Dragonfly incense burner by Bunsai Ogawa (5th generation)

Width: 11.0cm x 11.0cm Height: 13.0cm

Poetry of red clay, engraved with a prayer for flight

The Dragonfly Incense Burner, created by the fifth generation Ogawa Bunsai, is a poetic and spiritual piece that delicately depicts a dragonfly, a symbol of light-hearted life, in a round shape filled with the warmth of red clay. When we stand in front of this incense burner, we cannot help but feel the prayers of peace and hope, and the dynamism of life, that go beyond the simple act of burning incense.

The entire piece is made of a moist reddish brown base, and its simple, quiet texture evokes a sense of nostalgia. Against this base are black lines depicting countless dragonflies flying about lively. Their wings are intricately rendered in a lattice pattern, and each one is given a different pose and angle, evoking the feeling of a swarm flying through the sky. While the composition is decorative, it walks the line between precise realism and abstraction, and the refined sensibility of Bunsai's lines truly shines through.

The white finish on the lid gives it a slightly rough look, but it sits firmly like a turned piece of wood, and the knob retains a warm earthen finish that matches the red of the body. The overall shape is a stable tripod structure, but gives off a somewhat organic and soft impression, and the design is beautiful enough to fit comfortably in the user's hand.

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The spirit of Godai entrusted to the dragonfly

The dragonfly motif has been called the "victory insect" in Japan since ancient times, and has been considered a symbol of good luck since it only flies forward. However, for Ogawa Bunsai V, the dragonfly was not just an auspicious motif. It was connected on a deeper level to his own thoughts as an artist who lived through the postwar era and longed for peace.

Godai, who grew up in the postwar chaos and continued to seek spiritual depth in pottery, saw the flying dragonfly as an image of "freedom" and "hope." Furthermore, the delicate structure of its wings and its movement as it cuts through the wind truly symbolize "silence cutting through space," making it an extremely symbolic design that gives dynamism to a static piece of pottery like an incense burner.

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His career and achievements as a ceramic artist

The fifth generation Ogawa Bunsai (real name Kinji) was born in 1926 into a family of potters in Gojozaka, Kyoto, and was familiar with the world of pottery from an early age. His artistry has been highly praised both in Japan and overseas, with his first work being selected for the Nitten Exhibition in 1950, winning first place at the Contemporary Japanese Ceramic Art Exhibition in 1974, and the Grand Prix at the Vallauris International Ceramic Art Exhibition in France in 1975.

In 1989, he took on the name of Bunsai V, and from 1991 to 1995, he served as president of Kyoto College of Art and Design, where he also devoted himself to nurturing the next generation of artists. Throughout that time, he has consistently maintained a stance of challenging himself to venture into new realms of beauty while building on the foundations of traditional Kyoto ware techniques.

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The foundation of creative work is a desire for peace

The fifth generation Ogawa Bunsai always said, "I make things that I think are beautiful with all my might," which meant that the work itself was a "form of prayer." In particular, an incense burner like this one contains invisible "memories of the heart" and "layers of time" along with the incense smoke that rises quietly, and every time it is used, a dialogue is born between the person and the vessel.

The attempt to paint dragonflies on the entire surface of the incense burner makes that prayer visible, and by having it reside on the surface of the vessel, it creates a gentleness that gently lights a fire in the hearts of those who view and use it.

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Through his works, to us who live in the present

This work, Dragonfly Incense Burner, is not something to be simply stored as a masterpiece of the past, but is a work that has the power to speak to each and every one of us even today. Its quietly standing round shape and the light figures of the dragonflies flapping their wings contain a message of the preciousness of the time we "are here and now" and hope that continues into the future.

Please take the time to listen carefully to the "spirit of peace" and "beauty" that Ogawa Bunsai the 5th entrusted to this incense burner. There is surely something important that we must never forget quietly living within it.