Shion Tabata has her Shion Kiln in Karuizawa, Nagano Prefecture, one of Japan’s most famous vacation homes. In addition to his original creations, he is also energetically engaged in copying Ogata Kenzan, a well-known potter of the Edo period, and Kitaoji Rosanjin, a well-known gourmet and potter, and is a popular ceramic artist among people of all ages. We visited his studio to learn how he creates the warmth and gentleness that spills from his pottery and the charm that makes his pottery picturesque on its own.

Becoming an antique dealer out of a desire to “do what I love for a living

Originally from Kitakyushu City, Fukuoka Prefecture, Ms. Tabata met her current husband and moved to Kobe, Hyogo Prefecture. After the peak of her child-rearing years had passed, when she was in her late 30s, she began looking for a job to supplement her living expenses. She decided that she wanted to do what she loved anyway, so she looked for a job as an antique dealer, something she had been interested in for a long time. Although the peak of his career had passed, he was still raising his children and wanted to work on weekdays when they were at school. The only one that remained was Tanimatsuya Toda Shoten, an Osaka-based tea ceremony utensil dealer that has been in business since the Edo period. The company is said to be the largest antique dealer in Japan, but I had no idea about that at the time. I was offered an interview, and from there, things went smoothly, and I started working there the day after my interview.

Antiques learned from a great benefactor, Teiichi Yuki, a master of Japanese cuisine.

He worked there for about five years, more than half of which he was sent to help Teiichi Yuki, the founder of the Japanese restaurant Kitcho, organize his storehouse for the establishment of an art museum.

In the course of his duties, Mr. Tabata had the opportunity to hear Mr. Yuki talk about the time when he collected antiques, to actually touch them, and to learn about their splendor. This experience was one of the important turning points that led Mr. Tabata, who was almost a novice, to become interested in pottery making.

From a trivial experience to the world of ceramics

In this way, Mr. Tabata deepened his knowledge of the real world of ceramics, but when the ” Yuki Museum of Art, ” which he helped establish, opened in 1987, it was as if his busy life up to that point was a lie, and he found he had a lot of free time on his hands.

Around that time, he moved to an area on the border of Nishinomiya City, Hyogo Prefecture and Kita Ward, Kobe City. Several factors came together, including the completion of a major project he had been involved in and the longer commute to work, and Mr. Tabata decided to quit his job.

After his resignation, he wondered, “Couldn’t I make something that I had seen before,” as if to fill the empty time he had left after his retirement. For example, “It would be wonderful if I could hold a tea ceremony as a hobby using vessels I made,” he began to think.

It was something as trivial as that that inspired him to start making ceramics.

Failures in Ceramic Making

This is how Mr. Tabata’s pottery-making activities began. However, although he had some knowledge from his antique art experience, he had never taken a pottery class and did not understand even the basics of pottery. For the time being, he tried to make pottery only by self-study, but all he did was fail.

Meeting potter Sadamitsu Sugimoto and going his own way

One day, Daikame Roshi, the abbot of Daitokuji Temple in Kyoto and a well-known tea master, introduced me to the potter Sadamitsu Sugimoto.

Mr. Sugimoto asked me if I would like to use the same kiln that he uses. If it is the same kiln, it will be easier to teach you if you don’t understand something,” and he suggested that I use the same type of kiln as the one he uses. Later, Mr. Sugimoto’s talent as a potter was widely recognized, and he became unimaginably busy, making it impossible to contact him at all.

When he purchased a kiln, he had high hopes that the kiln supplier would at least teach him how to fire it, but he was told, “I can’t teach you how to fire and fill a kiln because each potter has his own way of firing and filling a kiln. I read a book on pottery making, but it was of no help to me. I tried to use the highest quality glaze, but without knowing how to control the temperature of the kiln, all the glaze I had applied on the surface ran off. However, the kerosene kiln, which he purchased for about 1.5 million yen, was not a cheap purchase, and his desire to make vessels for use in the tea ceremony was stronger than anything else.

He continued to make pottery on his own, firing and firing, while receiving opinions from Mr. Yugi and Master Okame. This was another important turning point for Shion Tabata as a ceramic artist.

