Ceramic Artist Profile:  Sawada Hiroyuki
Raku-yaki & Iga Pottery

Family Name:  Sawada

Given Name: Hiroyuki

Reading:  Sawada Hiroyuki, Hiroyuki Sawada

Year of Birth: 1953

Style:  raku, Iga and shino wares

Studio Location:  Kurokawa District (Hyogo Prefecture)

Kiln:  raku & oil fired kilns

Charcoal, or sumi in Japanese, is one of the essential elements in tea ceremony.  Placed inside the hearth at the center of the tea room, it heats the cast iron kettles used to boil water for the sacred tea.  Among the many different types of charcoal, one reins supreme above all.  It is called kiku-zumi, or chrysanthemum charcoal, and its name comes from the fired cross-section which resembles the pattern of a chrysanthemum blossom.  Both decorative and functional, kiku-zumi burns softly with elegance and emits minimal smoke - ideal for the closed quarters of a tea room.

Kiku-zumi

With roughly 65 percent of its land covered by forest, Japan is the world's leading maker of charcoal produced from natural woods.  Among its many production centers, one in particular, Hyogo Prefecture's Ikeda City, is renowned for the quality and beauty of its charcoal.  Since the 15th century, hamlets in the wooded region north of Ikeda have supplied the city with various types (pine, oak and bamboo), including the noble kiku-zumi.  In fact, historical records show that sumi from Ikeda was used by warlord Toyotomi Hideyoshi and his appointed tea master Sen no Rikyū.
 

Located at the base of Mt. Myōken in Ikeda's Kurokawa district is a modest kiln established and tended by Sawada Hiroyuki.  For over 35 years, Mr. Sawada has specialized in the production of ceramic utensils made especially for use in tea ceremony.  Called ocha-dogu in Japanese, they include tea bowls, incense burners & holders, and vases.  An avid practitioner himself, Mr. Sawada possesses a deep understanding of Japan's tea heritage and the critical role that tea ceremony, also called sadō or chanoyu, plays today in preserving not only ceramics but the many other arts and crafts associated with it - from charcoal and sweets to calligraphy and lacquer ware.

Kirin Incense Burner
by Sawada Hiroyuki

Kuro Raku-yaki
Tea Ceremony Bowl
by Sawada Hiroyuki

A number of ceramic traditions define Sawada Hiroyuki's craft, all of which have made some contribution over the centuries to chanoyu.  He finds particular inspiration in works from the Momoyama era (1573-1603) - the time when tea ceremony was reaching the apex of its development.  As a result, his clay creations are grounded in the aesthetics of tea culture and resonate with Zen spirituality.

Mr. Sawada's reputation lies most firmly in the production of raku (raku-yaki) - the monochrome ware born in Kyoto in the 16th century and most closely linked to chanoyu.  With a charcoal furnace just opposite the picturesque valley that defines the Kurokawa district, it would seem only natural that he would choose to specialize in this most unique style of pottery, for the low temperature kiln in which it is fired is densely packed with sumi - its only fuel.  And with an abundance of the obsidian wood always within reach, he is free to experiment with different types to find which one burns at the right intensity to achieve a desired effect.  Interestingly, it is the smooth burning kiku-zumi (carbonized sawtooth oak) which produces the best results.

Although the appellation "Raku" is reserved for works made by the originator or Raku ware, Sasaki Chojirō (d. 1592), and his successors, the term is used today by a number of contemporary artists, like Sawada Hiroyuki, to describe pots which adhere to the same forming, glazing and firing techniques.  It is a ceramic genre unlike any other.

Chojirō believed in keeping ornamentation to a minimum and staying true to the basic roots of pottery production.  He steadfastly adhered to his principle of creating tea ware by hand in an age where many potters were adopting the potter's wheel to meet the increasing demand for ceramics.
 

Thus, raku bowls are born from the most humble of beginnings.  They are made by pressing clay into a flat disk and then building up the sides with overlapping coils in a technique called tebineri.  After drying, the potter scrapes bits of clay away with forming tools, holding the bowl up at eye level on the palm after every few strokes to check the balance and slowly evolving shape of the vessel.  The process is much more a mental endeavor than a physical one, requiring hours of intense focus.  
 

Once forming is complete, the bowls are glazed and fired in low temperature kilns made especially for raku firing.  Kuro (black) raku bowls are coated with a glaze made from crushed stones found along Kyoto's Kamo River.  They are fired individually at a temperature of around 1,100°C (2,012°F) in a simple updraught kiln densely packed with charcoal.  While still red hot, the bowls are plucked from the kiln and allowed to cool rapidly.  The iron and manganese content in the glaze produces a deep, lustrous black.  When fired at a lower temperature, they have a matte, citrus skin-like finish.  Aka (red) raku is fired in similar fashion but at a lower temperature (around 900°C or 1,650°F) in a kiln that can accommodate 3 or 4 bowls at a time.  The clay body is usually a red earthenware covered with a translucent glaze.

Fired at such low temperatures and only for a short time (10 to 12 minutes), raku bowls do not possess the durability of high-fired stoneware.  Given their thickness, they are surprisingly lightweight, delicate, and make a muted tok-tok sound when tapped on the rim.
 

Kasé Raku-yaki
Tea Ceremony Bowl

by Sawada Hiroyuki

What, then, is the appeal of these humble, unassuming vessels?  And why are they so highly regarded in the world of tea?

Because raku bowls are formed by hand without the aid of a potter's wheel and lacking any sense of mechanical precision, they reflect two principles central to Zen Buddhism - imperfection and asymmetry.  And because these qualities are inherently human, we are able to perceive them in the bowl in an instant and on a subconscious level - looking beyond the superficial to find beauty on a deeper, more abstract plane.

Moreover, in the absence of color or decorative elements, raku bowls allow a potter to connect with the viewer more intimately than with any other type of ceramic.  For Sawada Hiroyuki, the appeal of raku lies on the reverse side of the same argument.  That is, raku bowls do not lie.  Freed from embellishments that can distract from truth, they reveal the skill of his hands, the sharpness of his eye, and his aesthetic sense in stark, unhindered clarity.  Even his spiritual condition is laid bare for all to see.

With these open windows to his soul held by tea enthusiasts in Japan and abroad, Sawada Hiroyuki continues firing raku-yaki with all the confidence that comes from knowing he has nothing inside to hide.

Iga ware (Iga-yaki) is another member in Mr. Sawada's ceramic making repertoire.  Born in Mie Prefecture (central Japan) in the late 7th century, Iga was originally a heavy earthenware, usually jars, which farmers used for storing grains. Centuries later in the Momoyama era, Iga tea bowls became popular among the busho-chajin, or warrior tea men, who found their warm, rustic tenor complimentary with the aesthetics of chanoyu.

Iga goes through a rigorous transformation inside the kiln.  Fired at 1350°C (2460°F), pots become peppered when superheated grains of feldspar in the clay burst through their earthen bed.  Heat change gradations and other yōhen (kiln changes) markings are the incidental effects which give Iga its individual character, ensuring that no two pieces are ever the same.

Although Iga is traditionally fired in large, wood burning kilns, Mr. Sawada has developed a technique which takes advantage of his close proximity to Kurokawa's abundant sumi.  By packing a smaller oil fired kiln densely with charcoal, a thick cloud of embers swirls around inside the kiln, enveloping pots with a natural glaze of vitrified ash called biidoro - from the Portuguese word for glass.  As a result, Mr. Sawada's dynamic rendition of Iga is a fluid collage of amber falls, emerald pastures and scorched earth.

Iga-yaki
Vase
by Sawada Hiroyuki