In the first and second parts, we talked about Yamagami's training centered on specialized skills, the origins of the profession of "potter," and his cosmic view of "Ri-hin" (detachment) that transcends Shu-Ha-Ri. In this final part, we will delve into Yamagami's aesthetic of "uncalculated" craftsmanship and the world of his pottery inspired by coral reefs and the sea, which led him to move to Okinawa.
Mr. Manabu Yamagami
Born in 1959, he is 67 years old. Originally from Osaka. Studied pottery and printmaking in Kyoto. In 1989, he established "Hotarugama Kiln" in Mogi Town, Tochigi Prefecture. In 2004, he moved to Ogimi Village in the northern part of Okinawa main island. He is cherished by many fans for his unique worldview based on the Okinawan sea and his warm, humorous personality.
(＊Article content is based on information at the time of the interview)
Chapter 5: Uncalculated, process-enjoying craftsmanship
The Aesthetics of Accidents and Improvisation
──What do you value in your craftsmanship and life?
This very act of living, right now, it's incredibly interesting, you know? Conversely, I think it's better to enjoy it.
There are many difficult things, but it's about living while enjoying it. I don't calculate when I create things.
It's the same with money. You just recognize numbers, right? It's not a physical thing, it's virtual.
Moving billions of yen, the actual physical money moving is apparently very little.
Everyone is troubled by virtual things, or becomes rich through virtual things, but fundamentally, it's all virtual. When you think of it that way, doesn't it feel a bit easier?
──Just listening to you makes me feel happy (laughs). Please tell me more about your "uncalculated" craftsmanship.
I'm not an artist who draws a design and thinks, "I want to make this." I think as I go. As I touch the clay, I think, "Hmm, not this, not that."
It's more interesting if it changes along the way, with accidents and improvisation. I think actors who improvise in movies are great.
──So, making something isn't the goal, but the act of making itself is the goal.
Exactly. The process, the journey, is what's interesting.
There are people who think about two-dimensional things and convert them into three dimensions in their minds to a certain extent, but I'm not interested in that right now. It's more interesting when things change along the way, you know?
Jomon pottery probably did a lot of things unrelated to its use. Like the flame-shaped pottery.
When it comes to Yayoi, it becomes relatively simple and stylized, and moves towards functionality, right? When it moves towards functionality, it gets a bit boring, you know, without any playfulness.
Chapter 6: The Cosmic View of Pottery Created by Okinawa's Sea and Coral Reefs
Craftsmanship of Utaki (Okinawan sacred places) and the Natural World, Spun from Blue and White
──You've been in Okinawa for about 20 years now, haven't you? Could you tell us about the circumstances that led you to choose this place?
To put it simply, I first started pottery in Seto, then went to Kyoto, then Kanto, and finally came to Okinawa.
And I was drawn to this sacred place in Okinawa. Like Ugan (prayers)*5 and such.
*5 Ugan: Refers to "worship" or "prayer" in Okinawa's traditional beliefs.
Okinawa doesn't have torii gates or shrines, you know. I find that kind of natural worldview, where there's intent in such places, really interesting.
Even in my craftsmanship, I take Okinawa's sacred sites, its Utaki*6, as my theme.
*6 Utaki: Sacred sites in Ryukyuan Shinto where guardian deities and ancestral spirits of the community are enshrined.
──How many pieces do you make in a year?
I don't make that many, but I'm often told I'm quick-handed despite being quite lazy. I leave mass production to others, but I try to handle the one-of-a-kind pieces myself.
──What do the blue and white in your works represent?
Specifically, the color of the sea. The color of the sea and the feel of coral reefs.
When you place a vessel, the space changes, right? That's really interesting, it's like a cosmic view.
──I hear you also have works inspired by the stone walls of Gusuku (castles).
This is from Okinawa's Gusuku, the castle. I made it imagining the stone walls. There are these kind of stone arrangements, like in Nakijin Castle.
──Could you also tell us about glazes?
Glaze is essentially glass. You apply glass powder.
For example, this blue-surfaced vessel is one that uses glaze.
If you add things like iron or copper to it and fire it, it melts at 1260 degrees. There are also methods where you crush existing items, like bottles of Zanpa (Awamori), into powder and use them. There are various ways to mix glazes.
This is a white matte glaze. You dip a bisque-fired piece into the mixed glaze. Then, when it's fired, the color changes.
──Do you have any other characteristic works?
This is a Zushigame, a bone repository passed down in Okinawa. In Okinawa, there was a culture of wind burial, and Zushigame were used as containers to wash and store bones.
I also make things like that, a kind of house for the world of the afterlife.
──I feel that Mr. Yamagami's sensibility and worldview are strongly reflected in all his works.
I guess I just love nature, or rather, I learn something from nature. When I create, there's a desire to make something I've never seen before.
──I feel a connection to your own words, "Living in uncertainty is expression."
I believe there are elements in nature that we've probably never seen before.
No one has ever seen the Big Bang, right? But I want to create something like that; I can imagine it.
It's about reflecting that. That alone isn't expressing nature, because it's like a photograph. So, it's a quest to find something unknown within it.
I try to bring myself to that dimension, but it's not meditation, because I'm still making things.
With pottery, the physical object is clearly visible. With other products, it's not always so straightforward.
It's somehow interesting when ideas transform into such physical forms.