To be able to make a convincing copy of Ogata Kenzan.

This turning point was the work of Ogata Kenzan, whom he had the good fortune to hold in his hands several times during the launch of the Yugi Museum of Art. In the style of Kensan’s works, which have many graphic elements, white makeup is applied and paintings and characters are drawn on the white makeup using a devil’s board.

From then on, he continued to draw tea bowls on the potter’s wheel, apply white makeup, draw pictures, and continue firing without limit. However, the work that came out of the kiln was far from what he had expected. However, he did not give up and continued to make and fire pieces, changing glazes and repeating trial and error over and over again. As a result, he gradually became able to produce a copy of Kenzan that he was satisfied with.

Shion Tabata as a ceramic artist

Every year since he started making pottery, Tabata had been presenting Mr. Yuki and Master Daikame with his best work of the year on their birthdays.

However, at that time, I was giving away the best work of the year, so I did not think I could always produce the same quality of work, and although I was grateful, I did not ask for an exhibition at a department store. In the meantime, Master Okame asked me, “Why don’t you hold an exhibition here?” and he introduced me to a gallery in Nagoya with which he was familiar. There, his works of Kensan and Rimpa style were highly appreciated, the number of exhibitions increased, and the name of “Shion Tabata” as a ceramic artist gradually became well known.

Valuing human relationships, he built an anagama kiln in Karuizawa.

Some time later, in order to broaden the scope of his creations, Mr. Tabata decided that he wanted to build an anagama kiln for firing Iga Shigaraki.

However, most of the places where anagama kilns can be built are deep in the mountains or far from human settlements.

For Mr. Tabata, who became involved in pottery making through relationships with people, relationships with people are an important factor. In 2004, he decided to open a kiln in Karuizawa, Kitasaku-gun, Nagano Prefecture, one of the most popular vacation homes in Japan, where many people gather from all over the country.

Then, he came across a mountainous area of about 1,500 tsubo. After purchasing the land, he cut trees, made roads, and lived like a pioneer, gradually creating an environment for pottery making.

It takes seven days, or 168 hours, to fire a single batch of Iga-Shigaraki in the completed anagama. During this time, it is necessary to keep the kiln constantly burning wood, which is something that cannot be done by a single person. With the help of his partner, the two of them take turns sleeping for 12 hours at a time to keep the kiln burning. The income is not commensurate with the labor. Frankly speaking, if he had continued to make pottery in Kobe instead of moving all the way to the mountains, he would not have had to build a new kiln, and he would have had no financial or physical problems if he had just copied the Qianzan style that was taking off at the time.

However, if I had not come here, cleared the mountains, created the soil, built the anagama, and lived with this magnificent nature, I would not have been able to take a new step forward. He also says that the most important thing is that the hardships he experienced here were more than compensated for by the wonderful and gratifying encounters he had with people.

Blessed with and weaving relationships with people

Mr. Tabata’s life as a potter has been blessed by the relationships he has had with people ever since he started working at Tanimatsuya Toda Shoten. The favors he has received from Mr. Yugi, Master Okame, Mr. Sugimoto, and other famous and wise people have been more than enough for him to spread his wings as a potter.

At the same time, however, it was also a source of great pressure for Mr. Tabata. If I produced a bad product, I would have disgraced the people who supported me,” he said. That is why I worked so hard to the bitter end,” says Tabata.

This desire was directly linked to the improvement of his skills and knowledge, and as a result, he has not only brought disgrace to the faces of his benefactors, but has also produced excellent works that make them proud of their achievements. Nowadays, his successors admire Mr. Tabata, and his back is followed by those who follow him.

Shion Tabata’s world of pottery is filled with the “gentleness” of human relationships and the “toughness” of pursuing what she loves.

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Art Village Created in an Environment Rich in Nature

Nakagawa Village in Kamiina-gun, Nagano Prefecture, overlooking the Japanese Alps. It is a village rich in nature with a pristine landscape that has been called the most beautiful village in Japan. However, it is not widely known that Nakagawa Village also has another aspect as an art village. Various artists, including painters, woodworkers, art framers, and glassworkers, live and have their studios here. In addition to the government’s active promotion of the affinity with art, such as by introducing artists’ activities, the rich natural environment may have stimulated creativity, resulting in the establishment of a culture in which the community and art coexist. The activities of a diverse range of artists also motivate people who are considering moving to the area from a cultural perspective, such as art and production, and this has directly led to an increase in the number of young people moving to the area.

