A natural ash glazed (Shizen-yu) vase by legendary artist Kumano Kurouemon enclosed in the original signed wooden box titled Echizen Hanaire. It is 26 cm (10-1/2 inches) tall, 17 cm (6-1/2 inches) diameter and in excellent condition.
A ceramic madman, oil painter and recluse, Kuroemon is as eccentric as his pottery predicts. Born in Fukui prefecture in 1955 Kuroemon was a painter from youth, he began his studies under Fujita Jurouemon in 1976, and moved to study also under Toda Soshiro...

Silver glistens inside the near matt core of this fabulous chawan by JCS Gold Award winner Ito Keiji enclosed in the original signed wooden box. It is 12 cm (5 inches) diameter, 9.5 cm (just less than 4 inches) tall and in excellent condition.
Ito Keiji was born in 1935, and has spent his life challenging the accepted concepts of traditional ceramics. He was awarded at the 1981 Faenza International Ceramics Exhibition...

A masterpiece by Kato Shigetaka, this bowl is very powerful, and I am not one to wax too longingly on individual pieces. In short: he nailed it with this bowl which comes enclosed in the original signed wooden box titled Kuro Chawan. It is 13 cm (5 inches) diameter, 9 cm (3-1/2 inches) tall and in excellent condition.
Kato Shigetaka (1927-2013) was born the son of legendary revivalist Kato Tokuro, his older brother the legendary rebel Okabe Mineo...

First we hear the clang of the hammer striking the bell, then the steadily approaching clop of his wooden shoes before the horrifying creature dressed in the robes of an itinerant priest appears; a ledger in one hand noting our sins. This is a very rare ceramic figurine by Suwa Sozan I enclosed in the original signed wooden box titled Nenbutsu Oni and bearing the seal of the imperial Art Academy. It is 30 cm (12 inches) tall and in excellent condition...

A breathtaking new look at Shigaraki Anagama ware by Furutani Taketoshi enclosed in the original signed wooden box titled Shigaraki Shizen-yu Yohen Shinogi Tsubo (Natural Ash Glazed Blade Style Shigaraki Tsubo). The artist has coil formed the vessel, with thick walls, then incised a waving pattern leaving a saw-tooth surface dusted in ash with brilliant hi-iro and dark charring. It is 31 cm (12 inches) tall and in excellent condition. Directly from the artist this summer...

Dragonflies alight on autumn grasses and bush clover forming the perfect seasonal connotation under an engorged white moon on this pair of mouse-colored (Nezumi) vases by Shino legend Wakao Toshisada enclosed in the original signed wooden box titled Nezumi Shino So-heki. Together they are 29 cm (11-1/2 inches) long, 18 cm (7 inches) tall and in excellent condition.
Wakao Toshisada was born in Tajimi, Gifu prefecture, home of Mino pottery, in 1933...

An exquisite set of small petaled-plates, each wafer thin, with a floral spray of yagiku (wild chrysanthemum) in a blue dial in the center by Suwa Sozan II enclosed in the original signed wooden box titled Kiku-gata Kozara, Jukyaku (10 Chrysanthemum Shaped Small Dishes) dating from the 1920s. The design is Japanese, the decoration is strongly influenced by Korean wares. Each is 9 cm (3-1/2 inches) diameter and all are in excellent condition...

A ghostly pale tsubo with jagged grooves cut into the shoulder by Kimura Morinobu enclosed in the original signed wooden box titled Kaede-yu O-Tsubo (Large Tsubo with Maple-Ash Glaze). It is 36 cm (14 inches) diameter, 42 cm (16-1/2 inches) tall and in excellent condition. Due to size the cost of shipping will be accrued separately.
Kimura Morinobu (b. 1932) was one of three born into a pottery family in Kyotos Higashiyama pottery district...

Lavender and pink tinge the thick glaze applied to this large open tsubo by Kimura Morinobu enclosed in the original signed wooden box titled Nasu-yu Shitomon Tsubo (Tsubo with Eggplant Glaze). This is a coloration for which Morinobu is well known and is unique to him. I remember meeting him one day at his house in Northern Kyoto and talking about this unusual glaze. He said an entire field of Nasu (eggplant) garners just a handful of this precious ash...

