Utsuwa | Vessels Collected by Yukiko Ishimura

Vessels that Yukiko Ishimura of Kuruminoki in Nara has encountered over the years, some of which are introduced here along with their stories.
Kuruminoki, a café and general store in Nara, has been ahead of its time, practising its style for 40 years, since before the words and the concept of the "lifestyle shop" existed. The food and goods sold at the shop, which draws many fans from outside the prefecture, have been carefully selected by the eye of its owner, Yukiko Ishimura.
Above all, she says, vessels have been a major starting point for her and something she has always cherished.
This book presents, in five chapters, some of the vessels close to her heart that she has encountered from her teens to the present.
The white porcelain and blue-and-white she bought for the first time at the Nogi Shrine antique flea market, where her aunt, who ran a ryokan in Tokyo, took her in her teens — and the vessels that followed from them, which can be called her starting point.
Tea bowls, teacups, glasses and cups — "vessels that accompany time spent talking with others" — distinctive of Ishimura, who treasures Chinese tea utensils and time spent chatting together.
Vessels by makers she has spent the years alongside: among the many makers she respects, trusts and loves, Ryuji Mitani, whom she calls "a maker who is special to me", and Kazumi Tsuji, whom she felt compelled to go and meet after happening to read an article introducing her.
Chinese and Korean antiques acquired on her travels, and vessels with a modern presence by contemporary Korean makers.
The final chapter introduces vessels by makers of a younger generation than Ishimura, with whom she wants to grow.
At first visiting makers she admired, then influencing one another through friendships with makers close in age, and recently collecting with a sense of discovery and surprise at young makers — many vessels. Each is a once-in-a-lifetime story of Ishimura and the vessels, met as if by fate, that have "delighted her eyes".

Publisher: Seigensha
Publication year: 2025
Pages: 128
Dimensions: 235 × 180 mm

Japanese Ceramics / Pottery / Utsuwa