay with special firing techniques to regulate the level of oxidation. This creates the characteristic mottling effect that is visible in much of our work.
As he explains in an interview, once the pots are in the kiln, it is up to the kiln to work its magic. Each piece will be uniquely different according to how the kiln has worked on it. We wouldn’t want to ‘over control’ this. This is another way in which wabi-sabi runs through our work. The kiln is lit from a master candle on a small altar, which is placed at the foot of the kiln. This has the blessing of the god of fire whose spirit resides on Mount Atago, Kyoto. The whole chain of events in the firing process, therefore, begins with the catalyst of a sacred flame.
Mark of Asahiyaki is ‘’kase’ or “deer back” which is a particular speckled pattern. Being able to bring out this motif is what Asahiyaki is all about. Compared to his predecessors, Hosai’s ceramics are made with gentle colors and contemporary features that continue innovating tradition. His works mostly have a light blue – call that color tone “geppaku” and have a ‘water-like’ color. This particular color comes out with the flame of firewood in the kiln. For Hosai, it’s all about the balance and harmony of the color of the clay and the light blue tone.
Hosai believes this craft will maximize the expression of humanity, connect people and enrich lives. According to him, a good tea bowl is one that has the depth and capacity to hold people’s thoughts and feelings. These tea bowls are cherished for a long time and are passed down from generation to generation and continue to enrich people’s hearts.
Questions:
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When you make a piece of pottery, are you to represent your own sense of beauty?
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This atelier has been making ceramics for 4 centuries, what do you hope your place in history will be?
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What are your main goals when crafting each piece? What do you want to express to the world about Asahiyaki?
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Tea culture is old but ever-changing. Do you feel there is a revival in craftsmanship and its appreciation? Are people simply overloaded with mass production?
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Being a 16th-generation master of your family working at the pottery and keeping 400-year-old traditions alive – of course, this is a huge honor but do you also feel pressure from this responsibility?
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Reflections:
In the afternoon, we were able to meet Hosai-sensei in his studio and learn about his work. In front of us was the kiln, the master candle clearly visible. He told us, with amusement, that when he was a kid, and it was cold, his father always ordered him to go and light the candle. He thought that it must be because his father didn’t want to do it himself. Now, as the sixteenth-generation Hosai and a father himself, he understands: before any cup is fired, before any craft is made, there must be prayer and respect. Now he brings his own son along to pray, to teach him the mindset of devotion that has been passed down for generations.
That devotion is instrumental to the philosophy behind Asahiyaki pottery. The difference between Western and Japanese artists, Hosai-sensei explains, is that in the West artists often use art to express their individuality. For him, art already exists as beauty, and his job as an artist is to draw that beauty out into a physical piece. Asahiyaki ceramics, then, are not about what he wants–they come from a dialogue with the earthen material and nature itself.
Does the prayer before the candle and devotion reflect a religious or spiritual element in his relationship with nature? Hosai-sensei doesn’t think so. Not the world “religious,” at least–it’s something deeper than that. More primitive. He offers an example: when fishermen go out to see, they pray for safe return. When they pray for harmony with nature, they wish to survive. Perhaps, as Muto-sensei has theorized, a dialogue with nature taps into the same impulse.
It is also true that Western art and thought often centers the individual. Before the Enlightenment and the emphasis on human rationality, however, Hosai-sensei’s approach strikingly reminds me of the ideas of great Renaissance and Ancient Greek artists. Michelangelo once said: “Every block of stone has a statue inside it and it is the task of the sculptor to discover it. I saw the angel in the marble and carved until I set him free.” The Ancient Greeks believed that the divine Muses chose and spoke through all great poets; in all great art, there was the touch of God or the gods, and humans acted as the messengers and prophets.
Even then there are obviously differences: the focus on gods versus nature more broadly; the role of humans as partners versus vessels. However, I see in these all these philosophies an appeal to the primitive: a human impulse to understand artistic expression as a connection to a natural world larger than them. The subjects and rituals of prayer are different, but that primitive is always there.