Kakurezaki’s Black Vase with Handles exemplifies the artist’s sculptural reimagining of Bizen ware, one of Japan’s oldest and most revered ceramic traditions. Although Kakurezaki was not born in the Bizen region, he apprenticed under Isezaki Jun, the fifth Bizen potter designated a Living National Treasure, and has since emerged as one of the tradition’s most influential contemporary voices.
From at least the 12th through the 16th centuries, Bizen ware was produced primarily as utilitarian vessels—storage jars (tsubo), water containers, mortars, bowls, plates, and sake flasks. Made from dense, iron-rich local clay and fired unglazed in large anagama kilns, these objects were valued for durability, material honesty, and daily use rather than surface ornament. This work retains this functional lineage, yet its tripodal base, sharply articulated planes, and carved surfaces assert a powerful sculptural presence.
Wood firing deposits ash, flame markings, and tonal variation across the surface, recording the kiln’s prolonged heat and cooling cycles. In transforming a historically utilitarian form into an expressive object, Kakurezaki honors Bizen’s legacy while expanding its contemporary possibilities.
