One’s turning point may be decided beforehand. The ninth generation potter Sokichi Nagae in Seto City of Aichi Prefecture, which is known traditionally as a ceramic making region, is also someone whose fate has been predetermined. Sokichi is now known as the pioneer of the re-creation of the Yohen Tenmoku tea bowl, which dates from the Chinese Southern Song Dynasty. In the universe within the bowl, stars are shining. This is an extraordinary bowl – in the whole world only three perfect bowls remain, all of them in Japan and all three designated as national treasures. It was his father, the eighth generation potter, who started to work on the hard to achieve re-creation of this bowl. However Sokichi’s destiny was not laid out from the beginning.

It was when Sokichi was in his 30s. One day, his father suddenly announced that he would quit the long-running family business of making ceramic wares. He then discharged all the employees. Sokichi became at variance with his father, and left home for a different job. However his father died suddenly. His mother was sunk in grief. Sokichi went back to his home and to the family business of making ceramics. While working, just like his father, Sokichi also fell into the pathway of aiming to recreate the Yohen Tenmoku. This was something to which his father was once devoted. But the intention for Sokichi was to support his mother mentally, not because he was passionate about it.

No research materials were left. Sokichi had to begin from scratch.
He has visited the Jian ware kiln remains in Fujian Province of China – the home of Yohen Tenmoku – over forty times, and conducted research there. Looking at a ceramic fragment with a dull shine that was found at the vast kiln remains, he realised that there was a broken piece of fluorite. He thought that this might be the secret to making such a special creation possible, and since then for twenty years, has been devoted to recreating Yohen Tenmoku through only kiln fire. Sokichi then discovered that adding the powder of a piece of fluorite at a certain point during the firing process generates gaseous hydrogen fluoride, creating star-looking patches and lustre through a chemical change. It is the structural colour of the wing of Buprestidae (jewel beetle), and its shine will never fade.

Sokichi actively presents the result of his chemical analysis at academic conferences. Eighty tonnes of soil were brought from the Jian ware region for the re-creation of the Yohen Tenmoku. ‘When we say re-creation, we should strictly use genuine soil and glaze.’ Sokichi is adamant. According to him, since he is not like his father who was almost possessed, he has a confidence to calmly focus on the re-creation work. But so far, he has only managed to come close to recreating Yohen Tenmoku on two occasions. This gives a probability of one in twenty thousand bowls. The one that Sokichi currently holds was made in 2006. Since then, perhaps something has not quite been perfect for firing, as none have been produced in the kiln. ‘There may be something lacking. Making ceramics is a chemistry.’ Sokichi never stops his research.

Sokichi, however, also decisively says ‘as a pottery artist, a re-creation is after all a re-creation’. This feeling of his became the basis for success in creating an original work ‘Yoyosan,’ which is radiant like an aurora or rainbow. When Sokichi is invited to talk about his journey of re-creation, he speaks about it calmly. It is only recently that he and his work have started to attract attention.

There have been many artists so far who declare that they managed to recreate Yohen Tenmoku, but their technique is different from the Chinese Southern Song Dynasty – as is the soil, the central material. Can we really call this ‘re-creation’? Sokichi had a difficult time of self-criticism to go through also. Since his father’s death, Sokichi has been on his own for over twenty years. He focuses on his work in a large studio space where many people used to be working. In China, Sokichi is welcomed as a pioneer of re-creation of Yohen Tenmoku. In the beginning, he stepped into a wilderness without a route, but now he sees clear paths before and after him. The target is the brilliant galaxy of Yohen Tenmoku, which is in a collection of Seikado Bunko Art Museum and is the so-called ‘Inaba Tenmoku’.

Masathito Kurotani, Director, genra