...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.
?
Shigaraki clay and Hokujo clay the same?
similar looking but different clay. collected from different areas in japan.
left: tachi masaki, middle/right: hokujo
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.
left: tachi masaki, middle/right: hokujo
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.
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
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
yea, hokujo's pots are noticeably thinner walled. his clay also seems less porous.
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.
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
.
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
.