You have become good at tsubo, but the spouts of your tokkuri lack class
What is written above was said to me in my late 20s. The person concerned was the head of a traditional tableware wholesaler who lived in my neighborhood. To describe them in more detail, they were involved in the local community, and had known me well since I was a small child. Their comment was made in response to their having attended a group exhibition in which I was involved.
To offer some more in the way of a backstory, to my family’s trade name, tsubo-ya (literally “a retailer of tsubo”), was attached because the first head of the business during the Edo period was a noted potter who specialized in the production of such wares. Likewise, my own master to whom I apprenticed was recognized as a famous producer of some high-quality examples. Meanwhile, among the potters of my own generation, perhaps it was me who spent the longest time in the sharpening of my tsubo skills. Indeed, at the outset of my career, I focused solely on such wares in order to get examples of my work included in public exhibitions. Concerning the nature of the form itself, while relatively speaking it can be somewhat frustrating to shape their mouths, personally, I preferred such a focus rather than applying myself to the creation of tokkuri, which with their smaller working area and diameter, were merely a form of tableware. Indeed, creating the spout of a tokkuri only meant making use of a piece of chamois leather to create a beautiful lip. Accordingly, if I am honest, I should say that back then, I did not make such pieces any great numbers.
Nevertheless, was it really the case that the spouts of my tokkuri lacked class? In responding to that, I should mention that from quite early on in my professional life, I was highly conscious that my output required a degree of “class” and “character” in order to be successful. Additionally, I was aware that my efforts needed to deliver on the “alluring” aesthetic. Concerning that last requirement, I suppose I was fortunate in that such often developed within my own works with the passage of time. Likewise, I should mention that, when I was young, I had the opportunity to examine a great variety of tokkuri. Thus, I was conscious of the fact that there were a great number in circulation whose sense of “class” was lacking. Nevertheless, I will admit that I didn’t really understand what represented a superior spout. Was such witnessed in those examples recognized as masterpieces of the form? Were such elements found on the wares of famous potters? If I think about some of the Bizen-yaki and Kyo-yaki tokkuri that I examined, certain pieces had spouts that were clearly excellent. Having shared all those details, however, after investigating so many tokkuri, I went through a period of about 20 years of not producing many pieces myself. Reflecting on that, perhaps I moved away from the form due to having experienced some trauma. Likewise, the greater interval during which I didn’t make any, the more and more I forgot about chancing my arm. To wit, during the time when I focused more closely on private exhibitions, there was a corresponding boom in the popularity of the reishu drinking style. That in turn meant that I devoted much of my time to the production of katakuchi. More recently, however, I have gone back to producing tokkuri. Concerning that, because when I was a youngster, I probably made more tsubo than anybody else, my associated skills are still of a passable level. Nevertheless, I do consider myself to be a novice in certain areas in that, regarding them, it is only possible to produce something initially by relying on those acquired techniques that come with age.
Finally, to touch on another subject, there used to be a certain pottery group that felt that it was not good for its younger members to challenge themselves and attempt to create matcha tea bowls. Recalling that mindset, when members of that same group started to display their own efforts once they had obtained seniority, their output was not very good. That was despite the fact that some of their other pottery forms were quite impressive. Personally speaking, I don’t want to end up confronted by such a predicament. I say that as well because of some of the private exhibitions I have witnessed over the years.
