Tokkuri Decanter for Sake by Shūji Haneishi

This piece is by master potter Shūji Haneishi.  It is a piece decorated in salt glaze in the potter's maki-gama, wood fired kiln.  The possibilities or firing ceramics in this way have fascinated potters in Japan for centuries, and Haneishi works in this legacy. The right wood, the right kiln conditions, with days spent achieving them, with most important to the process: the element of chance and discovery that the potter battles to create.

A potter in Kasama since the late 1980s, Haneishi is an expert in shaping these forms, and in creating the natural kiln conditions in which they come alive.

Size: Diameter: 8.5cm Width: 8.5cm Height 11.5cm

Weight: 200g

About Shuji Haneishi

Fitting the quintessential image of a Japanese master potter, Shūji Haneishi works with earth and fire. The possibilities of firing ceramics in wood fired kilns such as the maki-gama that Haneishi uses, have fascinated potters in Japan for centuries. Always the focus is on the right wood, the right kiln conditions, with days spent achieving them, and most important of all: the element of chance and discovery that the potter battles to create.  Perfection is achieved when the energy in a form comes together with the energy in the kiln to create a compelling combination of human and nature, that is itself imperfect. In Haneishi’s case, much of his efforts are spent on controlling, or seeking to control, the kiln based movements of ash as a natural glaze. He also applies salt glaze, and other material based decorations, but all the time with the aim of eliciting new moments and reactions within the kiln. Haneishi’s interest in ceramics began in his teens, and after training in Kyoto, he established himself in Kasama in the late 1980s. From the 1990s onwards he began to appear in the prize categories in major ceramic awards in Japan, and has continued to do so since. He makes vessels for sake, or simple objects, which are always beautiful, and always connect their owners, and his branch of ceramics, to its heritage in natural effects.