Yasuro Yamamoto has started pottery at the age of 20 and is still refining his art. He is focusing on one method called “Nanban-yaki”, crafts made from Lake Biwa’s soil have the particularity to be baked in a primitive kiln using logs.
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*Unofficial translation
My name is Yasuro Yamamoto, and I'm a pottery artist.
I've been working in the mountains of Matsuda-machi,
Ashigara-kami-gun, Kanagawa Prefecture, for the past 37 years.
When you're in the mountains, you can hear the birds singing and feel the change of seasons.
You can feel subtle changes, like the moon rising, or the sun rising,
or the presence of animals.
All of these things are naturally part of your body.
I first encountered pottery when I was 20 years old.
There are six types of pottery in Japan.
All of them are made by burning the clay with firewood.
It's called nanban-yaki, and it's made by burning the clay with firewood.
It's made from one piece of dango.
Once you've decided on 500 grams, you can make a cup, a bowl, or a small pot.
Tools and methods are important, but they come second.
What you want to do and what you aim for are important.
I'm not a craftsman, so I don't order things that are a few centimeters long.
I make things that only one person in the world can make.
There's only one person who can make them.
I want to make something that connects people.
I want to make something that's inspired by myself.
For example, a sway, a deformation, a curve, or a line of clay.
We want to share the spirit of understanding and understanding in such subtle places.
We aim to transmit that from this side and transfer it to this side.
I'm aiming for that.
In order to bake such a large kiln,
you need a lot of firewood in a primitive kiln.
If you don't use firewood for half a year,
you won't be able to make firewood for one kiln.
The color changes depending on where you put it.
It's a very delicate soil for the temperature.
If you don't do it right, it will be ruined.
No matter how many times you bake it,
you won't be able to make the same thing.
The expression will be different.
You won't get tired of it.
The fire and the soil
will go beyond me
and react with each other
to make something good.
I usually don't put out a lot of firewood.
I leave it to the kiln and the soil.
I want to make something there.
My dream is...
It sounds like a lie,
but I've always wanted to do
the kitchen car version of pottery.
I want to actually make tea there,
make ikebana,
and if I can provide alcohol,
I want to be able to make sake there.
I want people to use it there.
If they want it, I want them to buy it.
That's my dream.
