Square Bottle

Few Japanese potters have had as extensive an impact on the contemporary idiom of folk art as Hamada Shoji. In 1931, he helped found the Japanese Folk Arts Society. As much a spiritual as an aesthetic movement, this society emphasized the role of the crafts, and in particular, of pottery as a way to reawaken traditional values in Japan.

Hamada himself became captivated by the unassuming, yet to Hamada's way of thinking, elegant utilitarian folk ware of Mashiko pottery. He apprenticed for several years with the Sakuma family in the town of Mashiko, eventually building a small, vertical kiln in the rolling hills of this rural region in Japan. Remaining true to the humble nature of Mashiko pottery kitchenware, Hamada chose to make only utilitarian vessels. As in this square bottle with a small neck, the potter creatively imbued the traditional wood ash glazes and iron-rich clay of Mashiko ware with personal, contemporary sensibilities, most notable here with the bold splashes of green glaze that is running down the flat sides of the vessel.