Ko-Kutani… There’s Something Extraordinary About It

Hanada: How did you first encounter ceramics?

Izumi Nakamachi : It started with a pottery class when I was a university student.　And then, when I visited Kanazawa, I saw Ko-Kutani ware and was instantly captivated by it.

Hanada: At the prefectural museum?

Izumi Nakamachi : Yes.

Hanada: Looking at the pheasant pieces as well…

Izumi Nakamachi : Exactly.

Hanada: There are so many remarkable examples of Ko-Kutani there. If I wanted someone to fall in love with Ko-Kutani, I think that’s the first place I’d take them.

Izumi Nakamachi : The world of Ko-Kutani was a shock to me. Especially the Aode style…

Hanada: Even among ceramics, Ko-Kutani is quite unique.

Izumi Nakamachi : I was amazed. I thought, “Ceramics can be decorated like this? And that’s allowed?” While researching pottery schools in Ishikawa Prefecture, I came across the Kutani Pottery Technical Training Institute, so I decided to attend after graduating.

Hanada: You’ve mentioned before that you’re not very comfortable with the internet.Did you look it up in a book or something?

Izumi Nakamachi : Well, even I can manage a simple internet search (laughs).

Joining a Place Known for Being Strict

Hanada: After the training institute…

Izumi Nakamachi : I went to work under Choza Yamamoto at Myosen Pottery Studio.

Hanada: Was it easy to get accepted there?

Izumi Nakamachi : I was turned down many times.

Hanada: The fact that you kept going back is impressive.

Izumi Nakamachi : I thought, “That’s probably how these things work.” I kept asking, kept getting rejected, and eventually managed to get in.

Hanada: Why Myosen Pottery Studio?

Izumi Nakamachi : I loved Mr. Yamamoto’s blue-and-white porcelain work. And the studio was famous for being strict. I figured that if I trained somewhere like that, even someone like me might turn out all right.

Starting with Grinding Gosu Pigment

Hanada: What was the first thing you did after joining?

Izumi Nakamachi : I started by grinding gosu pigment From morning until night, all day long…

Hanada: How long did that continue?

Izumi Nakamachi : I think it was several weeks after I joined.

Hanada: And occasionally senior artisans would come by and check on you…

Izumi Nakamachi : Yes. They’d say things like, “You’re not supposed to just sit there grinding it” (laughs). They told me to observe the work and conversations of the senior staff while doing it. In other words, it was time to learn how people worked there and how they organized things. While doing a simple task like grinding gosu pigment, I gradually became accustomed to the environment over those few weeks. After that, I moved on to preparing stencil patterns.

“Traffic Jams” and “I’m Sorry!”

Izumi Nakamachi : After that, they finally let me hold a brush. I started with border lines. Just simple lines around the rims of plates.

Hanada: Did it go well?

Izumi Nakamachi : At first my hand shook so much that the brush trembled, and people would shout things like, “Too slow!” or “Draw faster!” The work was done as an assembly line, so if I was slow, everyone else was affected. People would call out, “Are those border lines done yet?”
The person responsible for the next step was working right beside me, so the bottleneck happened at my station. It was literally a “border-line traffic jam” (laughs). I spent my days drawing border lines while repeatedly saying, “I’m sorry!” Even now, whenever I draw border lines, those scenes sometimes come back to me.

Hanada: About how many craftspeople worked there?

Izumi Nakamachi : I only know what it was like back then, but there were more than ten. One person handled border lines, another the central motifs, another did the shading work, and so on.The border-line person was at the very bottom of the hierarchy (laughs).

Hanada: The shading work sounds difficult.

Izumi Nakamachi : Mr. Yamamoto’s wife handled the shading work. Eventually, though, I was allowed to do it as well. It was difficult.

Hanada: It sounds like a valuable experience.

Izumi Nakamachi : I stayed for three years and learned an enormous amount. I’m very grateful. I was paid a salary while being taught at the same time. They even paid enough for me to live on my own.

I Don’t Sketch First

Hanada: Myosen Pottery Studio also produces work for the Imperial Household. You must have learned a great deal there.

Izumi Nakamachi : One thing that left a strong impression on me was Mr. Yamamoto’s saying: “Don’t make the other party suffer a loss. Don’t do work that causes them a loss. But don’t let yourself suffer a loss either.”

Hanada: He wasn’t talking only about money, of course. It’s also about creating value for both the other party and yourself.

Izumi Nakamachi : Exactly. I’ve tried to follow that principle myself.

Hanada: There must also be many practical lessons from that period that still influence your work today.

Izumi Nakamachi : Most of my production methods and workflow are still based on what I learned there. And I don’t sketch with a pencil first. At most, I make a few guide marks.

Hanada: Not sketching first was one of Mr. Yamamoto’s…

Izumi Nakamachi : …principles. If I even tried to make a preliminary sketch, he’d get very angry.

Hanada: It seems like something you’d want to do at first.

