Throwing pots in a traditional Japanese ceramic studio

Working in a Japanese pottery studio was always on my list of things I wanted to experience. Finally, the opportunity arose when Okuda-San offered me to do some practicing on the wheel. The Okuda Pottery Studio has a very large thatched roof building where his parent and then later Mr. Okuda had a production pottery making functional ware. The building was now half occupied by a gallery while the other part was still in its original state. This was a very traditional pottery studio. The structure of the building was made with large beams that were completely blackened by the smoke from the oven over the many decades. Along on one side of the building were windows and in front of them were traditional wheel stations. One needed to hop over a wooden bench and sit on a cushion with an electric wheel in the front. Mr. Okuda gave me some Kasama clay that was yellow in color. This was natural clay, meaning it was dug up from a local clay pit and commercially processed. The clay was very soft and a lot more plastic than what I am used to use at home. Needless to say that I was challenged. I started with throwing of the hump and made some small chawan (tea bowls). I was happy that nobody was watching me as I really struggled with the clay. Mr. Okuda came by after a couple of hours and said it is time for coffee. He looked at my work and me and I was glad that he did not say much. Japanese politeness! I kind felt as a real amateur. I was glad to get up, but I first needed to wash my hands. The water was ice-cold and my hands were quickly numb. Springtime in Kasama is cold.

I dried out the clay on a plaster slab and after few days of practice my throwing became such a joy. The clay was very plastic and it was very easy to make thin walled pieces. Even Mr. Okuda was impressed and I started to feel much better. However with time I also was weary about the number of pots I made and what I am going to do with them. Okuda-San one day looked at all my pieces and said with a worried expression on his face “So many pieces” and I immediately understood what he wanted to tell me. But it was also clear to me that I should take as much time as possible to practice and so there are still many pieces in Okuda-San’s studio that await firing.

Finally Kamadashi arrived and lots of people anxiously awaited the opening of the climbing kiln chambers. There was great excitement and I observed the unloading of the pieces from a distance. Okuda-San’s pots that he placed in the firebox had an incredible color. (pic 3.2, 3.3)

Some had streaks of ash deposits with a bluish color, others had some celadon like subtle green-white color, but all had a very warm and pleasing brownish color where the flame did not reach the pots. This is what wood firing is all about; these colors cannot be attained with glaze firings in a gas kiln. My tea cups that Mr. Okuda placed in the firebox had incredible whitish greenish ash streaks inside and some were black from the fire and had a small “lake” of melted natural ash glaze inside. (pic 3.4) My red clay teacups had a strong greenish color because of the iron in the clay. The kiln god was very good to everybody.
Unloading took much less time than loading, but there were so many beautiful and unique pieces displayed on the tables in the studio (pic 3.6). Again the community of potters and their friends came together and shared their “pieces”, commented on them and needless to say lots of pictures were taken (pic 3.7). Okuda-San was very satisfied with the outcome of the firing (pic 3.8, 3.9) and I could tell he enjoyed the happiness of the people in his studio. This was his contribution to the pottery community of Kasama.

Mr. Tayama, a potter of the Okuda Pottery Cooperative also fired some of his pieces in the noborigama and he asked me whether I would be willing to help him fire his anagama before I leave. Of course I said as this is a one-chamber kiln and is fired differently than a climbing kiln. Mr. Tayama lives close to the Okuda studio somewhere in the woods. This is beautiful countryside with lots of wild cherry trees and a bamboo grove. He lives in an old traditional thatched house and his anagama is nearby. Mr. Tayama works by himself and getting an anagama ready takes lots of work including making the pieces and getting the wood ready for firing. So, my job was for 2 days to split wood into smaller pieces with which to stoke the kiln. It was sunny most of the time with a stiff wind, but chopping wood was warming me up. I glanced at Mr. Tayama how he loads the kiln chamber and I noticed that he places pieces at various angles so that they get different patterns of ash deposits. Most of his pieces were bisque fired, meaning that they were fired first at lower temperature before placing them into the anagama. I was lucky that Mr. Tayama needed a few extra pieces and so he asked me for a few of my tea bowls I made with Kasama clay. He instructed me how to tie some straw fibers around the pieces, similar to that seen with Bizen yakimono. He placed them somewhat in the back of the anagama chamber because these pieces were not prior bisque fired. Again he placed them in all different ways, even upside down to get some different effects. He also placed two larger bottles/flower vases that I made with Shigaraky clay in the front of the kiln chamber since this clay can tolerate heat stress even though the pieces were not bisque fired. Unfortunately, when the kiln was ready to fire, my time was up in Kasama. I was present when Mr. Tayama lit the firebox and the crackling of wood made a nice sound. I came back the next day to say goodbye and the kiln had already reached over 400 degrees centigrade. I had a very hard time to leave since I felt a calling with pottery in Japan, more so than at home. I wanted to be there and stoke the kiln at night, see the stars and gaze at the moon. Mr. Tayama fired the kiln for 5 days and I could hardly wait to see my pieces. Would they survive the firing? What would they look like? How different would the Kasama clay look from the Shigaraki clay? I was unsure how this “experiment” would work out. I received one picture of my fired pieces a few weeks after I returned back home and I was in awe. The bowls made with Kasama clay looked similar to Bizen yaki, dark red with spots where the straw was. There was lots of ash deposits and the bowls all seemed intact. The bottles with Shigaraki clay showed extensive ash deposits and natural ash glaze. I was so excited about the look of the pieces and I wonder how they feel in reality.