A conversation with Yuichi Ikai
This time, we visited Ikai Yuichi's Tsuboya Kihei Gama and had a chance to talk.
[Ikai] → Yuichi Ikai [Nishimura] → Ichimai Nishimura, Owner of Amakido
[Nishimura] Are there many opportunities to give lectures or teach practical skills?
[Ikai] Starting tomorrow, I will be giving a practical lecture at a pottery school (Kyoto Prefectural Pottery Technical College) where I will be talking about a variety of things.
[Nishimura] Are there a lot of students?
[Ikai] There are only two-year course students, so there are about 10 students per grade.
[Nishimura] Spending two years with 10 people seems like it will be a very intense two years. What kind of things will you be talking about?
[Ikai] Pottery schools primarily train craftsmen. Many of them go on to become artists, so instead of teaching students the standard way to use a potter's wheel, we teach them how to express their own individuality.
[Nishimura] So, rather than technique, you're talking about mindset, how to live your life, and things like that?
[Ikai] That's right. At school, the basic rule is not to show your individuality as a craftsman, so we teach students what it means to show individuality. When you start working at a pottery studio, you have to always make things with the same style. In addition, you have to adhere to the specified dimensions. If you show individuality at the wheel stage, the next craftsman won't be able to make it. If you leave the school and go to train somewhere, you can be taught there, but it seems that many people nowadays go independent right away. When that happens, what you learned at school becomes everything, and everyone ends up using the same way of turning the wheel and carving. 
[Nishimura] If you're an artist, it's not good for all 10 people to create in the same way.
[Ikai] I go to teach how to turn unique clay objects, but at school I teach the Kyo-yaki and Kiyomizu-yaki technique of total carving. I hardly ever carve anything I make. I only carve a little bit around the edges. If you're not taught how to use the wheel in this way, you'll just make everything a little thicker and carve it roughly. You'll end up just carving to create lines. If you use rough clay, you can't carve it, so one technique is to complete most of the work using only the wheel.
[Nishimura] I see. As a hobby, I go to see university students perform rakugo. Shortly after the first-year students enter the school, the new members perform rakugo as part of a "newcomer study group." It is always very entertaining. Then, in the fall, I went to see the fourth-year students' graduation performance, but this performance was not much more entertaining than the first-year students'. I thought it was very difficult. It almost made me think that maybe there is no such thing as improvement in rakugo. What does it mean to improve in pottery?
[Ikai] The curriculum of today's pottery schools is different from that of art universities, and is more of a vocational training school. You do the same thing from morning to night. The purpose is to train craftsmen. I was like that, too, but even people who have never touched clay, or don't know how to make it, and have never even seen a potter's wheel, can make it reasonably well after a year. In other words, they can make small pots. They can make rice bowls, teacups, and sake bottles, regardless of their skill level. It is a school that trains Kyoto's successors, and Kyoto Prefecture provides the money to train craftsmen with almost no tuition fees. However, nowadays many people come from other regions to learn, and the number of women in particular has increased. When we were there, women were not allowed. In those days, potter's wheel craftsmen were men and painting was women. 
[Nishimura] I see. Times are changing. I had a look at your website. Reading your profile, the first thing that struck me was your teacher, Shimizu Uichi-sensei. I think you were not only interested in Kyoto, but also in Bizen and other production areas.
[Ikai] I wasn't interested in pottery as a child, so I didn't look at pottery in terms of whether it was good or bad. I helped out at the pottery fair, so I was only interested in whether it would sell or not. I didn't think "this is good" at the time. I didn't know where it was produced, and when I was about 16 years old, I wasn't even aware of the existence of Kiyomizu ware. I happened to go to a pottery school and learned about earthenware such as Bizen and Shigaraki, and became interested in it. After that, I met a teacher who studied earthenware, but also Chinese and Korean pottery, and made them in his own way, interpreting them. I entered pottery school and was able to get used to earthenware quite quickly from the beginning. I was completely immersed in this world.
[Nishimura] That's an interesting story.
[Ikai] After graduating from pottery school, I worked for a while on projects that incorporated the essence of popular products that I had seen since I was a child, and my master would often tell me things like, "You're a businessman's son," or "This is a product." It's still hard to explain, but there's a difference between products and artworks. Some works are more like products, and some are more like artworks, but it takes a certain amount of training to create a work of art.
[Nishimura] I see, I now understand a little bit about the difference between a product and a work of art.
[Ikai] Yes, that's right. In addition, it's important to have a variety of techniques. There are some writers who are only conscious of one technique.
[Nishimura] Exploring each move thoroughly seems like a truly craftsman-like and fascinating life.
[Ikai] Yesterday I was looking at Ishiguro Munemaro's pottery fragments. I was impressed by the tiny fragments.
[Nishimura] Do the pottery shards have any distinctive features that make them characteristic of Ishiguro Munema ?
[Ikai] Yes, that's right. You can see the original even in the small pottery fragments.
[Nishimura] That's amazing.
