Flower vase (hanaire) with combed lines and poured ash-toned glaze, with impressed potter’s seal – - Ceramic - Japan - 20th century

An elegant « Karatsu-yaki » stoneware bottle, its dark body finely combed from shoulder to foot, crowned by a pale glaze that flows down the neck in soft natural rivulets, like rain running down the bark of a tree.

In Japanese tea culture, a flower vase is not decoration but a small landscape. Here the clay remembers the earth it came from, and the glaze, poured once and left to find its own way, remembers water. Set in a quiet alcove with a single stem, a camellia bud in winter, a branch of wild grasses in autumn, it creates that moment of stillness the Japanese call ma: the space between things, where the mind can rest.

Maker: Tanaka Sajirō (born 1937 in Kitakyushu) is a Karatsu potter whose work is inseparable from Zen. After years excavating Jōmon and Yayoi pottery, he took up the wheel in 1971, built a climbing kiln at Jōrakuji temple in Karatsu in 1975 and entered the priesthood at Eiheiji, the great Zen temple. In 1987 he moved his kiln to the old Yamase kiln site in the mountains above Karatsu and named it Yamase-gama. Exhibited regularly at Nihombashi Mitsukoshi in Tokyo, as well as in Seoul and Geneva, he describes his path as « Tōzen ichijō »: the potter’s practice and Zen are one.

Dimensions:
H approx. 30 cm x W approx. 11 cm

Weight:
Item 1 kg (1.6 kg boxed)

This vase is from my personal collection of Japan collectibles. It has no crack or chip, it has been in house display and regular cleaning care.

For this item, double carton boxing will be included for a safe shipping. Pickup in Northern France is possible.