A conversation with Kotaro Ikura

[Ikura] → Mr. Kotaro Ikura
[Nishimura] → Nishimura Ichimai (Owner of Amagimichi)

[Nishimura] The area of ​​Yagyu is known as the home of famous swordsmen such as Miyamoto Musashi, but what kind of place is it exactly?

[Ikura] Yagyu is the home of a family of swordsmanship instructors with a 600-year history dating back to Tokugawa Ieyasu. Yamaoka Sohachi purchased the former residence of a chief retainer and wrote "Spring Slope." This work is based on historical facts, and Nakamura Kinnosuke plays the role of Yagyu Tajima no Kami Munenori, who served three Tokugawa shoguns, Ieyasu, Hidetada, and Iemitsu, and served as a military instructor.

[Nishimura] It's very interesting that it was written in this place.

[Ikura] Yes, that's right. The Yagyu school valued the sword that saves people's lives, not the sword that kills. It aimed to win without fighting, in other words, to calm people's minds and avoid conflict. It placed emphasis on peaceful resolution, instructing those who bore arms to always keep their swords on their right side and not to draw them easily. It made a great contribution to maintaining peace under the Tokugawa Shogunate.

[Nishimura] On the way here by bus, I saw the word "ninja." What is the relationship between Yagyu and ninja?

[Ikura] When it comes to ninjas, Iga and Koga are famous, but Yagyu is a family of swordsmen. Swordsmanship and ninjutsu are different things.

[Nishimura] I see. You were born and raised in a place with such a history, and you went to Osaka University of Arts. Your father is a ceramic artist, so did you learn anything from him before you enrolled?

[Ikura] I never helped my father with his work, and when I was in elementary school, I said I wanted to use the potter's wheel, and he told me, "Just sit down and have a look."

[Nishimura] It makes me want to do it.

[Ikura] When I got a little older and was in the fifth grade of elementary school, I said I wanted to do it, and again I was told, "Just keep watching," and "You should see it."

[Nishimura] I think it's strange that they don't let you touch it.

[Ikura] So, even when I went to middle school and high school, I was told to just watch, so I never touched soil until I entered university.

[Nishimura] That's amazing. What happened after you entered university? By the way, were you living in a boarding house?

[Ikura] I went there every day.

[Nishimura] It seems quite far away, but

[Ikura] It takes two hours. Because we had a pottery department. It was just a hobby for first-year students, but it was fun when I actually tried it. In my second year, I met a porcelain teacher. His name was Fujiwara Tsunenori, who was the last student of Tomimoto Kenkichi. He made white porcelain. I had an image of clay, so I was surprised when I saw porcelain clay. I didn't know there was something so beautiful. It was pure white, and the way it was made on the potter's wheel was beautiful. And the works were beautiful too. I was surprised when I saw it for the first time, and I thought I want to do that too.

[Nishimura] So the direction was decided there?

[Ikura] It's not that, but it was when I started working with porcelain clay that I first began to think that pottery was interesting.

[Nishimura] Can porcelain clay be produced in this Yagyu area?

[Ikura] It is not possible to obtain clay for porcelain. I mix and match various ingredients as I like.

[Nishimura] First of all, there are celadon and white porcelain. What kind of pottery is the celadon and white porcelain that is produced?

[Ikura] It's somewhere between celadon and white porcelain. I first wanted to do that when I was a third-year student at university, and the Osaka Museum of Oriental Ceramics was holding an exhibition of past Living National Treasures. There, they had a work by Kaiji Tsukamoto called a ring flower pot. When I saw it, the atmosphere in that place had changed.

[Nishimura] Did that work have a special aura?

[Ikura] No, it wasn't that there was an aura, but rather that the atmosphere was different.

[Nishimura] That's amazing.

[Ikura] When I saw it, it was the best. So I wanted to make a work like that. That was the first time I felt the meaning of becoming a ceramic artist. Pottery can change the atmosphere so much. If I'm going to do it, I have to make something like this, this is the kind of job I can do to change the atmosphere, and that's how I started to think about being a ceramic artist.

[Nishimura] A vase can have a strong presence even without flowers. If there is a matcha bowl on a tatami mat, the atmosphere changes. Does the size of the piece matter for white porcelain?

[Ikura] Size doesn't matter. There are small pieces that can change the atmosphere. It doesn't matter if they are objects or vessels.

[Nishimura] I see. Some pieces feel large when you hold them, so the size of pottery is a difficult issue.

[Ikura] The reason why I don't make many objects is because my porcelain teacher told me that the greatest feature of pottery is that it is "good to look at, good to touch, and good to use."

[Nishimura] The last point, "practical use/use," is important.

[Ikura] That's right. Craftworks can be used. Objects can't be used. Many objects can't be touched. When we pursued the idea of ​​"good to look at, good to touch, good to use," it naturally became a part of craftworks.

[Nishimura] It's important to keep using it. I think one of the good things about it is that it feels familiar to your hand. Maybe porcelain doesn't feel familiar to your hand that much.

[Ikura] White porcelain does not change over time.

[Nishimura] The ones from the Southern Song Dynasty haven't changed either.

[Ikura] That is one of the characteristics of porcelain clay.

[Nishimura] The defining feature of porcelain clay is that it maintains its beauty for a long time after it is made. In the past, it was presented to the emperor, and I think that its perfect precision gave it eternal beauty. Is the Hotarute method difficult, considering that it requires intricate techniques?

[Ikura] In terms of difficulty, they are all difficult. Hotarute has a strong impact, so it is difficult to know how to show it. Also, the shapes that can be made are limited. I didn't start Hotarute because I wanted to do it. The clay of the blue-and-white porcelain is beautiful, and the glaze needs to be white, and if it is not fired well, it will not be transparent. As I continued to do it, I became able to fire the blue-and-white porcelain glaze beautifully as I wanted, and the transparency and completion improved. There are times when customers who look at my work do not notice it. If they only look at this, they will not notice. If they only look at one piece at a department store craft section, they will not notice it easily. Hotarute has parts that are just glaze, so it is easy to understand. This beauty is easy to understand. By making this, I have more opportunities to be seen by various people, so the glaze of other things will also be noticed by the people who look at them. There is Akio Niizato in Hotarute. It is not interesting to do the same thing as him, so I make different things. In my case, the shapes that I can make are limited. To make the glaze look beautiful, the temperature is about 1300℃, and there is no freedom in the shape. However, I want to make beautiful shapes, so the shapes and types of Hotarude are limited.

[Nishimura] What do you mean by technically difficult?

[Ikura] I think pottery and manufacturing are difficult. But with blue-and-white porcelain, mistakes are easy for anyone to see.

[Nishimura] So that means there's no room for cheating?

[Ikura] That's right. The mistakes are obvious and easy to see. You can see the iron flying. Sometimes it cracks or loses its shape. It's difficult because you have to push the limits to make blue-and-white porcelain. We don't hide any of the techniques, and we explain all the methods of Hotarute, but even so, we still can't produce the same piece.

[Nishimura] Are there any directions you would like to pursue in the future?

[Ikura] Yes, that's right. I've always found pale blue porcelain beautiful and I never tire of it. I put mud on it to create patterns. I make vases and plates using deformations. The clay and glaze are coming out really nicely. It's important to imitate, but as with any ceramist, pale blue porcelain has a long history, so it's difficult to express individuality. I want to make more beautiful pale blue porcelain that is unique to me. I want to make beautiful things that are unique to me.