[Ikai] My master always taught me to be original. He would arrange Japanese and Chinese pottery in his own way and transform it into something completely different. My master had amazing technique. He had skills that went beyond craftsmanship. Ishiguro's originality is amazing. It's stylish even today. People who work in computers and graphic design now make similar comments and say, "That's stylish," and he has a universal sense. I was once fascinated by Ishiguro Munema and tried to imitate him, but I could never come close.
[Nishimura] I feel that Mr. Ikai's dynamic works with celadon glaze are very original. 
[Ikai] I was originally heavily influenced by Okabe Mineo. Celadon was originally presented to the emperor, so in China it was not allowed to have any distortions. However, Okabe Mineo made celadon in the Japanese style. He was able to do that because he was a master of the potter's wheel. Celadon is applied with a thick glaze, almost thicker than the clay. The base has to be made very well. Because it is assumed that it will be applied thickly, it will become too heavy and the shape will become blurred. I was also fascinated by the beauty of celadon as soon as I started pottery and tried it. However, my master told me, "Don't do it, you don't have the skills to make this yet." He said that it only sells because the color is beautiful, and that "if you don't hone your skills when you're young, you will end up regretting it later." So I gave up on celadon and moon white glaze for a while. So I was encouraged to try ash glaze. Ash glaze is thin, so the base is completely visible. I started making celadon after I was able to see all the little things that the maker does. That's why there was a period when I didn't make thick porcelain. Many people who make celadon in Japan are inspired by the sublime shapes of China, so many of them make things that are very stiff and elegant. One day, the owner of a gallery in Tokyo said to me, "Maybe Ikai can make Japanese-style celadon," so I broke the seal and started making celadon. However, it took three years for it to take shape. Finally, I was able to make things like this, and the gallery owner praised me. I think it was because I was able to learn the basics of the potter's wheel through working with ash glaze. I am very grateful to my teacher.
[Nishimura] That's a very interesting story. 
[Ikai] This piece has been fired twice. The green color of the ash glaze and the Oribe green color should not be produced in the same kiln, but they are. People sometimes ask me, "Why is the Oribe green color showing through?" 
[Ikai] This one was fired in a climbing kiln and ash fell on it, causing it to change color. Pine ash has fallen on it. It is smaller than a typical Ido bowl, but the temperature has risen considerably. There is a wonderful original for the Ido tea bowl, and many potters who are fascinated by its charm have taken on the challenge. I am one of them. I am still only halfway there, so I have named it an Ido-te tea bowl, as it is in the Ido style.
[Ikai] The Nanban-style decorative vases are made using clay that is not normally suitable for pottery. We use clay that will not harden no matter how much it is fired. This clay does not dissolve the glaze, so we fire it over and over again. The boundary between the clay and the glaze tends to blend and adhere to each other, but this clay does not blend with the glaze. We were told by our raw materials supplier that we had this clay, so we tried it out. Normally a vase would collapse if it was laid on its side, but this one does not collapse at all. The clay is too fire-resistant. That's why it has a dull shine and is interesting.
[Ikai] A thick white glaze is applied to the base, and then a transparent green glaze is applied on top of that. The white glaze is similar to that of bush clover and contains a lot of straw ash. The green glaze is made from ashes of common trees such as pine, oak, and cedar. Ashes from bamboo and rice, which grow like straws, are difficult to dissolve on their own, which is why they turn a cloudy white.
[Nishimura] The vase is also powerful, and I thought it was nice that the lighting and appearance changed when I placed it in a different location. 
[Ikai] When I started making pottery, I only knew the elegant pottery of Kyo-yaki and Kiyomizu-yaki, but I was fascinated by pottery created by the earth and fire, such as Shigaraki-yaki and Bizen-yaki, and longed for a climbing kiln. As you know, climbing kilns are not allowed in Kyoto. It was possible in the past, but at that time, the climbing kilns in Kyoto were just a gathering of potters and artists, and many potters and artists brought their pottery and fired it. Because of this, it seems that young people could not borrow a good location for the kiln. I heard that in the early days, Yagi Kazuo of Sodeisha and his team were only allowed to fire their pottery at the very back of the kiln, and they made objects that fit that. It seems that this frustration supported their motivation to make pottery every day.
[Nishimura] I've only seen it in photographs, but the object pottery Mr. Samsa's Walk was located on the edge, wasn't it?
[Ikai] That's right. Currently, my climbing kiln is in Nantan City. It would make sense if it was a pottery production area, but the smell of smoke from burning pine is unique and completely different from the smell of burning straw, which is common in the countryside. The smoke is also black, like burning tires, and it presents some difficult issues. In addition to the climbing kiln, I also use electric and gas kilns in my studio. It's not like climbing kilns are better than electric kilns. There are some pottery that can only be fired in that kiln. It's best to do the right thing in the right way. I usually use such kilns to make tableware, and I hope to be able to make pottery that never gets boring, especially when it comes to tableware. It's the greatest joy when customers tell me that my pottery is always at the top of their cupboards.
[Nishimura] The great thing about it is that it can be used on an everyday basis, not just on special occasions.
