Visit craftsmen – Tokoname ware The attitude of craftsmen who continue to look at new things

Tokoname ware craftsman: Katsutoshi Nakano

Tokoname ware is one of the six ancient kilns and is said to have been made in the late Heian period. Since ancient times, it has been famous for its tempered and unglazed miscellaneousware, but in the Momoyama period, tea utensils began to be produced under the influence of tea.

Why I entered the world of Tokoname ware

An incomprepent dislike of study

Mr. Nakano was born to parents who are engaged in agriculture.

Nakano’s uncle was a pottery potter of Tokoname ware, but he entered the world of pottery by his own will, not in a position where he had to succeed him.

There was feelings of a little to advance to the university when graduating from the high school, and Mr./Ms. Nakano who did not have the idea of finding employment as it was sprang up, and came to go to the vocational school of pottery in seto City (Because there was no special school of pottery in Tokoname City at that time) that feelings that “Monozukuri” might be pleasant sprout.

After graduating from a vocational school, I went to Kyoto.

After graduating from a vocational school, I left my parents’ home and went to Kyoto to study ceramics.

So I studied Kyoto ware and Kiyomizu ware for 10 years, and as my eldest son, I returned to Tokoname City and opened a tokoname pottery.

When I asked him if the methods of Kyoto-yaki, Kiyomizu-yaki, and Tokoname-yaki are different, I think that the way they make pottery at the root of traditional ceramics is the same.

He said that there was one technique, and that it took root in various places, and only the specialty field that existed in the land was born, and it was not so much a problem though the clay used in Kyoto ware, Shimizu ware, and Tokoname ware was different.

A new form of pottery

Pottery Tank

In Tokoname, we started making water tanks about five years ago.

At first, it seems that it was a customer’s idea, but when I decided to actually make it, I raised my hand to three kilns, including Mr. Nakano.

The water tank with pottery was not made elsewhere, so he was worried about what shape to make.

However, he said that it was fun to make a shape like no other because it was a water tank made with an unprecedented idea.

First attempt in Tokyo

Until now, pottery tanks were sold only in Aichi Prefecture.

It has been 5 years since we began to make quality improvements repeatedly. It’s about time I wanted to sell it elsewhere, so I decided to make my first unveiling here in Aoyama Square.

There are many customers who actually stop, and they look at it unusually, but they said that it was difficult to make a purchase.

The idea of the shape of an aquarium is an aquarium in the Edo period?

Nakano-san was inspired by a wooden water tank that was placed in the rooms of lords and daimyo in the Edo period.
Derived from it, we devised several shapes of aquariums.

Currently, it is a water tank that contains medaka, but at first it put goldfish.

However, goldfish must put an air pump in the water tank, so it was troublesome to wash the water tank even if another hole was attached to the back or installed, so it seems to have been dedicated to Medaka.

If you continue to make new things from now on …

What Nakano aims for

Nakano’s idea is that the technology to make the same thing in the same way may certainly be necessary, but it does not last only by itself.

Mr. Nakano is always particular about the new “form”.

Tokoname ware is a production area where many tea ware (teapots) and bonsai pots are made. It is very difficult to do something like never before with those things. The same is true of tableware and vases.

However, since the water tank we made this time does not have a production area where we make water tanks with pottery, you can feel new no matter what shape you make. He said that was important.

Certainly, the general image of traditional crafts has a strong impression that it is “old”, so it may be interesting to appeal in a form that has never existed before.

Mr. Nakano happily talked about his desire to continue making pottery products like no other and making original things that he thought about himself.

It is said that they are suffering from a shortage of successors in the production area of Tokoname ware.

There is a possibility that there will be no baby boomers around ten years later, and then there is a possibility that the creators of teapots will decrease at a stretch.

Although some craftsmen are in their 20s, they said that they need to do something as a production area for Tokoname ware because they are not aspiring to be craftsmen but as ceramic artists.

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Mr. Nakano is currently exhibiting at the Tokoname Ware Traditional Craftsman Nakano Katsuyoshi Ceramics Exhibition at Aoyama Square until June 29.

During the period, you will be in Aoyama Square, so please come and talk to us.