There’s a new kid in town. Rob Yellin might diss the kodai (then again, maybe he won’t),
and the fact that there is no box, but I love this piece. This ochoko is all I need for sake these days, having supplanted far more expensive pieces.
Subtle brown and green color nuances. Light. Delicate brushstrokes in the clay that actually make you wonder if (1) the artist did it on purpose or (2) did not have better technical prowess. Flaws and faults that straddle the realms of deliberate and unavoidable. Browns. Browns that might be blacks. Greens. Greens that might be lime. Flecks here and there. A thought-out base (the aforementioned kodai). And a signature of the artist for those that know how and where to look for it.
Made by a local Shonan artist, whose name I do not remember,
in spite of the fact that I have bought four of his or her pieces, one or two per year for three years. Picked up at Okeba, the gallery for local artists at Kumazawa Shuzo, producers of the inimitable sake Tensei.
Really, photos do not do this puppy justice. Holding it in one’s hand, looking closely at the details through sake in the cup itself, and sake coursing through the observer, reveal its true beauty.