HO-CA: Home of Clay Arts - Tajimi, Japan
For the most part, I have spent the past few years learning the art of ceramics independently. It became apparent that to deepen my understanding of this practice, I needed to venture beyond my potting shed and YouTube tutorials. And so, when the opportunity arose to spend the Autumn months of 2024 in Japan learning from experienced master potter, Setsuro Shibata, I knew I had to jump at the chance.
Nestled in the Japanese countryside, with its deep-rooted traditions of craftsmanship, an ingrained appreciation of nature and home to a population with a strong connection to ceramics, lies ‘HO-CA’ (Home of Clay Arts). As soon as I arrived, I was certain this would be the perfect place to evolve my understanding of ceramics and hone my pottery skills.
Tajimi is a typical pottery town. Each morning as I made the walk to the studio from my small apartment tucked into the tropical hillside, I trod down narrow and steep paths, passing alleyways meandering through working slip-casting factories, overgrown gardens lined with flowerbeds containing heaps of ceramic rubble, and smelt the familiar scent of kilns firing away. Most of the locals here were either potters themselves or knew someone who was.
HO-CA was founded by local master potter, Setsuro Shibata, otherwise known to his students as ‘Sensei’. Along with his assistant, Chiharu Tawana, Sensei has been running the pottery for over fifty years. Today, it is run as a studio for both the local community and international students. I loved sharing the studio with potters from around the world and with locals who came in to share cups of green tea and company with Sensei. Like most Japanese potteries, the space was basic and unpretentious. It was a quiet and meditative space and the continuous sounds of the wheels humming allowed me to lose myself in the process.
Sensei was at the studio every day, so when I needed advice or critique, he would always be there to help (although sometimes I would have to wake him up from his long afternoon naps!) He would watch me throw, before demonstrating how he had learnt to overcome common mistakes when throwing with clay. He taught me alternative techniques, showing me hand gestures I hadn’t used before. Sensei also taught me how to eliminate clay wastage. He would weigh out the specific amount of clay I needed, and I knew that if I either had too much leftover or not enough, I hadn’t thrown the vessel’s walls at quite the right thickness.
After spending a few days practising repeat throwing, I moved on to creating my work. I could now use the new techniques I had learnt to throw new forms independently. Each day, I began by throwing experimental forms to loosen me up and exercise my creativity. This spontaneity also allowed me to imagine new ideas that I may not have come up with by drawing in a sketchbook. If I ever found myself running out of inspiration, I knew all I had to do was step outside the studio and explore Tajimi. As an industrial pottery town, it is full of old chinaware shops. During my lunch breaks, I would often cycle around the town, exploring the stores to uncover new ideas. I would take photos of the many uniquely shaped ceramics to later use as studies in my afternoons of throwing. At the weekends, I would also explore nearby museums and galleries in the ancient pottery town of Seto, as well as visit ceramic exhibitions in Nagoya city.
Whilst in the studio, we were given a limited amount of clay to use. This meant that if I did not keep on top of my reclaim I would run out quite quickly - a good discipline to practise. In the hot Japanese humidity, the clay dried out particularly fast. Managing this temperature control was a new challenge for me as I was used to the opposite issue in my much cooler studio in England! However, learning to read the clay as it dried, observing its colour and feeling its texture, was a valuable lesson. Sensei taught me about different drying methods such as ice boxes and water spraying plastic wraps around ware-boards to control and extend the drying time of the pots. This was especially useful for items that required holes, handles and spouts. These were some of the many valuable tricks and adaptations I learnt to keep a studio running efficiently.
As I reached my last week at HO-CA, I turned my last few pots ready to be loaded into the gas kiln for their bisque firing. I waited anxiously until I could unload them a few days later. To my delight, they had all survived! I laid them out on the workbench in the studio sunlight so I could decide how to glaze each one. In the studio were a variety of local glazes developed by Sensei and Chiharu. Many Japanese glazes are quite distinctive and each pottery region has their recipes that have been passed down for generations. I settled on five different glazes: an ash glaze in a light bottle green colour, a unique silver-black matte glaze, a crackled transparent glaze, a dolomite white glaze, and, Hidasuki (more of a technique than a glaze) where rice straw is wrapped tightly around the pot. The alkaline-rich straw combined with the irons in the clay body burns the straw-covered areas creating a reddish-brown effect. I found this method fascinating and can’t wait to experiment with other straws that we have in England.
On my final day in Tajimi, I unloaded my glazed pieces from the kiln. I spent time observing the pots individually, reflecting on the time I spent creating them and feeling grateful for all that I had learnt here. I carefully packaged them all up to be sent by cargo ship back to England. As I travelled to the post office around the corner, I quietly celebrated my experience at HO-CA. Excited by the new skills I had learnt from Sensei and Chiharu, as well as the other residency participants, I envisioned the things I couldn’t wait to make when I returned home. As we did when each potter left Tajimi, we held a pot-luck dinner that evening in the studio with Sensei, Chiharu, the other potters and some locals. I left that night with my stomach full of delicious Japanese delicacies and my mind brimming with ideas.
