Bizen black rice bowl

This is a black Bizen rice bowl by Masao Akitani, an artist who studied under Living National Treasure Jun Isezaki and creates works overflowing with his own unique originality within a new aesthetic spirit. The piece unites the modern sensibilities cultivated under Jun Isezaki with the artist's own desire, as a pottery enthusiast himself, to pursue ease of use. While aiming for a novel black rice bowl unlike anything seen before, he has carefully designed it for usability by not letting the "cold" black dominate, but rather making the warm *hidasuki* (fire-cord) and *goma* (ash glaze) the protagonists. It is created using the *kabuse-yaki* (covered firing) technique, resulting in a crisp white ground featuring vibrant, striking *hidasuki* patterns. Paper box
Diameter 12.1cm × 12.1cm × Height 6.6cm Masao Akitani was born in Saitama in 1968. He studied under Living National Treasure Jun Isezaki from 1998, and after ten years of training, he built his own kiln in Bizen and became independent in 2008. He held his first kiln firing in 2009. His work has been selected for the Tanabe Museum of Art’s "Chanoyu Molding Exhibition" and the Japan Kogei Association Chugoku Branch Exhibition, and he has received awards such as the Okayama Prefectural Art Exhibition Prize and the Encouragement Award.