ake cup, by Kakumi Seiho, ca. 1983 (2-1/4" high x 2-3/8" diameter; Bizen ware pottery). Right: Side view and bottom view of cup. These pictures were taken in different lighting conditions than the pictures on the previous page; the colors here are less true than there (although those pictures make the cup appear somewhat darker than it actually is). These pictures, on the other hand, show the cup's foot, and its shape, which the other pictures do not show. Left: New picture (Dec 03) that captures what the sake cup looks like better than the older pictures here.

This small object seems to me to express the old cliché about "seeing the world in a grain of sand" far better than a grain of sand or most other things, of whatever size. Parts of it are rough and burnt gray, as if burnt by volcanic ash, or the surface of some strange, brutal, rocky planet or asteroid. Other parts are smoothe and warm, somewhat like the false-color pictures which show an object or living being's temperature gradient rather than its optical coloration. There are fine, sharply etched scar lines, like meteor trails in the smoothe surface, and a few white specks which strikingly contrast with the gray and dark copper areas in which they are embedded. As mentioned on the previous page, the bottom of the inside of the cup has a rich, deep gold and silver-blue irridescence. In 15 years, I have not tired of studying the cup, with both eyes and hand. So far, it seems to have no "dead" (inexpressive) areas....

A couple days after I purchased this sake cup, I bought a hand-blown water glass (tumbler) at the folk craft museum in Shin-Kurashiki. It cost only about US$3.00 (750 yen at 260 yen to the dollar), but I have used (and studied!) it almost daily, and it too has withstood the test of time. Click here to see a picture of and more information about this other piece.

Go to water glass page.
Return to main sake cup page.
 
See wood-fired ash glaze vase by Malcolm Wright.
See Bizenware vase by Michael Marcus.
 

See

special shelf I designed above doorway (no door) between living room and kitchen/dining area, to display fine craft objects safe from cats, children & other accidents, without taking up any usable space in our small house....

Visit

garden I designed for front yard of my home, inspired by Ise "Wedded rocks" (1996?).

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