234. MURAKOSHI Takuma , 1954- , “Ganbaruman,” ash-glazed Shigaraki-ware vase

234. MURAKOSHI Takuma  村越琢磨, 1954- , “Ganbaruman がんばるまん” (Stick-with-it-Man) ash-glazed Shigaraki-ware vase 

To quote Robert Mangold of the Kura Monzen Gallery: “Murakoshi Takuma is one of those enigmas who simply lives to work with clay. He does not seek to make a living through pottery, but through his primal approach has earned a following which keeps his work in high demand. He was born in Shinshiro-shi in Aichi Prefecture in 1954 and began his stroll down the pottery path in 1980 under the tutelage of Kyoto potter Umehara Takehira. Favoring very rough Shigaraki clay, he established his own kiln in 1997 in the Kiyomizu pottery district of Kyoto, then moved to Nagaoka in 2002. Although eschewing the world of competitive exhibitions, he has been picked up by many of Japan’s preeminent galleries, including private exhibitions at the prestigious Kuroda Toen of Tokyo’s Ginza District.  

In a printed leaflet accompanying this piece, Murakoshi characterizes his approach to pottery as “First, the clay; second, the fire; third, the technique.” He uses clay from Shigaraki mixed with natural ash and fires his pieces in high heat. 

The piece is part of a series of similarly shaped pots all entitled “Ganbaruman.” The “man” here is the English word, as in Superman. Ganbaru means “to persevere,” but it is often used colloquially to encourage others and is equivalent to “Keep at it,”or “Stick with it,” or “Don’t give up.” So, “Stick-with- it-Man.” I don’t know the number of this particular iteration; a posting to Murakoshi’s Instagram account (@takuma.murakoshi) dated September 3, 2020 pictures no. 10 in the series. A posting dated to December 2019 shows nos 5 and 6. So he has been making these for a few years. The 2020 posting also refers to that pot as being part of the Jindai ni gyakkō shirizu 時代に逆行シリズ, or “Running counter to the times series.” This means something similar to Huysman’s À rebours and gets at the mindset behind the shaping of the pot. 

Gray clay, with natural ash glazing and kiln colors in the reddish-pink, brown, gray, and black ranges, with natural ash glazing across most of the surface. The only unaffected sections are the bases of the feet on which this sits. The ash melt and glazing are heavy, even on the interior. There is a pool of vitrified, dark green, glass-like glaze on the bottom of the interior. On the exterior similar accretions of bidoro glazing are found in the many grooves on the piece. Beads of this glaze are present on the underside of the body. 

Weight: 4.2 kg (9.4 lb). Height: 22.8 cm (9 in). Width (maximum): 24 x 16.5 cm (9-1/2 x 6-1/4 in). 

Any attempt to pin this piece down to exact measurements will fail. This sits on four flat tires positioned near the ends of an oval base. The base sags downward toward the center of the piece, as if the feet and base were being crushed by the weight of the body. The body is a rough oval in cross-section, moving inward to the narrowest point at the neck. Above the neck the walls flare outward toward the rim, again a rough oval 10.2 x 9 cm (4 x 3/12 in). The two handles, or Ganbaruman’s arms bow outward in a convex arc from the shoulders to the base (Ganbaruman’s hips). This is a caricature of the human body. Mangold describes it as “A frumpy vase in ash glaze, settled down on its haunches like some tough guy, hands on hips.” The surface is rough and pitted. 

Unglazed before firing, with kiln colors and natural ash glazing. 

This came in a wooden box inscribed by Murakoshi in his distinctive calligraphy. As is his wont, the inscription begins on top of the box and continues down one side. The inscription is written in hiragana and reads: がんばるまん (ganbaruman) and たくま (Takuma). The top is stamped in red with a seal with Murakoshi’s studio name: へうげも屋  (Hyōgemono-ya, “Jocular Fellow Studio”; interestingly he uses the kyūkanazukai, or old kana usage, to write hyō. Hyōgemono is also the name of a popular nanga character. On the side of the box is another seal stamped in red, giving Takuma in characters, 琢磨. Included in the box were a brown wrapping cloth and a printed leaflet from Murakoshi. 

Purchased from the Kura Monzen Gallery in Kyoto, October 2023. The Gallery hosted an exhibition of Murakoshi’s works in October 2023. 

