‘Tea began as a medicine and grew into a beverage. In China, in the eighth century, it entered the realm of poetry as one of the polite amusements. The fifteenth century saw Japan ennoble it into a religion of aestheticism – Teaism. Teaism is a cult founded on the adoration of the beautiful among the … Read more
A recent article described Ryotaro Kato as the ‘son of the seventh master of Kobe Kiln’. ‘Son of the seventh master’ – not the ‘eighth master’. That distinction is important, for it points to two critical aspects of traditional Japanese familial culture: the honouring of elders; and continuation of the family legacy. Japan has, for … Read more
For Japan, the history of ceramics is the history of its belief systems, its cultural values – to a greater or lesser extent, it is the history of its people.
