Bizen Guinomi

This is a new Bizen sake cup by Takashi Soga, who challenges the aesthetic of antiquity by recreating the environment of the era when Old Bizen was fired. To replicate the style of the Old Bizen period, he avoids the use of firebricks and other modern materials; consequently, the kiln is fired in a way that defies all modern common sense regarding thermal efficiency. As a result, it reveals a supreme earthen quality that transcends modern beauty and approaches that of Old Bizen itself. Fired with the aim of achieving a kiln-transmutation (yohen) in Mr. Soga’s signature style, it features a romantic tear-shaped "nuke" (clear patch) amidst a rich ash coating. Although the heavy ash deposits have partially carbonized, the texture is remarkably soft to the touch, evoking an urge to keep stroking it while enjoying the refined scenery. The earthen quality visible in the interior and the "hima" (fire-scarred gaps) reveals a rustic, coarse texture with a subtle hint of red, perfectly following the Old Bizen tradition of "firmly fired yet richly colored earth." Signed wooden box (shiho-zan) with lid
Diameter 6.0cm × Diameter 6.0cm × Height 5.4cm Takashi Soga was born in Tokyo in 1984. He apprenticed under Jun Isezaki in 2009 and built his own kiln in Kugu, Bizen City, in 2012. He became independent and began his pottery career in 2013.