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‘Draig Oriog’ Anagama, at the International Ceramics Festival, Aberystwyth

On July 8, 2015 By Lawrence Barrow
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

On June 5, 2015 By Lawrence Barrow
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

On January 25, 2015 By Lawrence Barrow
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

On January 14, 2015 By Lawrence Barrow
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

On December 7, 2014 By Lawrence Barrow
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

On August 29, 2014 By Lawrence Barrow
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 “

On August 10, 2014 By Lawrence Barrow
   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 –

On July 29, 2014 By Lawrence Barrow
  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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陰翳礼讃 ‘In Praise of Shadows’

On June 22, 2014 By Lawrence Barrow
The lights were dim in the four and a half mat tea room. A kimono clad lady entered with a red lacquer tray and a lidded bowl. She placed a tray in front of each of us and then left the room. The lid of the clear soup was [...]
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鬼桶水差し Devil's Bucket

鬼桶水差し – ‘Oni-Oke Mizusashi’ – Devil’s Bucket

On June 15, 2014 By Lawrence Barrow
During the 16th century when the cult of wabi-tea was developing, Sen no Rikyu's teacher, Takeno Jō  started using Shigaraki-ware in the tea ceremony and one of the utensils he adopted as a mizusashi, fresh water container, was a Shigaraki jar used to dye silk, known as an 'oni-oke'. The form is simple with straight [...]
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