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visit to japan

updated sat 17 jan 98

 

Stephen Mills on thu 8 jan 98

Dear Fellow Clayarters
A Customer of mine has a Student currently in Japan asking where should
a keen potter go to see:
1)Historic Pots
2)ditto Kiln sites
3)Modern/Recent Craft Pottery
The Student is currently in Tokyo, but is prepared to travel.
Please reply direct to me as soon as possible at:
stevemills@mudslinger.demon.co.uk
so as not to clutter the list.
TIA
Steve
Bath
UK
wishing he could be their bag carrier!!
--
Steve Mills
Bath
UK
home e-mail: stevemills@mudslinger.demon.co.uk
work e-mail: stevemills@bathpotters.demon.co.uk

Eydie DeVincenzi on fri 9 jan 98

------------------
=3C=3C
A Customer of mine has a Student currently in Japan asking where should
a keen potter go to see:
1)Historic Pots
2)ditto Kiln sites
3)Modern/Recent Craft Pottery
The Student is currently in Tokyo, but is prepared to travel.
=3E=3E

I have been told that there are Mashiko Potters who do nothing by nerikome.
I think Mashiko is the town=7B?), but the word Shimada is also in my mind
(that may be a potter's name in the town).

I (and I'm sure others) would love to hear about the person's adventures in
Japan. I am especially interested in potters doing nerikome.

Eydie DeVincenzi
74647.404=40compuserve.com (or E=5FDeVincenzi=40compuserve.com

Erikyu on fri 9 jan 98

>Dear Fellow Clayarters
>A Customer of mine has a Student currently in Japan asking where should
>a keen potter go to see:
>1)Historic Pots
>2)ditto Kiln sites
>3)Modern/Recent Craft Pottery
>The Student is currently in Tokyo, but is prepared to travel.

When I lived in Japan I wandered into a small,local pottery store. After
some small talk I mentioned that I liked Japanese style pottery and wanted
to learn more. One week later I got a call from a friend of the shopkeeper:
I was invited to visit his workshop.
For the next 7 months I stayed at his place once a week and became the
resident Gaijin (foreigner) at the Rojin Home( retirement home/Buddhist
temple/pottery workshop).
In return I was expected to show-up at parties, drink with the local
farmers, and enjoy the food. WHAT A DEAL !
In Japan you can learn the most by showing interest and suspending
disbelief that people you don't know will treat you as their special friend.
I was given the name Erikyu (my real name is Eric) . Erikyu is a
combination of E(wise,talented) and Rikyu( from Sen no Rikyu the tea
master). I use the name on my pots to remind myself of the special start I
received in the love of pottery and the people who got me going.
To learn about anything in Japan just ask the nearest stranger.

Erikyu, aka Eric Haggin
Concord, CA
east@ccnet.com

Yakimono Ya
Nendo ni Shimiiru
Kama no koe

SECOR on sat 10 jan 98

In Tokyo have your student go to Isetan, Mitsukoshi, and Matsuya for major
displays of modern pottery. Try Bingoya in Shinjuku also for Ceramics and
crafts.

Have your student take a train from Ueno Station to a stop called Tomobe and
then take a bus to Mashiko. In Mashiko have your student go to the Hamada
Reference Collection or Hamada Shiryokan. This is the studio, house, and =
kiln
of the great Shoji Hamada. In the town there are also numerous potters,
studios, and about 35 pottery stores.

Near Mashiko your student can also travel to the nearby town of Kasama. It =
is
similar to Mashiko but smaller.

Your student should also go Toguri , one stop from Shibuya station and see =
the
displays.

If you need more info feel free to contact me. DD

----------
From: Stephen Mills=5BSMTP:stevemills=40mudslinger.demon.co.uk=5D
Sent: Thursday, January 08, 1998 8:41 AM
To: Multiple recipients of list CLAYART
Subject: Visit to Japan

----------------------------Original message----------------------------
Dear Fellow Clayarters
A Customer of mine has a Student currently in Japan asking where should
a keen potter go to see:
1)Historic Pots
2)ditto Kiln sites
3)Modern/Recent Craft Pottery
The Student is currently in Tokyo, but is prepared to travel.
Please reply direct to me as soon as possible at:
stevemills=40mudslinger.demon.co.uk
so as not to clutter the list.
TIA
Steve
Bath
UK
wishing he could be their bag carrier=21=21
--
Steve Mills
Bath
UK
home e-mail: stevemills=40mudslinger.demon.co.uk
work e-mail: stevemills=40bathpotters.demon.co.uk

Robert Yellin on sat 10 jan 98

Hi Eric-
It sounds like you had a wonderful stay in Nippon and experiences
that will last a lifetime. I'm on my fourteenth year here and
still find it stimulating(most of the time). Yet what you wrote-
"To learn about anything in Japan just ask the nearest stranger."
is a quite off the mark- considering ceramics, most Japanese don't
even have clue about their own glorious tradition. Most buy their
tableware from the local grocery or discount department store and
few know anything about Sen no Rikyu or the 'six old kilns' or where
Mashiko is or the name of a ceramic living national treasure.
That's fine- but I don't want people visiting Japan who have read
your statemant to believe that they can stop the nearest Joe(Taro)
on the corner and ask about Japanese traditions.
It is true that some Japanese will go far out of their way to assist
a foreigner and you were lucky to ask about ceramics in a pottery
store-
others can ask directions on a corner and probably be as fortunate with
a response as you were.
Anyway, if you ever visit Japan again stop by for a cup of tea or sake.
Robert Yellin in Numazu

Robert Yellin on sat 10 jan 98

> I have been told that there are Mashiko Potters who do nothing by nerikome.
> I think Mashiko is the town{?), but the word Shimada is also in my mind
> (that may be a potter's name in the town).

