Kenji Tayama Tokkuri: Kohiki Style

This piece was handcrafted by Kenji Tayama, a highly regarded contemporary ceramicist who works in the Japanese pottery town of Kasama. It’s warm, solid and intended for everyday life, with angles and shapes expressing the maker’s hand. A tokkuri is a sake or water jug, or the piece could also be used as a single stem vase.

Tayama aims to make pottery expressing nature, elements and the soil, describing his style as ‘yōhen’ or ‘changed by the flame’. Each piece is pine-wood fired over five days in an anagama style kiln and will have subtle differences, an expression of how the flame and ash have passed by and between the work.

This jug has been crafted in the kohiki style, an iron-rich clay body with a light slip and translucent glaze that creates a tactile, earthy texture. It originated from Korean potters and became popular in Japan with the samurai classes in the 1500's. The result is a powdery finish, with wisps of blush pink gohon 御本 tones coming through and a crackle effect. Kohiki ceramics are said to undergo three changes as they age with use, known as ‘keshiki'.

The blush colour comes from the high iron content of the Kasama clay. The piece has a soft lustre and warmth to make serving food so pretty.

It’s rare to find such a fine example of Kasama pottery outside of Japan, drawing upon its long and distinguished history.