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左馬窯 ~ The First Firing

By Lawrence Barrow On November 12, 2015 ·
  Horses are considered a symbol of good luck in Japan on the first firing of a new kiln. The character for horse is often found written on pots that are fired in a new kiln, the character for horse 馬、however is written backwards and then bares a similarity to the character for dance, something [...]
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U.K. Anagama – ’Go-go-Gama 五合窯’

By Lawrence Barrow On August 24, 2015 ·
The anagama kiln (Japanese: 穴窯) is an ancient type of pottery kiln brought to Japan from China via Korea in the 5th century. An anagama (a Japanese term meaning "cave kiln") consists of a firing chamber with a firebox at one end and a flue at the other. Although the term "firebox" is used to describe the space for [...]
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‘Draig Oriog’ Anagama, at the International Ceramics Festival, Aberystwyth

By Lawrence Barrow On July 8, 2015 ·
The cries of herring gulls greeted my arrival at the Welsh seaside town of Aberystwyth. I was here to join the Anagama building workshop led by Gas Kimishima who is an expert on this type of kiln that developed in Japan more than a thousand years ago. The kiln building, loading and firing [...]
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如一 everything one

賀茂茄子 Kamo-nasu

By Lawrence Barrow On June 5, 2015 ·
Kamo-nasu is a Japanese eggplant from the Kamo area in Kyoto. It is beautifully round in form and has a purple-black skin. Kamo-nasu is also the title of a short film that I made recently. It was shot on a bright day at the end of May in Ohara, a small village outside Kyoto and [...]
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The Scarlet Cords of Bizen ~ 備前の緋襷

By Lawrence Barrow On January 25, 2015 ·
Hidasuki 緋襷 is one of various types of colouration that features on the works of Bizen 備前 pottery. It literally means scarlet cords. It is made by wrapping rice straw around wares and then placing them in the kiln. The iron in the clay reacts with the alkali in the straw to create a red [...]
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Old Roads to Shigaraki ~ 信楽

By Lawrence Barrow On January 14, 2015 ·
Rounding a bend, I pulled out of the narrow river-valley road into the vast expanse, framed by shaggy cedar and bamboo-covered mountain slopes. A pale mist clung to the slopes, the patchwork of fields, which on my last visit was dry and brown, was now covered with a fresh sprinkling of January snow. I followed [...]
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Hikidashi Poems  引き出し詩

By Lawrence Barrow On December 7, 2014 ·
TOFUKU-JI December morning - only the sound of rain on temple tiles and scarlet maples swirling in the gutter     --- ZAZEN as the pale light of dawn bleeds through the shōji we eat a thin gruel of rice with a pickled plum from black lacquered bowls the [...]
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The Road North: Wordsworth & Basho

By Lawrence Barrow On August 29, 2014 ·
William Wordsworth (1770-1850) and Matsuo Basho (1644-1694)  lived a century apart and in two very different cultures, at opposite ends of the world. Yet, there were great resonances between the two; the most obvious similarity between Wordsworth and Basho is that they were both walker-poets. Walking for both created an interaction between the traveller and [...]
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“Creating a Tea World “

By Lawrence Barrow On August 10, 2014 ·
   It was a unique experience for the guests, since for most of them it was their first time to experience Chado, The Way of Tea a.k.a. the Japanese Tea Ceremony. The event was held on the opening day of the exhibition here [...]
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Kiln Notes –

By Lawrence Barrow On July 29, 2014 ·
  in the darkness of the valley a bare yellow light bulb swings under the corrugated iron roof   just waiting for the right time to open the kiln's port and into the brilliant light throw a bundle of logs one after another just wait and watch the kiln knows [...]
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