This is a set of one tokkuri sake flask and a pair of meoto yunomi (matching teacups for a couple) by Sakuma Totaro (1900–1976), a ceramic artist of Mashiko ware. Sakuma Totaro was born in 1900 (Meiji 33) into a family that ran a Mashiko ware kiln in Haga District, Tochigi Prefecture, and in 1918 (Taisho 7) he graduated from the Mashiko Town Ceramics Training Institute. From 1924 (Taisho 13), when Hamada Shoji moved to Mashiko, Sakuma studied under Hamada. As one of the leading artists of Mashiko ware, second only to Hamada, he contributed to the flourishing of Mashiko ware as mingei (folk craft) pottery. The Mashiko Museum of Ceramic Art describes Sakuma, who was born into a kiln-owning family, as the first person in Mashiko who, after meeting Hamada, set out to become a ceramic artist.
In 1927 (Showa 2), Sakuma’s work was selected for the craft section of the Kokugakai exhibition, and in 1949 (Showa 24) he became a member of the Kokugakai. He held solo exhibitions frequently throughout Japan, beginning with Takashimaya in Tokyo, and in 1956 (Showa 31) he held an exhibition commemorating thirty years of his ceramic work at Tochigi Kaikan. A three-person exhibition with Hamada Shoji and Shimaoka Tatsuzo (Daimaru, Kyoto) and a two-person exhibition with Hamada Shoji in 1966 (Showa 41) (Toki, Gifu Prefecture) were also held. In 1953 (Showa 28) he became a director of the Tochigi Prefecture Mingei Association, and he received the Tochigi Prefecture Cultural Merit Award in 1959 (Showa 34) and the Order of the Sacred Treasure, Fifth Class in 1973 (Showa 48).
In 1934 (Showa 9), writing in Kogei (Crafts), the journal of the mingei movement, Hamada Shoji noted that among the young makers of Mashiko, Sakuma was the one of longest standing. He went on to observe that Sakuma’s “way of working that brings Mashiko clay to life,” guided by his own eye and hand, possessed an honesty true to the character of the land. When Bernard Leach visited Japan in 1954, ceramics were made at the Sakuma Totaro Kiln.
His works are held in the collections of the Mashiko Museum of Ceramic Art (Vase with Plum Design in Tessha Glaze) and the Otaru City Museum of Art. The works in the Otaru City Museum of Art include pieces in a wide range of techniques: inlay (zogan), three-color glaze (sansai), dotted patterns in tessha iron glaze, persimmon (kaki) and black glazes applied in divided sections with resist decoration (nukie), and white glaze with poured amber (ame) and blue glazes. The Mashiko Museum of Ceramic Art explains that Sakuma possessed assured skill on the potter’s wheel and excelled at painted decoration. On the vase in the museum’s collection, the trunk is painted in iron oxide (tetsu-e), and the blossoms are painted in persimmon glaze and gosu cobalt blue.
In this work, slender leaves are painted in gosu cobalt blue over a grayish-white glaze. Each leaf is drawn in a single stroke, thick at the base and tapering to a sharp point. Between the leaves, a stem-like motif whose tip curves and curls inward is painted in thick brown glaze. On the yunomi, the brown motif crosses two parallel lines incised around the upper body, and the glaze breaks off and separates at the grooves. The tone of the brown differs from piece to piece: on the larger yunomi it ranges from reddish brown to pale purplish brown, on the smaller yunomi it is a deep brown close to black, and on the tokkuri it has fired to a subdued, low-gloss brown. On the tokkuri, the brown motif is applied so thickly that its outline stands in relief.
Both yunomi share the same form: the rim flares slightly outward, and the body narrows at the waist before joining a stepped foot ring. Spiral trimming marks remain inside the foot ring, and the unglazed footrim reveals a coarse, reddish clay body. The glaze surface shows fine crackle (kannyu) throughout, scattered with black specks from the iron in the clay. The tokkuri has a refined form, with a distinct step at the shoulder and a short neck opening into a rim that flares and rolls outward. Throwing marks remain on the inside of the neck. At the middle of the body, the glaze surface divides into a glossy upper section and a lower section with a finely pitted, pear-skin texture. The outer edge of the base is unglazed.
Our shop proposes the tokkuri as a Japanese decanter for pouring vintage spirits, and the meoto yunomi as Japanese rocks glasses for enjoying vintage spirits and aged liquors on the rocks. The two yunomi differ slightly in size, and together with the tokkuri bearing the same design, they can be used as a matching set.
The pair of yunomi comes with a tomobako (the artist’s own wooden box) bearing an ink inscription and a red seal. The tokkuri comes with no accessories. There is a small spot on the rim of the tokkuri where the color of the clay body is visible.
- Artist: Sakuma Totaro (佐久間 藤太郎、1900–1976)
- Selected Career Highlights: [1924] Studied under Hamada Shoji, who had moved to Mashiko; [1927] Selected for the craft section of the Kokugakai exhibition; [1949] Became a member of the Kokugakai; [1953] Director of the Tochigi Prefecture Mingei Association; [1956] Exhibition commemorating thirty years of ceramic work (Tochigi Kaikan); [1959] Received the Tochigi Prefecture Cultural Merit Award; [1966] Two-person exhibition of Hamada Shoji and Sakuma Totaro (Toki); [1973] Received the Order of the Sacred Treasure, Fifth Class
- Public Collections: Mashiko Museum of Ceramic Art, Otaru City Museum of Art
- Date: c. 1950 – c. 1975 (estimated; estimated to fall between c. 1950 and c. 1975, the period from when the artist held repeated solo exhibitions throughout Japan after the war until his death in 1976)
- Condition: Excellent (no chips or cracks; in good condition with minimal soiling)
- Included: Tomobako for the pair of yunomi only (with ink inscription and red seal); no accessories for the tokkuri
- Medium: Pottery (painted in gosu cobalt blue)
- Dimensions: Tokkuri: body diameter approx. 8 cm, height approx. 16 cm / Yunomi (large): height approx. 9.0 cm, width approx. 8.6 cm, rim diameter approx. 7.2 cm / Yunomi (small): height approx. 8.5 cm, width approx. 8.0 cm, rim diameter approx. 6.7 cm
- Please Note: All items offered by our shop, even those that are new and unused, were produced a very long time ago and are therefore listed as pre-owned. Items may show damage from age, so please understand and review this before considering your purchase.