Roots in glass as hippie artwork

Mr. and Mrs. Taira, who have “STUDIO PREPA,” a studio that makes tableware, vases, and other household items using air-blown glass, are another couple who fell in love with the atmosphere of Nakagawa Village and moved to the area. The scenery, which changes its expression at sunrise, sunset, and different times of the day, is extremely beautiful. They decided to move to the area because they felt at home in such an original landscape. However, contrary to the scenery, when you step into the workshop, it looks like an American garage with piles of American-made daily necessities.

That is as it should be. The roots of the Taira couple’s work lie in the hippie culture of the 1970s. The glass works of Mr. and Mrs. Taira, which follow the technique of air-blowing that was popularized as hippie artwork, have a warmth and stylish outline that is distinctly different from the old Japanese-made glass. In addition to being handled mainly by major select stores such as Ron Herman and Margaret Howell, they have received many inquiries from popular restaurants in Japan and abroad. They also participate in craft fairs in the U.S. so as not to neglect their studies to update their ideal style. Based in Yosemite National Park, they stay there for several weeks, sometimes more than a month, to experience the local atmosphere firsthand, which leads to inspiration for their work.

Home Decor in the U.S.A.

Did you know that the U.S. is a leader in glass crafts? From windows and cups to smartphones, glassware is so much a part of people’s lives that it would be difficult to live without touching it. In Japan, there are traditional glass crafts such as faceted glass and beadlocks, and if you look around the world, you will find that glassware is widely used in all regions, from traditional crafts such as Venetian glass and Turkish lamps to famous glassworks such as Galle, Baccarat, and Swarovski. Although the United States does not seem to be a leader in glassware, it is the leader in the field of home décor, he says.

Aiming for warmth expressed through glass

Home décor refers to tableware, vases for arranging flowers, and other products that add color to daily life. The Taira’s workshop also makes tableware and glassware, as well as vases, lampshades, and other glassware designed for use in daily life. The glassware made by Mr. and Mrs. Taira is particular about its thickness. They once received a wooden glass from a friend, and when they drank water from it, they were astonished at how delicious it tasted. She then tried drinking water from a glass cup she had around her in the same way. However, the water was somewhat spiky. I wondered why, since the water came from the same faucet, but the cause seemed to be the shape of the drinking cup. The thin, dignified glass was beautiful to look at, but it did not make the usual drink taste even better, like a wooden cup. After realizing this, I began to think that I wanted to make glassware that expressed the warmth of wood.

Completed when it is filled, that is our policy.

The products made based on this policy are completed when the contents are added. The glassware must be at least 20% empty when it is just a container, otherwise it will be too hot when the contents are added, whether water or flowers,” says Mr. and Mrs. Taira. Mr. and Mrs. Taira.

Since the dishes are used in daily life, they are not meaningful only as vessels. They believe that glassware that brings out the best of the materials is what they should make.

Another thing that Mr. and Mrs. Taira are committed to is to stick to a style that can only be achieved by air-blowing, and to products that can only be made by air-blowing. They sometimes use cold work such as mosaic or fusing to express colors (cold work is made of hardened glass, as opposed to hot work made of molten hot glass such as air-blown glass), but they do this only to add value to their creativity, and they do not stray far from that category. I try not to stray too far from that category. Although we have been doing nothing but air-blowing for nearly 20 years now, there is still a lot that we don’t know about manufacturing and its characteristics. But that is what makes it interesting for them, according to Mr. and Mrs. Taira. The world of glass is so deep that even the two of them, whose products are recognized for their excellence not only in Japan but also around the world, have not yet fully grasped it. The inquisitive minds of Mr. and Mrs. Taira, who want to learn all they can about this world, will continue to produce even more wonderful products.

The post STUDIO PREPA, a glass studio with fans around the world for its space-blowing that follows North American culture / Ina City, Nagano Prefecture first appeared on NIHONMONO.