Potter, writer and academic Sebastian Blackie takes a look at Ken Matsuzaki’s 2011 exhibition at Goldmark Gallery. It was extraordinary that the exhibition took place at all. Ken’s hometown of Mashiko had been devastated by a huge earthquake in March that year; fortunately these pots had been dispatched for the UK just before it had struck.
Ryotaro Kato and the Kobe Dynasty
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
