Bonsai Pot Blog: (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