This is a pair of “Tetsuyu Akasai Kumi-Yunomi” (paired yunomi cups with iron glaze and red enamel decoration) by Kenji Kato, a ceramic artist who worked at the Shinsho Kiln in Tajimi, Gifu Prefecture. The lid of the tomobako (the artist’s original wooden storage box) bears the inscribed title “Tetsuyu Akasai Kumi-Yunomi,” the signature “Shinsho Kiln,” and a red seal. The set also comes with a shiori (leaflet) printed with the artist’s own career history, and a wrapping cloth. Although originally made as yunomi teacups, their comfortable size in the hand and substantial build make them well suited to slowly savoring vintage spirits neat, and we present them as Japanese-style drinking vessels for that purpose.
Kenji Kato was born on July 21, 1933 (Showa 8), in Tajimi, Gifu Prefecture, a city renowned as a production center of Mino ware. He graduated in ceramics from Kyoto City University of Fine Arts (now Kyoto City University of Arts) and studied under Kenkichi Tomimoto, Yuzo Kondo, and Yoshimichi Fujimoto. All three were later designated Holders of Important Intangible Cultural Properties (Living National Treasures). Training under the foremost masters of overglaze enamel (iro-e) and underglaze cobalt blue (sometsuke) formed the starting point of Kato’s ceramic work. According to the records of the Japan Kogei Association, a public interest incorporated association, he passed away in 2008.
A defining feature of Kato’s career is how early he became active internationally. According to the career history in the shiori, he served as a lecturer at Ohio State University in the United States in 1968. He gave lectures at Indiana State University, the University of Michigan, and Antioch University, and in 1969 he held a solo exhibition at the Helen Winnemore Gallery in the United States. From 1971 to 1973 he was dispatched by the Japanese government as a visiting professor at the Turkish National Istanbul Higher School of Fine Arts and Crafts, and he took part in the 5th General Assembly of the World Crafts Council (Istanbul) as a representative of Japan. In 1976 he visited Australia and New Zealand as a ceramic art envoy dispatched by the Japan Foundation of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. His career history also lists Norway, Denmark, and Canada under the year 1978. At the 8th General Assembly of the World Crafts Council, held in Kyoto in 1978, he served as a sub-coordinator.
In Japan, he received the Japan Kogei Association President’s Award at the 2nd Tokai Traditional Art Crafts Exhibition, the Aichi Prefectural Board of Education Award at the 10th edition of the same exhibition, and the Tomimoto Prize at the 32nd Shinsho Kogei Exhibition. He served as a director of the Mino Ceramic Art Association and was a member of the Shinsho Kogei Association, a regular member of the Japan Kogei Association, and a member of the International Ceramics Society. He also taught the next generation as a lecturer in the Department of Fine Arts and Crafts at Gifu University. His works are held in the following collections:
・University of Michigan Museum of Art (iron-glazed vase)
・Museum für Kunst und Gewerbe Hamburg (square plate with red overglaze enamel)
・Canterbury Museum (Shino tea bowl)
・Art Gallery of South Australia (water jar with iron-painted decoration)
・Embassy of Japan in Denmark (vase)
His exhibition records with the Japan Kogei Association reveal the evolution of his style. From the mid-1960s to the early 1970s, he repeatedly exhibited “nukie tenmoku” jars, which are tenmoku jars with resist-reserved decoration. After a set of square plates with overglaze enamel in 1974, he presented red overglaze enamel (aka-e) works such as square plates every year from 1976 to 1982. From 1984 onward he produced blue-glazed flattened flasks. From around 1986 until his final years, his entries centered on vases and incense burners in “Turkish blue.” Today, this body of Turkish blue work is what is most widely recognized as Kato’s signature.
Turkish blue is not used in this piece. Instead, it clearly displays two elements that characterized Kato during this period. The first is iron glaze and iron-painted decoration, which also appear among his museum-collected works. The second is the red overglaze enamel he pursued intensively from the late 1970s to the early 1980s.
After the body was thrown on the wheel, it was pressed inward with the fingers at several points around the side, giving it a softly undulating contour. The rim flares slightly outward while gently wavering. An opaque white glaze covers the entire piece, and on close inspection fine crackle (kannyu) runs across its whole surface.
