New Japan Ceramic Society Award Winners Announced

Since the mid 1950s the Japan Ceramic Society(Nihon Toji Kyokai) has given out its prestigious society award and the even greater gold award; a almost complete list can be found on www.e-yakimono.net The winners of the JCS Award and Gold Award were recently announced and they are for the gold Seto veteran Kato Kiyoyuki, an Aichi prefecture first. Kato has essayed large sculptural works as well as ash-glazed vessels. The JCS award went to Kutani's Takegoshi Jun and Hagi's Miwa Kazuhiko. Takegoshi creates porcelain vessels that often depict whimisical creatures from a master's brush; they are a delight to behold. Miwa--son of Jusetsu and brother to KyusetsuXII--also has expaneded Hagi's Tea world with gold-winged chawan and tuning fork-shaped giant vessels. Interesting to note there were other potters in contention for the awards were; for gold: Koie Ryoji(placed second), Nakazato Takashi, Tokuda Yasokichi, Fukami Sueharu, Hara Kiyoshi, Miwa Kyusetsu, Hirakawa Testuo, Sakaida Kakiemon, Furukawa Shozo, Kakurezaki Ryuichi, Sakaki Masatoshi and Maeda Akihiro. For the JCS Award those whose names were tossed about by the dozen or so judges were Sugiura Yasuyoshi was tops, followed by Fukushima Zenzo, Nakashima Hiromi, Mihara Ken, Kato Tsubusa, Kubota Yasuyoshi, Kondo Takahiro, Uchida Koichi, Katsumata Chieko, Sakiyama Takayuki, Kaneko Jun, Nishihata Tadashi, and Matsumoto Hideo. The award is certainly a major achievement for any artist and their name joins a list of many legends.