Shigaraki clay and Hokujo clay the same?

Post Reply
User avatar
Bok
Vendor
Posts: 5782
Joined: Wed Oct 04, 2017 8:55 am
Location: Taiwan

Sat Aug 25, 2018 9:13 am

...this is what I ask myself when browsing images of the two and also looking at my own recent acquisition. They do look very similar in some pots.

Anyone knows more?
Both also seem to have been attributed good effects on tea in general.

?
User avatar
pedant
Admin
Posts: 1516
Joined: Fri Sep 29, 2017 4:35 am
Location: Chicago
Contact:

Sat Aug 25, 2018 1:40 pm

similar looking but different clay. collected from different areas in japan.

left: tachi masaki, middle/right: hokujo

brothers holding hands
brothers holding hands
tachi-hokujo.jpg (117.77 KiB) Viewed 5954 times

sidenote: the Shigaraki clay TACHI Masaki uses for his pots that Hojo carries is kind of a specialty clay not generally representative of Shigaraki-yaki.
User avatar
Victoria
Admin
Posts: 3043
Joined: Sat Sep 30, 2017 3:33 pm
Location: Santa Monica, CA
Contact:

Sat Aug 25, 2018 4:01 pm

Gorgeous line up pedant.
Yakishime (high-fired unglazed stoneware) is used by many potters in Shiga Prefecture just outside Kyoto (known as Shigaraki-ware), and also by Hokujo, Tachi Masaki and others. But like pedant said, the clays are not the same, and are collected in different locations. Shigaraki-ware clay and Tachi Masaki’s clay is sourced from the bed of Lake Biwa, while Hokujo’s mountain source and processing is a guarded secret. The Shigaraki clay that Tachi Masaki uses looks slightly more porous and not as dense as Hokujo’s. @pedant is this true? Does Masaki’s pot weight more than Hokujo’s lightweight pots, and is his wall thickness greater than Hokujo’s? I don’t have a Masaki kyusu yet, but have wanted to get one for a while. Looking at Hojo’s line up has activated my TAD :)
User avatar
pedant
Admin
Posts: 1516
Joined: Fri Sep 29, 2017 4:35 am
Location: Chicago
Contact:

Sat Aug 25, 2018 11:43 pm

yea, hokujo's pots are noticeably thinner walled. his clay also seems less porous.
User avatar
Victoria
Admin
Posts: 3043
Joined: Sat Sep 30, 2017 3:33 pm
Location: Santa Monica, CA
Contact:

Sat Aug 25, 2018 11:47 pm

pedant wrote:
Sat Aug 25, 2018 11:43 pm
yea, hokujo's pots are noticeably thinner walled. his clay also seems less porous.
Which teas are you pairing with Tachi Masaki...gyokuro?
User avatar
Bok
Vendor
Posts: 5782
Joined: Wed Oct 04, 2017 8:55 am
Location: Taiwan

Sun Aug 26, 2018 9:53 pm

pedant wrote:
Sat Aug 25, 2018 1:40 pm
sidenote: the Shigaraki clay TACHI Masaki uses for his pots that Hojo carries is kind of a specialty clay not generally representative of Shigaraki-yaki.
Thanks for clarifying that and to everyone for their input.
So it seems my perception was both right and wrong :)

From my usage so far, Hokujo does not seem porous. Or maybe it has to do with very small sized pot that I got? It makes Gaoshan better, without taking away what is precious. On the other hand I did not find it rounding edges of roasted teas as most of other friends here have experienced. Or maybe the change is not as pronounced as it is with greener teas?

Will keep experimenting.
User avatar
pedant
Admin
Posts: 1516
Joined: Fri Sep 29, 2017 4:35 am
Location: Chicago
Contact:

Mon Aug 27, 2018 1:27 pm

Victoria wrote:
Sat Aug 25, 2018 11:47 pm
Which teas are you pairing with Tachi Masaki...gyokuro?
usually white teas and chinese greens
User avatar
Victoria
Admin
Posts: 3043
Joined: Sat Sep 30, 2017 3:33 pm
Location: Santa Monica, CA
Contact:

Mon Aug 27, 2018 2:02 pm

Speaking with Asako Isobe, who represents and knows Hokujo, she let me know that in fact the unique clay that Hokujo kiln uses is from Tokoname, from the bed of what was once geologically a lake, Lake Tokai. So the clay is mined from what was once a lake but is now paddies and mountains. She says they refered to it as the ‘clay of the lake’. For anyone interested in geology of the area this research piece which I found discussed quite a bit about clay as well;

Stratigraphy and Paleogeography of the Upper Cenozoic Tokai Group around the East Coast of Ise Bay, Central Japan.
by Katsuhiro Nakayama, published Journal of Geoscience, Osaka City University. March 1994
https://core.ac.uk/download/pdf/35269257.pdf


.
User avatar
Bok
Vendor
Posts: 5782
Joined: Wed Oct 04, 2017 8:55 am
Location: Taiwan

Mon Aug 27, 2018 7:52 pm

Cheers for that Victoria!
User avatar
OCTO
Posts: 1120
Joined: Wed Aug 15, 2018 6:25 pm
Location: Penang, Malaysia

Tue Aug 28, 2018 9:27 pm

Found this at Hojo’s website while doing some reading on Iga clay.

Cheers!
Attachments
814ED9E1-EAA3-4D83-8564-F1A188153112.jpeg
814ED9E1-EAA3-4D83-8564-F1A188153112.jpeg (189.07 KiB) Viewed 5808 times
Post Reply