An earing clings to the “mimi” on this fabulous ash glazed vessel by one of our favorite hidden treasures, Tamura Roppo, enclosed in the original signed wooden box titled Koshu Iga Mimitsuki Hanaire. The traditional form is affixed with two “ears”, from one of which clings one tremulous drip of ash, seeming to slightly weigh down that side. Happenstance occurring at just the right place at just the right time during the firing process that it survived without falling or breaking off...

An exquisite vessel in white with elegant stripes of soft color by hard to find Niwa Ryochi enclosed in the original signed wooden box titled Senmon Tsubo. There is a palpable grace to the piece which seems to reflect the Japanese appreciation of silence and shadows. It is 27.5 cm (11 inches) diameter, 33 cm (13 inches) tall and in excellent condition. Hirashimizu-yaki started when the Lord Niwa Jizaemon, invited Tojihei Ono, a potter from Ibaraki, to make pottery using clay from Chitoseyam...

Graffito scrawls through the silver lining of this fine Chawan by Morino Taimei enclosed in the original signed wooden box. A single dark spot, like a phpotograhic negative of the full moon reflected in water. Outside a wavering line about the foot. The bowl is 12.5 cm diameter, 7.5 cm tall and in perfect condition.
Taimei was born in Kyoto in 1934, and was first accepted into the Nitten National Exhibition at a relatively young age in 1957 (a year before graduating the Kyoto Municipal...

A fabulous Shigaraki Tsubo of austere form blasted with natural ash glaze by Otani Shiro enclosed in the original signed wooden box. A classic work it is 20 cm (8 inches) diameter and in excellent condition.
Otani Shiro was born in Shigaraki in 1936 and graduated the Prefectural School in the ceramics department in 1956, which he followed up with 4 years studying decorating techniques under Morioka Yutaro. He then moved to Kyoto where he studied at the Municipal Ceramics Research Facilit...

Exquisite repairs in overlapping gold wave designs on colored lacquer drape upon the rim of this 17th century chawan tea bowl. The white clay is covered with millet colored glaze upon which have been scrawled simple designs like the character for person (hito). The bowl is 10.5 x 10 x 6 cm (4-1/4 x 4 x 2-1/2 inches) and is in excellent condition, in a modern kiri-wood collectors’ box.

Wow, a jaw-dropping bowl in igneous black like some volcanic expulsion by Kim Hono enclosed in the original signed wooden box. So impressed was even the artist with this piece that he has drawn an image of the bowl up the side of the box and over onto the lid. It is 11.5 x 13 x 10 cm 4-1/2 x 5 x 4 inches) and in excellent condition.
Kim Hono was born in Seto City Aichi Prefecture in 1958, and graduated the Prefectural Ceramics School in 1977, then taking up apprenticeship at a local kil...

A beautiful half orb in shimmering silver with matte Caribbean blue by Morino Taimei enclosed in the original signed wooden box titled Ginsai Hai. It is 6.5 cm (2-1/2 inches) diameter and in excellent condition.
Morino Taimei was born in Kyoto in 1934, and was first accepted into the Nitten National Exhibition at a relatively young age in 1957 (a year before graduating the Kyoto Municipal University of Fine Art!). In 1960 he received the prestigious Hokutosho prize at the same National E...

An absolute classic natural ash glazed sake bottle by the reclusive potter Osako Mikio enclosed in the original signed wooden box titled Tokkuri. Most of the surface is covered in ash, tremulous tears of liquefied ash weeping over the charred clay. It is 14 cm tall and in excellent condition.
Osako Mikio (1940-1995), born in Usa Oita prefecture on the Island of Kyushu, arrived at ceramics late in life, starting to study with Ezaki Issei at the Tokonmane ceramic Research Center in 1968 a...

A small bottle with ash draped from the shoulder like a traditional priest robe by Takeuchi Kimiaki enclosed in the original signed wooden box titled Ko-tsubo. It is 10.5 cm (4 inches) tall and in excellent condition.
Takeuchi Kimiaki (1948– 2011) was born in Tokoname and started learning wheel throwing when he was a middle school student. He met his mentor Ezaki Issei at the Tokoname Ceramic School when he was 16 years old. Along with Ezaki, he and Osako Mikio revitalized Tokoname war...