Dobin Tea Pot by Kaori Sasaki / Noharaya

This dobin style teapot was made by Kaori Sasaki at her Noharaya kiln, in central Kagoshima.

Dobin with their relative capacity, and handles positioned at the top of the pot (often made from twisted wisteria or bamboo), were the traditional tea vessel of Japanese homes before the spread of side handled kyusu.  In their original form they were often suspended above heat by the handle, although it is more common today to add hot water from a separate vessel.

Kaori Sasaki’s work is focussed on exploring the forms within the Kuro-mon tradition of Kagoshima ceramics.   She has several different approaches to surface decoration, with this pot an example of her use of ash from the Sakurajima volcano.  This brings a particular texture and warmth, that is different with each firing.

The pot is 8cm in diameter, and 11cm high.  It weighs 265g, and holds 500ml of liquid.

About Noharaya Kiln (Kaori Sasaki)

At her Nohara-ya kiln in the Kagoshima interior, Kaori Sasaki fires ceramics that reflect both her training on the southern island of Okinawa and the ceramic traditions of her home region.

In Okinawa she was one of the early disciples of Yoneshi Matsuda of the Kita-gama kiln, which has become a renowned training ground for craft potters. Here she learned a dedication to materials, and techniques such as the dotted pattern work and high footed bowls for which Okinawa’s yachimun ceramics are known. But Kagoshima holds a tradition too that she began to explore on her return. In particular the Kuro-mon (Black Satsuma) lineage that occurred in several strains, such as Ryumonji and Naeshirokawa.

These were ceramics used in everyday life, with forms that expressed their region’s history. At Nohara-ya, Sasaki collects materials local to her, such as clay deposits from rivers, and glaze ash from the Sakurajima volcano. Her work is the summation of the influences and skills that inform her ceramic imagination. It expresses too a modern spirit of Kuro-mon, ceramics with beauty and Kagoshiman terroir, that are a pleasure to use.