Isezaki Jun

Isezaki Jun’s oeuvre clearly reveals his commitment to the traditional aesthetic canon of the heavy, usually wheel-thrown Bizen ware. Whether sake bottles, plates, bowls, platters or the typically irregularly shaped vessels used for the tea ceremony, they are all firmly embedded in this tradition. And they all display the uniquely irregular colorization characteristic of Bizen pottery which is a result of fly-ash deposits and the vessels’ placement in the kiln, but also distinctively individual details in terms of form. The true meaning of tradition is continual renewal, says Isezaki Jun, who has been honored with the title of Living National Treasure: “By always keeping my great predecessors’ works in mind, I hope to create something new that represents the present and tradition in equal measure.”