He heard about the plans for a folk art museum and was willing to provide funds to build one. Yanagi has been said to find something ethically sacred in the art of the unknown people.
MASHIKO
Ramada's property is situated in a pleasant valley above the hill north of the village. It is actually a small village unto itself, feudal. It may be worth noting that thatched roofs were a striking feature of the rural England Hamada knew.). Kusayanagi goes on to say that it is not only the physical setting that reminds one of feudal times, but the self-sufficiency of the master and his people (about seven or eight families) in terms of supplies.
Along the entire length of the front of the building are sliding, paper-covered windows, which give a pleasant diffused light. In the center of the earthen floor is a brick cut, two feet square and several inches deep. The length of the building under the window is a bench-like structure about two feet high and six feet wide.
Kusayanagi says it consists of "40 square km.11 This is of course out of the question, but he may mean 40 hectares.
CLAY
34;In our workshop," writes Hamada, "we then spread it out, trample it layer by layer, and cut cross-sections of the clay to be trampled again. The men mix large piles of it with their bare feet on the ground floor of the shop. At the end of mixing, it is left on the floor in piles about 3 x 3 x 3 feet. Slices of between thirty and fifty pofuuis are cut off on the edge of the platform next to the wheel and kneaded.
If the clay is too soft, large pieces are thrown against the stone wall outside under the windows, and a board is placed on the floor to catch it as it dries and falls away. But I prefer to use local clay, which is, after all, an integral part of the village and its people. Just because the clay is not first class, I, a Mashiko foreigner, would master it in twenty years.
If the clay was better quality, it probably would have taken me much longer to learn to control.
FORMING
They are heavy and thick in section, but this is not noticeable due to the general character of the parts. Here is Janet Leach's description - in some respects quite different from the other two. When Hamada is throwing, it is clear that he is only aware of the nature of the material he uses - the clay - and the form he envisages.
Like many potters, Hamada places great emphasis on the potter's awareness of internal form in the course of throwing. A well-thrown pot, properly balanced, with good distribution of clay, may be lighter in the hand than an improperly balanced pot of the same weight. Trimming: In Japan, the foot ring is one of the most important parts of a pot, especially a tea ceremony bowl.
Or if one wishes, the walls of the body can be thickened and then cut.
GLAZES
If the iron content in the body is high, the glaze becomes blue-gray. This "interesting" effect is the so-called halo effect, a dark and uneven border between the rust glaze area and the standard glaze surface. g.w.). 34; Above are all the glazes that we use at Mashiko, but of course they can be changed in countless combinations.
For example, black and translucent glaze can be poured over a biscuit-fired body with yellow ocher slip, black glaze can be dragged or splashed over white translucent and black glaze, a finger-wipe design can be made. Bernard Leach (in A Potter's Book, page 127) says black or tenmaku is obtained by adding only 10 percent medium wood ash to the iron rust glaze. 34;By changing the strength of the glaze, the method of application (shooting, dragging, splashing, dipping or brushing), or by changing the shape of the pot, it is possible to produce endless variations.
When using enamels on pottery, it is best to first dip the pot in white sheet (a6.53 ➔ • Okinawa white sheet is especially good for this purpose when used with the standard Okinawa glaze, which contains lime from its coral reefs and husked rice ash next to alumina.".
DECORATION
Sometimes clay is applied to the pot to create a design in relief, or a ridge may be created on the wheel. The pot is then dipped in the white slip, which can be cut or decorated with a brush. Sometimes the side of a round pot is lightly dipped in white slip to form a round spot over which brushwork can be added for a "window picture~" Slip can also be poured or dragged or sprayed.
The blurring of the original pattern by the additional clay and the scraping is a characteristic feature of inlay. Sometimes a glaze pattern can be washed over a primary glaze before being dipped in a second glaze. 34; Brushing: Due to the thickness of pigment combined with slip, it is necessary to use a brush with long, stiff bristles to decorate a pot.
34; next best bamboo and peony." What she did know was what kind of dog and from what part of the dog to cut the hair for the brushes.
KILNS AND FIRING
Like the other Mashiko potters, Hamada does not use cones, but he does use test pieces that can be removed from the kiln and examined. Towards the end of baking, coarse salt is freely thrown into the oven, the salt. The secret to the success of these shells is said to be due to the fact that the calcium carbonate of the shells and sodium chloride do not chemically interact.
34;There are many dangers connected with the use of salt glaze, for salt will attack the bricks of the kiln itself, cause material to drip from the ceiling of the kiln onto the pots, and by penetrating the body, cause bottles to bend and one clings to another. According to Janet Leach, such a firing from one of the larger furnaces takes place every six weeks. 34;To my eyes, says Janet Leach, "his cycle of work represented a miracle, regardless of the quality of the ware.
It seems obvious that Hamada, like other potters in Mashiko, uses a local team of firing experts for firing.
SALES
Their names are well known not only to art lovers but to the general public. Even the government recognizes their contribution to the nation by designating them "living cultural treasures", paying them pensions and awarding them awards. Books are written about them, articles about them appear in popular magazines and Hamada, for example, occasionally appears on television. Daniel Rhodes, who attended one of Ramada's exhibition sales at a leading department store in Tokyo, reports that Hamada's exhibitions are usually sold out before they open.
On a visit to Hamad's workshop, Rhodes noticed several hundred beer mugs, each with the company's branding on the side. Finally, there is a continuous flow of visitors to Hamada's workshop, and almost everyone buys something. For example, Rhodes bought a small salt-glazed bottle with a small blister for $20.
If we keep in mind the estimated annual production of over 40,000 pots, we can get an idea of Ramada's income.
WHAT HAMADA THINKS AND FEELS
Hamada replied that he lived next door and was the smart boy of the town. At the end of this report, Leach tells us that this was not the end of the story of Hamada and his talented and opportunistic young. This relaxed, on-side nature of the aesthetic enjoyment of a useful object precludes excessive self-consciousness and enables what Hamada calls the experience of "healthy beauty."
The fact that the pot is made for!!!!_ takes some of the pressure off the potter as an artist. As self-confidence wanes, the rhythms of the body take over and become very special. The reason Hamada built the big furnace was to gain control over his small one; it was, so to speak, at his mercy, while he was at the mercy and grace of the great.
Hamada believes that ceramics should be born from the culture of the country where they are made.
POSTSCRIPT ON CONTEMPORARY POTTERY IN JAPAN
The folk art school is currently the most influential trend in contemporary Japanese pottery. Among those who work - or have worked - in the tradition of folk art, in addition to Hamada himself, stand out: Kanjiro Kawai, known for the quality and variety of his glazes;. According to Munsterberg, the main center of the folk art of pottery is Mashiko, where some thirty potters have settled since Hamada chose it as his home.
The former is known for the beauty of some of its designs, the latter for the beauty of its glazes - especially its olive gray and its light grayish blue - and for the strength of its forms. 34;His style represents a beautiful blend of traditional Japanese folk pottery, Korean Yi Dynasty ceramics and English slipware. His shapes are strong and simple, just like those of the farm goods he studied and collected.
He rarely makes wares intended for the tea ceremony and prefers to produce items.
