A squared bottle form vase by Furutani Michi enclosed in the original signed wooden box titled Shigaraki Shiho Hanaire. This piece is subtle, with an element of grace and gentility not associated with wood fired works today. Glassy green on the shoulder, two sides show charring up the corner, where it was buried in ash a third side a beautiful Hi-iro circle of fire, and the last side is bereft of pretense, simply unadulterated raw clay. It is 25 cm (10 inches) tall and in excellent condition.
Furutani Michio (1946-2000) is one of the Gods of Shigaraki, an artist who wrote the book on Anagama kilns, and one of the more influential artists of the second half of the 20th century. He was born in Shigaraki; graduating the Konan High School of industrial Arts, he moved to further his studies (like so many great artists before him, Kanjiro, Hamada…) at the Kyoto Institute of Industrial Arts in 1964. After breaking out on his own, he started by building an Anagama in Shigaraki in 1970, the first since the middle ages. He was a true pioneer, reviving the tradition and going on to build over thirty kilns over the next thirty years. No other artist has shown such singular dedication to a firing technique. He has been featured in the Nihon Dento Kogei Ten (Japanese Traditional Crafts Exhibition), Nihon Togei Ten (Japanese Ceramic Exhibition) and the Chunichi Kokusai Togei Ten among others. He passed away at the peak of his career. For more on this artists contributions see his book Anagama – Building Kilns and Firing.
