A fresh water Jar for use in the Japanese Maccha Tea Ceremony by Kako Katsumi enclosed in the original signed wooden box titled Haikaburi Mizusashi dating from 2016. One of the earlier works selected from the artists personal collection for this survey of 40 years of ceramic production. The walls rise with a gentle outward taper before meeting a subtly irregular rim, the lid seated flush and crowned with a small, roughly formed knop that echoes the piece’s raw tactility. The surface bears the full intensity of the firing, layered with deep iron browns, near-black passages, and flashes of warm reddish clay beneath. Ash deposits scatter across the body in granular constellations, while vertical rivulets of melted glaze run downward, freezing the movement of heat and gravity. Occasional pale, bluish-gray blooms emerge where ash has pooled and fluxed, creating moments of unexpected luminosity within the darker field. The skin is richly variegated—pitted, encrusted, and alive with kiln activity—suggesting a prolonged, high-temperature wood firing. Edges and ridges catch light through accumulations of ash and silica, while recesses deepen into shadow. The overall impression is one of elemental transformation, where the vessel’s form serves as a ground for the unpredictable, yet deeply controlled, choreography of fire. It is 16 x 15 x 17 cm (roughly 6 inches diameter, 7 inches tall) and is in perfect condition.
Kako Katsumi was born in Kyoto in 1965, and graduated the ceramics department of Saga Art College in 1986. He was selected for the Japan Fine Arts Exhibition, the Asahi Ceramic Art Exhibition and the Kyoten held at the Kyoto Municipal Museum of Art in 1988, followed in 1989 by the National Ceramic Art Exhibition and Mino International Ceramics Exhibition. He has since exhibited and or been selected/ awarded many times at these prestigious events. He established his kiln in Nishiwaki City in 1991. In 1994 he worked in Melbourne. Australia, and would create a second kiln in 2001. In 2004 he would be awarded the Prize of Excellence at the Tanabe Museum of Art Modern Tea Forms exhibition. In 2005 he established his current kiln in Sasayama, Hyogo prefecture. In 2009 he his work was featured at the Kikuchi Biennale Exhibition and the following year was awarded at the 4th Contemporary Tea Bowls Exhibition, and in 2011 was selected for the influential Paramita Ceramic Exhibition. 2013 saw him in New York, and 2014 at the Museum of Ceramic Art in Hyogo (Kobe). Held in the collection of the Minneapolis Institute of Art among others.
