Make good things, and people will take notice

Yokkaichi is known for its sprawling petrochemical complex. As we drove up the hills west from the industrial road along the coast, Ise Bay began to appear beyond the rows of factories.

The area where Suigetsu Touen is located was once a place for villas, and it still carries a lingering trace of the scenic Yokkaichi of the past, before the coast was reclaimed for an industrial zone.

Suigetsu Touen was founded in 1900. It was established by the first-generation Suigetsu, Kozaburo (born in 1869), and the current master, Hiroshi, is the third generation. The founder reportedly served as the local postmaster before getting into pottery.

"During the Edo period, my family served as magistrates for the Kuwana domain."

Our conversation with the third-generation master began in his workshop, located past the studio's garden, as he kneaded a piece of clay.

"I never met him (my grandfather), but my father (the second-generation Suigetsu) used to say he loved sake so much he drank away his fortune. I guess he started pottery as a side job. I enjoy a drink myself, you know (laughs). He also wrote haiku, and his pen name was Suigetsu."

The first-generation Suigetsu's pottery was "Kata-Banko," using wooden molds to create items like kyusu teapots. Kata-Banko is a technique developed by the brothers Yusei and Senshu Mori, who revived Banko-yaki after it had died out following Rozan Nunami's time. However, as the times changed, Kata-Banko declined, and shaping on a potter's wheel became the norm. Suigetsu Touen also switched to using a wheel from the second generation onward.

"My father made 100% kyusu teapots from the start. Nowadays, pottery artisans are sometimes called 'sensei' (master/teacher), but back then, they weren't considered artists or anything of the sort. They were just craftsmen, you know? That's how they made a living. There was no 'artistic activity,' and we didn't find any glamour in it. It was just a different era."