UEDA NAOKATA VI 六代 上田直方 (*1957)

A beautiful fresh water jar for the Japanese tea ceremony with a wide open mouth. The almost cylindrical body is slightly tapered while the shoulders are gently curved. The ash glaze is reduced in color, bringing out the bright orange clay, which is heavily imbued with quartz particles that blossomed into white crystals during firing. The entire surface of the piece is accentuated by a comb pattern that runs vertically down the body of the vessel and ends in a double ring around the shoulders filled with a wavy line.

The shape and design of the mizusashi is inspired by a 16th-century type of freshwater vessel called a nawa-sudare mizusashi. Nawa-sudare is a kind of curtain made of several ropes that hanging down like a bamboo blind. A fine historical example of this type of mizusashi can be seen for example at the Nezu Museum.

The jar is finished with a black lacquered lid, perfectly shaped to fit the wide mouth. The surface of the wooden lid shows the texture of the wood in long lines that playfully complement the comb pattern of the jar. A masterpiece in itself.

Ueda Mitsuharu was born in 1957 in Yame, Fukuoka Prefecture. He began to study Tanba pottery in 1975 and became interested in traditional Shigaraki works in 1979. As a promising talent, he was adopted by Ueda Naokata V, whom he succeeded as official Ueda VI in 2010. He is a full member of the Nihon Kōgei Kai and the Shigaraki Tōyō-kai.

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