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.