4. ŌTA Tomio 太田富夫 , 1949- , Bizen tsubo (Bizen-ware jug)

4. ŌTA Tomio 太田富夫,1949- , Bizen tsubo (Bizen-ware jug), 1989

Ōta Tomio is a potter working in Oku-cho Town, Okayama Prefecture. He apprenticed at the Prefectural Ceramic Arts Center and studied under Uragami Zenji. In 1973, he built his own kiln. In 1976, he built a noborigama (climbing) kiln, the Wakamiya-gama  若宮窯, named after a local shrine deity.  In 1981, he enlarged the capacity of the kiln to be capable of holding 3,000 pieces. His works have been selected for prefectural exhibitions and for the Traditional Craft Association’s  Chūgoku Branch exhibitions. He received the Genga-kai Honorable Mention award and the Bi-gei-kai Sanyo Newspaper award.

Brown clay; unglazed, colors from wood firing. Weight: 1722 g (3.8 lb). Rim diameter: 7 cm (2-7/8 in); base diameter: 10 cm (3-3/4 in); maximum diameter: 15 cm (6-1/4 in). Height: 25 cm (8-1/2 in). 

Bizen-ware (Japanese 備前焼, Bizenyaki) is made in Okayama Prefecture, which borders the Inland Sea, west of Osaka. Bizen-ware is characterized by significant hardness due to high-temperature firing, an earthen-like, reddish-brown color, an absence of glaze (although the firing may result in natural ash glazing), and markings resulting from wood-burning kiln firing. The clay is sticky and fine, with a high iron content and copious organic matter that makes it poor for glazing. The high strength of the clay, however, causes it to retain its form, making it tough even without glaze. Because of the clay composition, Bizen-wares are fired slowly over 10–14 days using red pine. The finish is determined by how the potter controls the fire. If less firewood is used, the flame will become oxidizing, turning the vessels reddish brown. The molten ash also creates the sprinkles of yellow called goma, or "sesame seed," effects, seen on this pot.

The potter’s mark is incised on the bottom of the pot. The mark is Ōta’s kao 花押 sigil, a highly stylized character used by practitioners of the tea ceremony.

This came in a wooden box, with characters in black ink and a red seal stamp on the lid. The two characters on the upper right of the lid are a highly calligraphic rendering of Bizen. Next to this is the character 壷. (tsubo, jug). In the lower left corner, the long line of characters on the right gives the date June 11, 1989, in Japanese style using the then-emperor’s reign name: 平成元年六月十一日. The line on the left has the potter’s kao sigil. This is followed by the character 作 saku, meaning “made.” Below this is the character Tomi 富 in an archaic style stamped in red by a seal. Included in the box were an orange wrapping cloth, with the kao sigil and the character 作 written in ink and the potter’s stamp in red, and a leaflet with the artist’s biography and a short essay on Bizen-ware.

I received this as a gift. It was purchased in Japan.