White Carbonized Glass "Kagutsuchi" Glow

This is the new "White Carbonized Glass: Kagutsuchi" by Toru Ichikawa, who made a sensational debut after studying under Ryuichi Kakinoki. It is an exceptionally inventive work, typical of Ichikawa-sensei, who gives shape to his endlessly overflowing ideas through the supreme medium of clay. This glass, from the new "Kagutsuchi" series, is a bold latest work inspired by the Japanese mythology of Kagutsuchi, the god of fire. Evoking the myth of the deity who was born by burning his mother, Izanami-no-Mikoto, the piece features intense, scorched-like *kairagi* (plum-blossom crackle) glaze achieved by pushing the shrinkage rate to its absolute limit. As the god of fire is also worshipped as the god of metalworking, I believe this work embodies Ichikawa-sensei’s pride in the act of creating objects through fire—the essence of ceramics. This piece uses a beautiful silver base created through carbonization, with fine white glaze resembling falling snow creating a fantastic landscape. While the Kagutsuchi series usually conveys the intensity of flames, this piece is striking for its silver-white worldview, possessing a fragility as if it were sculpted from packed snow. Signed wooden box (shiho-san)
Diameter 6.6cm x Diameter 6.4cm x Height 10.1cm Toru Ichikawa was born in Tokyo. He began his apprenticeship under Ryuichi Kakinoki in June 2011 and became independent in Tamano City, Okayama Prefecture, in January 2015.