Bonsai Pot Blog: November 2013

(Tokoname Potter) Hattori Tomoyuki

Hattori-- 服部

RAKKAN HATTORI

Actual name-- Hattori Tomoyuki.

Born 1951 (Showa 26).

He is a graduate of Germany’s Koblenz University of Applied Sciences’ Institute of

Artistic Ceramics. While employed at a German company, in 1977 (Showa

52) he embarked on the path of creating bonsai pots.Hattori debuted his

Shohin pots in the national exhibition (Zenkoku Shobachi Meisakuten) in 1980 (Showa 55). He
received the Tokoname City Nagamitsu Ceramic Arts Prize two years in a row, in
1998 and 1999 (Heisei 10-11).
Currently, contrary to his background in research, Hattori Tomoyuki is working as an actual
simple craftsman. Without the swagger of some artists, he devotes himself to making pots
that attractively display the trees while also being suitable for cultivation and ease of use.
Hattori pots come in sizes large to small, but his main focus is the glazing of shohin pots in
many colors. He doesn’t form his pots using a mold, and while he makes the classic shapes,
rectangular, square, hexagonal, elliptical, round and other shapes, the varieties are abundant.
His use of glazes also aims to use as many of the
standard colors as possible, but his ceramics have many nooks and crannies in the corners
and edges so that the colors change in the kiln. There are many connoisseurs who enjoy
these unintentional effects, so they are shipped out as is.
Hattori, who shapes, glazes and fires his pots by himself is certainly one of the most prolific
of artists. Throughout Japan, he has many admirers and his pots’ superior qualities are
spoken of highly. One aspect of Hattor's glaze is the patina that develops very quickly adding even more interest to his pots

http://www.bonsaivision.com/category-s/1814.htm

HATTORI PLUM BLOSSUM SHAPE

HATTORI HEXAGON SHAPE

HATTORI OVAL SHAPE

HATTORI RECTANGULAR SHAPE

(Tokoname Potter) Begei ; Hirata Atsumi

http://www.bonsaivision.com/category-s/1814.htm

RAKKAN BEGEI

Begei-- 美芸 Beautiful Art

Actual name-- Hirata Atsumi-- 平田淳美Born 1939 (Showa 14). In 1958 (Showa 33), he begun the study of ceramics. He taught himself the craft of the potter’s wheel and in 1969 (Showa 44) he began to make unglazed bonsai pots. In 1975(Showa 50), he established his own kiln. Some Begei pots are chuhin, or medium-sized pots, but Begei has an especially high reputation among connoisseurs of shohin bonsai for its shaded shudei (vermilion) shohin pots. (Japanese: 朱泥暈し: shudei bokashi: a vermilion clay that is shaded from light to dark).In recent years, he has made strenuous efforts to add decorative details to his pots, such as sketching pictures, carving see-through designs and carving figures in relief. Such detail work, if not overdone, adds interesting variations to the pots. However, the most tasteful shohin bonsai pots are of course the ones which best promote the main qualities of the tree. With his knowledge of bonsai, Begei continued to create simple but attractive shohin pots. With the closing of his kiln and retirement the bonsai world has lost one of it's most revered potters and ceramic
artists

BEGEI SQUARE POT WITH WINDOW

BEGEI RECTANGULAR POT CUT CORNERS WITH FRAME ATTACHED

BEGEI OVAL POT WITH INSCRIBED SCENE

BEGEI HEXAGON POT WITH INSCRIBED SCENE

BEGEI ROUND POT WITH CARVED OUTER SHELL

BEGEI BASKET WEAVE POT

(Tokoname Potter) Gyouzan Nakano Yukizou

GYOUZAN
Artist; NAKANO Yukizou

http://www.bonsaivision.com/product-p/bv00f51.htm

SIGNATURE NAKANO Yukizo

Gyouzan--行山 (MOUNTAIN TRAVEL)
Actual name-- Nakano Yukizou-- 中野行三
(Born 1940-- Showa 15).
Apprenticed under Wada Yoshiyama, he opened an independent kiln in 1972 (Showa 47).
He specialized in colored clay pots, in sizes ranging from small and medium pots up to
extremely large shapes, until he had completed every possible size and shape of pot. He
exhaustively researched the ingredients of clays as well as the methods of ceramic firing,
and worked at reproducing the various clays from Chinese first-crossing pots, including: udei
(black, or crow-colored), toukadei (pink, or peach blossom), kakidei or shidei?? (reddish
brown, or persimmon-colored), shidei (purple), and shudei (vermilion or red). Then, around
1976 (Showa 51), he perfected his own original clay color-- akebono (shodei-- sunrise
color).
At first, he produced pots by firing them in an electric kiln, but starting in 1984 (Showa 59), in
response to a change in the ingredients of Tokoname clays, he had to switch over to a
gas-powered kiln. Moreover, his pot-making methods changed then due to a serious illness
and physical weakness he suffered shortly before switching to a gas kiln. He had been
shaping pots by hand while using a pressing-mold, then firing them in the electric kiln.
Because the larger pressing-molds are extremely heavy, he changed to using a footpedal
and string method, a purer form of the hand-made concept. Even now, far more of his
products are made just by hand, rather than using a mold
Gyouzan pots have an established reputation for both the shape and the quality of the clay
enhancing the beauty of the trees planted in them, and are known for quickly acquiring a
classic patina as they are used. Currently, he is considered among the makers of Tokoname
pots to be the most famous and accomplished top-ranked artist. In 2004 (Heisei 16), a
retrospective of his works was published, entitled Nakano Gyouzan: Splendor. A 35-year
Journey.