The Flavor of Fire: An Approach to Flashing in Wood-Fired Kilns
Over twelve years ago I quit my university teaching job, gave away all my possessions, and relocated to Japan. With no personal connections, no language skills, and very limited resources, I set out determined to change my life, and become a potter in Japan.
However, during my first years in Japan I made few pots. Instead I focused on observing, understanding, and learning. Residing in a remote village in Mikawa, Aichi, I taught English, studied Omotosenke tea ceremony, and planned my excursions to historic pottery centers. Through the local newspaper I discovered a local community noborigama kiln in a nearby village. I volunteered in wood preparation and assisted in stoking, eventually building an anagama kiln at the site. In 2010 at the International Ceramic Research Center in Shigaraki I conducted a year-long investigation into local clays, firing kilns with local potters. Resurrecting my Master degree research conducted under Tony Nankervis in Australia, I dusted off my old notebook and revisited what has now become a 20-year long fascination into the control of the phenomenon known as atmospheric flashing or hiiro in Japanese.
My personal tales of misadventures in my first few years are only outnumbered by my anecdotes of awkward cultural misunderstandings and mispronounced translations. The challenges Japan presented were immense and often frustrating. Today, I accredit the majority of my success in this beautiful country to my time spent in rural communities, my passion for continual research and the generosity of other potters.
It is said that there are over 100 active anagama kilns in the Shigaraki Valley alone, more in Bizen. Competition within the commercial gallery and department store system is intense. As I departed Shigaraki to construct my new kiln in the mountains north of Kyoto, I knew that I needed to create a new, unique strategy for creating functional pottery in the anagama. The saturated market did not require yet another potter producing the status quo anagama
