Kamaka Pottery History 1992

KAMAKA ANAGAMA
A SHORT HISTORY

We have, by own natures, been drawn towards naturalness and austerity. It was inevitable, sometime, for us to visit and look at Japan.

During our journey there, in 1978, we discovered the kilns which produced the pots we had always, from the very start of our interest in pottery, thought of as the ultimate. Clay enriched by fire only. At Kodera, Hyogo Prefecture, we met a potter, Sanyo Fujii, who was firing an anagama – a modern style based on the ancient kilns. The beauty of these pots determined us to build such a kiln. With design assistance from Mr. Fujii, we were able to build our kiln.

After our first firing in 1982, we returned to Japan – we realised that we needed help to understand the complexity of loading and firing this large kiln. Our previous experience of firing was with a diesel oil kiln, firing domestic ware.

Even without fully succeeding with this first firing, Mr. Fujii was sufficiently impressed with our endeavours and a selection of our pots to come to New Zealand to help us. In this, we were very fortunate – we would have struggled for years to maximize the beauty an anagama is capable of producing.

If the firing with Mr. Fujii was successful, we had been invited to have an exhibition with him in Japan. Mr. Fujii’s field was Tea Ceremony Wares – therefore we were expected to make the same for this exhibition.

From this experience we have continued in the subsequent firings, to further our interest in these traditional pots. In New Zealand we have nothing comparable with the Ceremony of Tea so there is no awakening to these vessels. We continued in our interest in making Ikebana containers and the sale of these enabled us to continue to fire our kiln. Because of the size of the kiln and with only the two of us to do the preparation and pot making, it was only possible to fire this kiln once a year. Each year we cut 28 tonne of pine wood to the required length and split it to the size needed for front and side stoking. One thousand pots were made to fill the chamber. One hundred and fifty shelves were cleaned and prepared and setters made.

There is so much energy and vitality needed to work with these kilns, we have had to acknowledge that we can no longer cope with the physical effort. Also, a further factor is that we do not have in New Zealand, public appreciation for the surfaces and colours of these pots.

At the moment, we have not found that the younger potters are wanting to fire a large kiln for an extended period of ten days. There are existing kilns firing for much shorter periods, but for us, the long firings produced the enrichment that we looked for. Nothing less would suffice.

ARTICLE WRITTEN BY ESTELLE MARTIN ABOUT 1992