I think that there are very few potters in Mashiko, Tochigi
prefecture,
or for that matter in all of Japan, who do nothing but nerikomi or
neriage-
they wouldn't be able to survive.
Not many Japanese collectors appreciate this style and the only potter
I know of who can make a living doing it is Kosei Matsui, the current
Living National Treasure in this style- he resides in Kasama, Ibaraki
prefecture.
The potters name in Mashiko that you are thinking of is probably
Tatsuzo Shimaoka, Hamada's apprentice and also a LNT.
Robert Yellin in Numazu
>

Fumio Shimada on mon 12 jan 98

Dear Steve

My name is Fumio Shimada. I live in Tokyo era.
These will be nice place for your student to study Orient,Asian and
Japanese Ceramic.

1)
Tokyo National Museam in Ueno inTokyo.
Idemitu Museam,( mainly Chinese ceramic correction is in Yuurakucyoo
Tokyo.)
Nezu Museam in Aoyama in Tokyo.
Eisei Bunko in Mejiro in Tokyo.

2) Mashiko,and Kasama are big pottery eare. There are north part of Tokyo.
It took3or 4 hours from Tokyo by car or train.

3) Nihonn Minngeikann(Japanese Fork Craft Museam) in Meguro Tokyo.
Tokyo National modern Craft Museam in Kitanomaru Park in Tokyo.
Many department store having Ceramic own exhibition every week.
Mittsukoshi, Takashimaya, Isetann,Keio, Matsuzakaya,etc

Fumio Shimada

> Dear Fellow Clayarters
> A Customer of mine has a Student currently in Japan asking where should
> a keen potter go to see:
> 1)Historic Pots
> 2)ditto Kiln sites
> 3)Modern/Recent Craft Pottery
> The Student is currently in Tokyo, but is prepared to travel.
> Please reply direct to me as soon as possible at:
> stevemills@mudslinger.demon.co.uk
> so as not to clutter the list.
> TIA
> Steve
> Bath
> UK
> wishing he could be their bag carrier!!
> --
> Steve Mills
> Bath
> UK
> home e-mail: stevemills@mudslinger.demon.co.uk
> work e-mail: stevemills@bathpotters.demon.co.uk
Thu, 8 Jan 1998 11:41:43 EST $B$K (B Ceramic Arts Discussion List > ----------------------------Original message----------------------------
> Dear Fellow Clayarters
> A Customer of mine has a Student currently in Japan asking where should
> a keen potter go to see:
> 1)Historic Pots
> 2)ditto Kiln sites
> 3)Modern/Recent Craft Pottery
> The Student is currently in Tokyo, but is prepared to travel.
> Please reply direct to me as soon as possible at:
> stevemills@mudslinger.demon.co.uk
> so as not to clutter the list.
> TIA
> Steve
> Bath
> UK
> wishing he could be their bag carrier!!
> --
> Steve Mills
> Bath
> UK
> home e-mail: stevemills@mudslinger.demon.co.uk
> work e-mail: stevemills@bathpotters.demon.co.uk

Eydie DeVincenzi on thu 15 jan 98

------------------
I have more information about the person who does Mishima:

Mr. Kenichi Shimada (wife is Sumiko).
Mashiko, 1446, Mashiko-cho
Haga gun, Tochigi Prefecture, 321-42, Japan.

A fellow potter suggested that I try to make contact with this man. She
said that he, like myself, focuses on colored clay and that I would enjoy
seeing his work. She does not know if he speaks English however.
According to her, the Japanese custome is to be introduced to the person
you wish to meet, so she said tell him that the introduction comes from
Kaworu Yanagihara, wife of Hikaru Yanagihara who was at St Timothy's
Church, Hamadera, Osaka.

Kaworu told me that Mashiko is one of the very famous pottery areas, about
50 miles north of Tokyo and home of the famous potter, Shoji Hamada.
Hamada was a close friend of Bernard Leach. Most of the pottery reflects
the modern folk art movement.

I look forward to hearing about your student's adventures and specifically
if he was able to see any of Shimada's work.

Eydie DeVincenzi
74647.404=40compuserve.com

Akitajin \"Lee Love\" on fri 16 jan 98

I'll be visiting Japan in March. I am planning to be there for a
month.

I was wondering if anybody knows, (I know there are a few
people on the list living in Japan), if wireless email is available there?
I have a Philips Velo1, a Windows CE Palm Top. I know that here in the
States wireless email is available via 2way paging. I thought it might
be fun sending email from the Shinkansen, Bullet Train (I know there are
phones on the Shinkansen too.)

Thanks,

/(o\' Lee In Saint Paul, Minnesota USA
\o)/' mailto:Ikiru@Kami.com ' http://www.millcomm.com/~leelove/ikiru.html