Hello everyone!!
I’m the "Bizen Monk," and I’ve been feeling quite giddy lately because so many customers have told me, "I've been reading your blog."
I’ve been suffering from lower back pain recently, and I’m worried that my body is starting to break down.
It’s likely due to a lack of exercise, but the throbbing pain is quite persistent.
Because of this, I’ve recently started stretching and running.
Please, everyone, do be careful about getting enough exercise yourselves.
Now then, today I’d like to introduce a large antique Bizen jar that has arrived at our shop.
I haven’t really had much interest in old things myself, but wow, I’m stunned.
Even though I’ve complained about mortars and large bowls, saying "That's huge" and "That's heavy,"
this one is so enormous it actually made me gasp, "What on earth is this?"
It’s so large that a man could fit inside it to take a bath (perhaps?).
I wonder what on earth the driving force was that led someone to create such a thing.
To think they did it using only a kick wheel (a so-called massive, manually-operated potter's wheel) and human labor—
as a representative of the weak modern generation, I can't even begin to fathom it.
Just as convenience sometimes breeds laziness, I feel we may have forgotten those simple, almost primitive, initial impulses.
Looking at this large jar, I can feel an incredible passion and energy radiating from it,
but even more than that, it feels like they truly enjoyed making it.
It’s as if it was something that couldn’t have been made without enjoyment—a sort of infinite fusion of joy and the energy of creation.
In any case, it feels as though a powerful force, impossible to put into words, has struck me right in the heart.
I am certain that the person who made this wasn't worrying about small, trivial things the way we do, such as "How are sales?" "How many customers came in?" or "What's the site traffic like?"
To put it bluntly, it's wild and unconstrained, but I can feel the cry of a vibrant, spirited soul.
Perhaps it's a state of being where you can work while forgetting that you're even working.
These days, I find myself thinking that maybe I should try to let go a little more myself.