233. FURUTANI Kazuya, 1976- , faceted Iga-ware vase

233. FURUTANI Kazuya  古谷和也, 1976- ,  伊賀面取花入 Iga mentoru hanaire (faceted Iga-ware vase)

Furutani Kazuya is the eldest son of the late Shigaraki and Iga master Furutani Michio 古谷道生 (1946-2000). After completing his education at the Yamaguchi College of Art in 1997, he dedicated a year to ceramics research in Kyoto. Upon his return, he immersed himself in his father's workshop in Shigaraki. After his father’s death, Furutani Kazuya became head of the family. Since then, he has constructed three anagama kilns. He has been invited to exhibit at prestigious events like the National Ceramics Exhibitions and had solo shows at places like the Tōen Gallery in Tokyo. He works in both the Shigaraki and the Iga traditions. 

Light gray clay, with some feldspar pebble inclusions; unglazed, with kiln-effect colors in the black, gray, and red ranges and some vitrified natural ash glazing. Weight: 2.9 kg (6.5 lb). Height: 30.5 cm (12 in). Width: of mouth, 3.2 cm (1-1/4 in); of lip, 6.7 cm (2-5/8 in); maximum, 10.2 cm (4-1/8 in). 

This was shaped using the mentoru technique (see item no. 232). It sits on a flat circular area inside the base; the center of this area was slightly and irregularly hollowed out. This is not quite a foot ring, since there are no exterior walls. Outside the ring, the base has been beveled slightly upward and the clay pushed out to protrude in an irregular line on all sides beyond the walls above it. The protrusion varies in width but is no more than a centimeter (3/8 in) wide at most. Measurement of the interior of the vase shows that the base is about two centimeters (3/4 in) thick. The walls have been roughly shaped into six vertical facets, with varying widths, and some horizontal shelves on the front side (arbitrarily, the side with the heaviest ash deposits). The artist’s mark was incised across two of the facets on the back side near the base; the mark is larger than is common for such marks. The walls are thick—about 1.2 cm (1/2 in). The widest part of the vase is 12.5 cm (5 in) above the base; the walls narrow both above and below this. The lip of the vase is lower toward the front of the vase.  The surface is rough and pitted. 

This was made from Iga clay, with some addition of feldspar pebbles, as is typical of Iga-ware. It was unglazed but acquired some natural ash glazing across the upper half of the front side and the top couple centimeters of the interior. The firing created kiln-effect colors in the black and gray range across the front and in the gray and red ranges on the back. The interior shows some red coloration. 

This came in a box with a stamped orange wrapping cloth and a potted biography. Unfortunately the box was damaged in shipping. I have glued it back together and reinforced it. The top of the box was inscribed by Furutani in three lines, from right to left: 伊賀 Iga /  面取花入 mentoru hanaire (Iga-ware faceted vase) / 和也  Kazuya; followed by the artist’s seal in red, an irregular blob with the character 和 Kazu. 

Purchased from Treasures of Old Times, Bangkok, Thailand, October 2023.

232. FURUTANI Hiromu, 1922­-2012, Shigaraki-ware water container for the tea ceremony

 232. FURUTANI Hiromu 古谷弘, Chūroku 忠六 I, 1922­-2012, Shigaraki shizenyū mentoru mizusashi 信楽自然釉面取水指  (Shigaraki-ware natural ash-glazed, faceted water container for the tea ceremony)

As evident in this piece, Furutani Hiromu was fascinated by the possibilities of koge 焦 (charring), hi-iro 火色  (flame color), and other kiln effects of Shigaraki-ware. He devoted himself to the recovery of pre-Edo firing techniques. He was on the forefront of research into ancient kiln construction and re-created both an anagama and a noborigama (climbing kiln). He was the first artist named a Dentō Kōgeishi (traditional craftsman) in Shigaraki, accepting that honor in 1976. After that his works were exhibited throughout Japan, as well as internationally. Breaking from tradition however, he also worked to create carved and modeled pieces with animated creatures writhing across the surfaces or arching to form handles. Furutani Hiromu was the father of Furutani Hirofumi 博文 (Chūroku  忠六 II) and grandfather of Furutani Taketoshi (see items nos. 218 and 224), all potters in the Shigaraki tradition. 

