Shigaraki Uzukumaru

What emerges through meticulous technique is a presence imbued with the memory of antiquity, serene and unadorned in its quiet purity. Shigaraki Uzukumaru, created by Shigaraki-based ceramic artist Q Tani, brings into the present the unembellished aesthetic that once characterized medieval Ko-Shigaraki ware.

The name uzukumaru is said to derive from its resemblance to a crouching human figure. With a low center of gravity and broad, rounded shoulders, the form conveys a sense of stability. A distinctive double-lipped rim lends a subtle accent to its restrained silhouette. Exposed to the intense flames of an ana-gama cave kiln, the unglazed clay surface reveals layered hues of brown, deep umber, gray, and black, unfolding like strata of the earth itself. White feldspar particles emerge like scattered constellations, and drawn to this quiet contrast, the viewer’s gaze moves naturally across the entirety of the work.

Within the work resides the artist’s aesthetic sensibility. For Q, making crafts is an act of tracing the beauty left by those who came before and, through an unrelenting pursuit of technique, rearticulating that philosophy in the present. Standing before this work, one senses the presence of the medieval past quietly reappearing across centuries, enveloping the surrounding space.