Last Monday, I visited a man in Kamakura, who is a ceramics collector.
His name is Yoshinori Shiratori. Shiratori means "white bird"! So, may be a Swan!!!


I knew he had ceramic pieces by Kakurezaki Ryuichi and when I read this article of the "Generational Crossroads" exhibition in Ceramics, Art and Perception, # 63, 2006 issue, it was time to pay him a visit. This exhibition opened on April 1, 2006 at LaCoste Gallery in Concord, MA, USA and shows works by Isezaki Jun and Isezaki Koichiro, Kakurezaki Ryuichi, Jeff Shapiro and Tim Rowan, all related to eachother by their work through being a master and apprentice. They are Bizen potters, one of the main six schools, or kilns, in Japan.


Bizen is a stoneware made in Bizen, Okayama Prefecture, since the 12th century. This stoneware is unglazed and usually fired with red pine wood. The ash will fall on the piece and glaze is completely or partially. The clay used is also from the Bizen area of Japan. The central city is Imbe. This is the home of Isezaki Jun, a peaceful environment dotted with hundreds of ceramic workshops, woodfiring kilns and retail ceramic shops.

Yoshinori-san's house is filled with ceramics and is beautifully displayed. Quite a lot are for sale, but he has a wonderful personal collection.
He showed me some teabowls, "chawan", Ryuichi (or Kakure-san) made,

and also his big plates were on display and many more of his pieces.
He also owned one of the six abstracted vessels, shown on the first picture in the article.


Kakurezaki Ryuichi is now a master, but was an apprentice of the Japanese Living National Treasure Isezaki Jun. He showed me a water vessel, "mizusachi", made by him and some small pieces made by his son, Isezaki Koichiro.

"Mizusashi" by Isezaki Jun