Light gray clay, unglazed before firing, with kiln effects in the gray and red ranges. Weight: 3.45 kg (7.7 lb). Height: overall, 22 cm (8-3/4 in); lid, 4.2 cm (1-5/8 in); bottom section, 19.3 cm (7-5/8 in). Width: lid, 11.7 cm (4-5/8 in); mouth, 16.8 cm (4-1/4 in), rim, 14.5 cm (5-3/4 in), base (maximum), 18.4 cm (7-1/4 in). 

This sits on the flat base. Remnants of the wads used during the firing to separate the piece from the kiln shelf are evident on the bottom. The characters 忠六 in a cursive script were incised into the base. The white sticker with the number 58 is from the exhibition of the works of the three Furutani generations at the Kura Monzen Gallery in Kyoto in 2023. Measurement of the depth of the interior reveals that the base is 2 cm (3/4 in) thick. The edges of the base follow the contours of the faceted walls. 

The walls were shaped by the mentoru process up to a height of 14.5 cm (5-3/4 in), where a narrow ridge of clay, hereafter the “collar,” circles the piece. Mentoru is usually translated “faceted,” but the English word seems too adjectival to me. The Japanese word is a verbal compound and implies a process of forming a face by removing or taking something away. This section has eight facets extending from the collar down to the base formed by slicing away the clay. Each section is slightly concave toward the center. The borders between the facets are sharp, bumpy ridges. The bottom of each facet between these vertical borders has been curved upward to form a curved indent, creating a series of scallops between sharp points beneath the ridges. Each facet has a series of closely spaced, shallow vertical grooves running from the collar to the scallops, perhaps made by a metal comb. The scallops were formed after these grooves were made and cover the grooves near the base. The grooves are most apparent on the side with almost no ash deposits (arbitrarily, the “back side”). The heavy ash deposits on the front side mostly obscures the grooves. Furutani dug deeper and larger grooves in an “M” pattern across the front facets. 

There are two “handles” vertically centered on the collar, on opposite sides of the piece, roughly between the front and back sides. The handles are more bumps with which one can grasp the piece rather than handles proper. They are rough wads of clay. The one on the left appears to have been damaged after the firing; it is hollow and the rough unglazed clay is exposed.

Above the collar, there is an indented section, and above this a section with horizontal grooves and rings that juts out a bit. Each of these sections occupies roughly half of the space between the collar and the rim. The lip has groove running around the circumference. The gallery on which the lid sits is recessed about 1.3 cm (1/2 in) below the lip. 

The lid has a central knob, which appears to have been shaped from a flattish piece of clay formed into a rough, open cylinder, with the top edges folded inward around an irregular opening. The top side of the lid is fairly flat, with concentric circular grooves radiating from the center. The underside of the lid is slightly convex toward the center. The lid doesn’t sit very securely on the gallery. 

The interior of the piece is an irregular cylinder, with some finger marks from the shaping. 

The surface of the piece is very rough and broken. 

What is visible of the clay body reveals that Furutani used a fine-grained clay for this. This was unglazed before firing. The front side and the top side of the lid acquired a thick layer of ash during the firing, resulting in a heavy deposit of vitrified gray glaze with some green bidoro on the grooves of the lid, the underside of the lid near the edges, and the bottom edges of the M across the front. The other side of the body became a coral red as a result of the firing; the back side also has droplets of vitrified glaze in a cream color strewn randomly over the surface. Some portions of the base and the underside of the lid and most of the interior show the unaltered clay; the interior exhibits some pink coloring on the walls and some natural ash glazing on the bottom.

This came in a wooden box, with an orange wrapping cloth and a potted biography of the artist. The lid of the box was inscribed by Furutani Taketoshi, in four lines, from right to left: 信楽 Shigaraki  /  自然釉  shizenyū (natural ash glaze) /  面取水指 mentoru mizusashi (faceted water container) / 初代 shodai (first generation) 忠六  Chūroku, followed by the artist’s seal in red (again reading 忠六  Chūroku).  The seller also included a copy of the exhibition booklet.

The results imply that Furutani sited this piece very carefully in the kiln so that the kiln effects resulted in well-delineated front and back sides.

Purchased from the Kura Monzen Gallery, Kyoto, Japan, September 2023. (Invoice, shipping and customs documents)