The makers

Born 1947 into a kiln family in Oroshi, Toki — the heartland of Momoyama Mino ware — Hayashi Shōtarō trained under his elder brother Kōtarō and devoted himself to Shino after an early period in tenmoku and ki-seto. His powerful forms carry feldspar glaze of soft, snow-like depth over fire-colour of unusual intensity; his beni-shino and gunjō (ultramarine) Shino are signatures, and his split-foot chawan are especially prized by collectors.

He is the first artist in the history of the Mino Ceramics Exhibition to win all three of its major prizes — the Grand Prize (1993), the Katō Kōbē Prize (1994) and the Shōroku Prize (1997) — and was designated holder of the Gifu Prefecture Important Intangible Cultural Property for Shino in 2012. His 77th-anniversary exhibition was held at Mitsukoshi Nihonbashi in 2024.

Born in Hagi in 1953, Kaneta Masanao studied sculpture at the Tokyo University of Education and completed postgraduate study at the University of Tsukuba. He began working in clay under his father, the seventh Kaneta Sanzaemon, in 1979 and succeeded as the eighth-generation head of Tenchōzan kiln in 2005.

Kaneta moves beyond wheel-based symmetry through kurinuki: shaping a solid mass of clay before carving out its interior. The resulting ridges, planes and shifting centres of gravity retain the warmth of Hagi clay and glaze while carrying the tension of sculpture. Wood-firing completes the form through ash, kiln change and the soft pink-white surfaces associated with Hagi. His work is represented in museum collections in Japan and internationally.

Born in Seto, Aichi Prefecture, in 1978, Yamaguchi Makoto trained at Kasen pottery before establishing his own studio in Seto in 2004. His practice is grounded in the ceramic languages of Oribe, Shino and Ki-Seto, developed through close attention to glaze, historical form and observations gathered during travel across East Asia and Europe.

Green Oribe is central to Yamaguchi’s work. Dense green glaze, exposed clay, iron drawing and irregular silhouettes are composed as active surfaces rather than decoration alone. In his self-named Rinpa Oribe, traditional motifs and multiple Oribe glazes are layered into a contemporary visual rhythm. From intimate drinking vessels to tea bowls and larger forms, colour and structure remain inseparable.

Born in Osaka in 1944, Atarashi Kanji studied craft design and ceramics at Osaka University of Arts. Work in Kobe and an independent studio in Kishiwada gave him a broad technical foundation before he moved to Iga-Ueno and established his kiln in 1975. His arrival formed part of the postwar renewal of Iga ware, approached not as a fixed historical style but as a living practice rooted in local clay, wood firing and sustained contact with the kiln.

Across a career of more than six decades, Atarashi has worked from tea vessels and jars to sculptural and devotional forms, while researching both classical Iga and earlier ceramic traditions. His surfaces draw their depth from warm iron-bearing clay, natural ash, pale green vitrification and passages of scorching created in the firing. Recognition in national and regional craft exhibitions sits alongside a long commitment to intimate solo presentations and a family-based studio practice, now shared with the next generation.

Born in Osaka in 1973, Atarashi Manabu graduated from the Faculty of Literature at Kansai University in 1995. He entered ceramics under his father, Atarashi Kanji, in 1999 and began working at the family kiln in Iga-Ueno. In 2002 he built his first anagama and held his first solo exhibition, later constructing further kilns as his understanding of flame, atmosphere and placement became increasingly precise. In 2013 he received recognition at the sixth Contemporary Tea Ceramics Exhibition and was certified as a Traditional Craftsman of Iga ware.

Manabu’s work is distinguished by forceful firing, accumulated natural ash, emerald-green bidoro, black scorching and vivid areas of fire colour. These kiln effects are held within faceted, cut and often strongly geometric structures. The result neither imitates old Iga nor abandons it: rugged geological surfaces are organised through a contemporary sense of proportion, giving tea bowls, drinking vessels, tableware and sculptural forms both elemental energy and deliberate clarity.

Born in Shigaraki in 1954, Takahashi Rakusai V was raised within a ceramic lineage closely associated with the modern preservation of Shigaraki ware. After professional training in ceramics, he studied under his father, the fourth Rakusai, and succeeded to the name in 2010. His practice carries forward the family kiln’s attention to ancient Shigaraki forms while remaining centred on contemporary tea ware, vessels and objects for daily use.

Rakusai’s work allows clay and fire to remain legible. Coarse Shigaraki body, warm scarlet firing, natural ash and restrained modelling create surfaces that feel calm rather than theatrical. The kiln has long welcomed artists, scholars and collectors from Japan and abroad; around 2010, Apple co-founder Steve Jobs also visited Rakusai kiln, an episode that reflects the international resonance of its understated material language. Within this history, the fifth generation continues to value proportion, touch and the gradual record of wood firing over decorative excess.