I was Born May 24, 1950
“It began with a kiln…”
30 years ago, I took part in a ceramics class offered through the Susami Town Community Center. It was my first experience with ceramics, and I found it wonderful and interesting. However, after two years the teacher, Iyagura Sensei, collapsed from ill health. When I went to see him in the hospital, just before he died, he told me in a weak voice, “Firing ceramics with firewood is wonderful…”
I went home and began thinking about kilns.
I didn’t know anything about how to mold the clay or make the shape of a kiln, but nonetheless I made up my mind to build one. At that time there was no one I could ask for guidance, so I began reading books on the subject. As soon as I could I bought firebricks and fire-resistant mortar and began constructing a kiln in a small shed.
It was a small, free-standing kiln with openings on both sides and a [leaning style chimney]. As soon as I finished it I invited the owner of a ceramics materials shop to come and see what he thought. He took one look and began laughing. When we tried lighting a fire in the kiln the chimney quickly cracked and collapsed. The truth is I’d made it out of a simple clay pipe.
While repeating this kind of process of trial and error, I met Shuji Nishimura of Minabegawa Town. Nishimura Sensei had come to take charge of the ceramics class in place of Iygura Sensei. Having studied with ceramics masters, Nishimura Sensei had a bountiful knowledge of ceramics. He was kind enough to offer me advice and ideas for improvement on my unfinished kiln, which was a great stroke of luck for me.
After that I continued the process of trial and error. By the time I built the Nobori Kiln [???] at Gorozui in Susami Town in 1995, I’d been using my small homemade kiln for seven years. I’d had many disappointments and a lot of discouragement, but overriding all of them was a great sense of happiness.
I feel it was the kiln itself that drew me into making ceramics. Through the process of constructing the kiln, I gained confidence in my ceramic-making abilities. In fact, the whole process has driven me to a state in which I feel I must make ceramics…
Since building the Nobori Kiln, I have felt drawn by an even stronger force to ceramic work. Now I hope to put in even more energy and continue working, in the hope that the Gorozui Kiln will take strong root here in the land of Kumano.
