Bizen Tokkuri

This is a Bizen Tokkuri by Yamamoto Toshu, a Living National Treasure renowned for peerless mastery—often described as miraculous—and for creating numerous celebrated works.

The piece dates from around the time when, after beginning his career as an artisan and living through a turbulent era, Toshu was recognized as an Important Intangible Cultural Property of Okayama Prefecture.

Its impeccably symmetrical, crisply composed form—hallmarks of a master who devoted his life to the wheel—is a pleasure to behold. A rich, shiso-purple tone rises from the clay, overlaid with Toshu’s signature metallic kinsai sheen that lends the surface a platinum-like luster.

At the Yamamoto kiln, in addition to pine split logs, other woods are fed into the firing and the work is fired thoroughly. As a result, an inky black ground forms, from which a subdued, weathered kigoma (natural ash) freckle pattern emerges on the shoulder.

Judging from the box inscription and potter’s seal, as well as the style, this is a late-period work from after Toshu turned seventy. Yet the powerfully raised shoulder and dignified, full body retain youthful vitality, suggesting that beyond logic and formal technique, the craftsman’s body itself still remembered the work.

He was born in Bizen City, Okayama Prefecture in 1906.
He was designated a Living National Treasure in 1987.
He died in 1994.