Over this, iron glaze has been boldly applied in vertical strokes with a broad brush. Where the iron glaze is thin, it melts into the white glaze and creates a grayish-green blur. Where it pools thickly, it takes on a glossy blackish-brown sheen. Within these thick areas, speckled tones ranging from reddish-brown to amber appear here and there. These variations are especially pronounced where glaze has pooled in the finger-pressed indentations, creating a landscape (keshiki) in which forming and glazing become one.
The two cups differ in design. One has vivid red dots scattered among vertical lines of iron glaze, with iron-colored edging on the rim. The other uses no red, and combines vertical iron-glaze lines with ring-shaped and hooked brushstrokes. Together they form a “kumi” (matched set): paired, yet each with its own distinct expression.
The foot ring (kodai) is trimmed low, and its resting edge (tatami-tsuki) shows dark purplish-brown, iron-bearing clay. The inside of the foot ring is glazed, and a square seal is impressed on the unglazed area at its center. Small iron spots can be seen inside the foot ring of the black cup.
The production period is estimated from the content of the accompanying shiori. Among the dated entries in the shiori, the most recent is the 1978 General Assembly of the World Crafts Council in Kyoto. According to Japan Kogei Association records, the 27th Tokai Traditional Art Crafts Exhibition corresponds to fiscal year Heisei 8 (1996), which places the 10th edition listed in the shiori in 1979. The shiori makes no mention of the Turkish blue works that became his signature from 1986 onward. It also omits his later honors: the Osman Hamdi Art Award, the top prize at the Tokai Traditional Art Crafts Exhibition, and the Gifu Prefecture Arts and Culture Honor. The postal code is printed in the three-digit format used before 1998. On this basis, these cups are considered to have been made between around 1979 and the mid-1980s. This period overlaps with that of his red overglaze enamel works, but because the shiori may have remained in use for some time, the dating is an estimate.
The cups are free of chips and cracks and remain in very good condition. Kato is almost entirely unknown outside Japan. This work combines his grounding in overglaze enamel, in the lineage of Kenkichi Tomimoto, with free brushwork shaped by his international activities.
- Artist: Kenji Kato (Katō Kenji, 1933–2008)
- Major Career Highlights: [1959] Selected for the 6th Japan Traditional Art Crafts Exhibition; [1968] Lecturer at Ohio State University; [1969] Solo exhibition at the Helen Winnemore Gallery, USA; [1971] Japan Kogei Association President’s Award, 2nd Tokai Traditional Art Crafts Exhibition; [1971–1973] Visiting professor at the Turkish National Istanbul Higher School of Fine Arts and Crafts, dispatched by the Japanese government; [1976] Ceramic art envoy dispatched by the Japan Foundation of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (Australia and New Zealand); [1978] Norway, Denmark, and Canada (as listed in his career history); [1978] Sub-coordinator, 8th General Assembly of the World Crafts Council (Kyoto); [1979] Aichi Prefectural Board of Education Award, 10th Tokai Traditional Art Crafts Exhibition; [1986] “Turkish Blue Flattened Flask” selected for the 33rd Japan Traditional Art Crafts Exhibition; [2001] “Turkish Blue Vase” selected for the 48th Japan Traditional Art Crafts Exhibition
- Museum Collections: University of Michigan Museum of Art, Museum für Kunst und Gewerbe Hamburg, Canterbury Museum, Art Gallery of South Australia, Embassy of Japan in Denmark
- Period of Production: c. 1979 to the mid-1980s (estimated from the content of the accompanying shiori)
- Condition: Very good (no chips, no cracks)
- Accessories: Original tomobako (artist’s wooden box), wrapping cloth, shiori (leaflet)
- Material: Stoneware (iron glaze, red enamel)
- Dimensions: Red: height approx. 9.0 cm, mouth diameter approx. 7.3 cm / Black: height approx. 9.0 cm, mouth diameter approx. 7.1 cm
- Note: All items offered by our shop, even if new and unused, were produced a very long time ago, and all are therefore listed as pre-owned. Items may show age-related wear or damage. Please understand and confirm this before considering a purchase.
