Hello everyone. How are you all spending these refreshing spring days?
The cherry blossoms here have already largely fallen, and more green leaves are beginning to appear.
That soft, gentle pink of the cherry blossoms is truly wonderful.
It feels nothing short of miraculous to think that such a delicate pink hue is refined from those rugged, gnarled trunks.
Speaking of that shade of pink, I discovered a wonderful color while looking at "Tsukuru Tojiro Vol. 38."
In "Tsukuru Tojiro," pottery artists carefully explain how to create their works, and in the opening of issue 38, Mr. Kenji Hara explains how to make Shino, Kiseto, and Seto-guro tea bowls.
In the section on Shino, the color of the raw clay was a magnificent pink.
The pale pink hue, much like a sakura mochi, almost made me wonder if it were edible.
The color is so wonderful that just looking at the photograph, I can almost smell the gentle scent of flowers.
I have seen Bizen raw clay many times, but after firing, it becomes hard and dense, and its color changes completely.
However, this pink hue of the Shino clay somehow calls to mind its appearance after firing.
The article notes that it is "extremely difficult to handle," showing how it crumbles and cracks while being thrown on the wheel.
Those cracks and the crepe-like wrinkles from the spatula convey a sense of the mochi-like quality of the clay that is indescribably beautiful.
I am sure my impression would change if I were to touch the actual clay in person, though.
Because of all this, I’ve recently been struck by the idea that pottery is like mochi.
I feel that Bizen is like a rice cracker, Shino like a sakura mochi, and Seto-guro like an ohagi.
A hot, astringent green tea goes well with all of them, and green, natural settings suit pottery perfectly as well.
It would be lovely to arrange a single wildflower in a small sake flask, or perhaps place a tea bowl atop a moss-covered rock.
Thinking of such things, I’ve been lazily enjoying the warm spring sunshine.
