"The WESTERN POTTER" No. 15. June, 1969.

Soetsu Yanagi
Tea Bowls by Koyetsu and Hamada
Fragments from a recent article translated by Atsuya Hamada and
Bernard Leach.

We Japanese inherit so many beautiful pots made by unknown craftsmen
of the past but the first made by an individual or artist craftsman were
by Kayetsu in the 17th century.

Whatever may be said nothing up to the present time can surpass
Koyetsu's Raku Tea bowls. Innumerable people have made Tea bowls
hut none of them has reached the leve] of warm and generous integrity
inherent in his. The first Kenzan alone can occasionally perhaps wear
his Great Uncle's robe. But Kenzan's strength is in his brushwork
whereas Kovetsu's is without added decoration. But painting on pots
must not be for painting's sake. Koyetsu's approach is purer. Yet
one must ask if Raku has ever reached ultimate expression in even his
hands. I do not think so.

The cult of Tea cannot continue to stagnate at its present low level of
appreciation. A new movement of Tea should be started by people of

perception emploving Hamada's Tea bowls.

Iwould like to tell in greater detail about Hamada. I have known him for
a long time. As I know him there are few people as well balanced as he
is in every way. He is the wisest man I know. There is always order
and plan in his work which he carries through without waste. He does
not loiter. He constantly looks back on his actions with clarity and then
proceeds. He builds his life like a sturdy house on strong foundations
with little waste. He walks steadily, he is not acrobatic, he does not
take risks, but neither does he hesitate or go astray. He said to some-
one once that it took him three years to acquire a certain technique and
ten years to get bevond it. This capacity of shedding is remarkable,
the layman would brag of his new skill. That is where danger lurks.

In fact, Hamada told a young Tea Master whom I knew that he was often

stimulated by the beauty which he found in certain old Tea bowls and
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