Izumi Nakamachi : Exactly. But sketching takes extra time, and it also makes your brushwork hesitant. Even if it’s imperfect, it’s better to draw naturally without overthinking it and let the image have movement.When you’re tracing pencil lines, that movement disappears.
It’s interesting that each piece ends up slightly different, and eventually your hand becomes accustomed to it, so you stop worrying about not having a sketch underneath.

Hanada: Then I suppose you’re no longer tempted to sketch first.

Izumi Nakamachi : Not at all. Partly because I don’t draw highly detailed images these days, but at most I’ll mark the front or divide the surface into quarters.

My Role

Hanada: Looking back on your apprenticeship as a whole, how was it?

Izumi Nakamachi : I was the one whose role was “getting scolded” (laughs).
Though every workplace always seems to have one person assigned to that role.

Hanada: Well, the people doing the scolding probably understand their role too.

Izumi Nakamachi : They probably thought, “She looks like someone who can handle being yelled at” (laughs).
There was another trainee who started at the same time as me, and that person was the type they encouraged with praise. Meanwhile, I was the one they decided to toughen up.

Hanada: Some people immediately avoid whoever scolds them, but you don’t seem like that type.

Izumi Nakamachi : That’s true. One senior colleague used to tell me, “Nakamachi is always getting scolded, but that’s a good sign. The day they stop paying attention to you is the day you should worry.”

Something I Was Happy to Hear

Hanada: After three years, you moved toward independence.

Izumi Nakamachi : When I left, Mr. Yamamoto said, “You’ve developed real grit.”
I still remember how happy that made me.

Hanada: He had been watching over you all along.

Izumi Nakamachi : He must have thought, “What an incapable trainee we’ve ended up with” (laughs).

And Then, Independence

Hanada: Why did you choose Toyama as the place to establish yourself independently?

Izumi Nakamachi : It’s my husband’s hometown.

Hanada: Was your work already similar to what you make today from the beginning?

Izumi Nakamachi : At first, I was making highly detailed blue-and-white porcelain in the style of Myosen Pottery Studio. I didn’t really know what else to do, and honestly, it was the only thing I knew how to make at the time.

Hanada: So first came the period of exploration.

I Don’t Want Anything Gloomy…

Hanada: Is there something you consider especially important when creating tableware?

Izumi Nakamachi : Of course it needs to be practical, but I also want to make tableware that feels healthy and uplifting. Something that makes people feel happy, amused, or charmed.
No matter how skillfully made it may be, I don’t like things that leave you feeling gloomy when you use them.
I’d rather create pieces that brighten your mood, bring comfort, and make everyday life feel a little lighter.

Hanada: Some of your motifs are your own interpretations of traditional decorative themes, while others are subjects that were rarely seen on tableware before—mountain-climbing scenes, for example. Perhaps they could be called a modern version of classical landscape paintings.

Izumi Nakamachi : At the core, my work is still based on Ko-Kutani. It may not look that way, though (laughs).

The Tiger and Bamboo Go “Raaawr!”

Hanada: When developing decorative patterns, are there particular things you keep in mind?

Izumi Nakamachi : I try not to include more than three themes or ideas in a single design. For example, this one contains three elements: a lighthouse, fish, and a boat. If I add anything more, it starts to feel cluttered.

Hanada: Your painted designs often feel as though they tell a story. Sometimes they remind me of picture books.

Izumi Nakamachi : That’s probably because I’ve always loved picture books.

Hanada: Animals appear frequently in your work as well. Tigers, foxes, bears and salmon… What was the first animal you painted?

Izumi Nakamachi : The tiger. Tigers appear so dramatically in Ko-Kutani designs, don’t they? The tiger and bamboo going “Raaawr!” and all that (laughs). I loved that imagery and started drawing tigers myself.
Then I thought, “People might mistake this for a cat…” so I started adding little growling sounds like “grrrr…” (laughs).

Not Just a Bear—A Wooden Bear Carving

Hanada: Is there a particular animal you’re especially fond of?

Izumi Nakamachi : Bears.

Hanada: That was immediate (laughs).

Izumi Nakamachi : I love the wooden bear carvings from Hokkaido. Both of my parents are originally from Hokkaido, and our house was full of those carved bears when I was growing up.
As a child I barely paid attention to them, but when I look at them now as an adult, they really resonate with me.

Hanada: So it’s not bears in general—it’s specifically wooden bear carvings that you love (laughs).

Izumi Nakamachi : Exactly. It’s the wooden-carved bears that I love.

Perhaps Too Much…

Hanada: Is there anything you’d like to pursue in the future?

Izumi Nakamachi : I’d like to become healthier than I am now (laughs), and create work that’s even more interesting than what I’m making now.

Hanada: Sounds good. What is your current idea of “something interesting”?

Izumi Nakamachi : Mountains. The famous Hundred Mountains are wonderful, but I also enjoy wandering around the smaller mountains near home.

Hanada: Any recommendations?

Izumi Nakamachi : Mount Tateyama. It’s fantastic. You should definitely climb it.

Hanada: Really? Can you describe what makes Tateyama so special?

Izumi Nakamachi : I love it too much to put it into words.

Hanada: That’s quite a level of devotion.

Izumi Nakamachi : I’m genuinely grateful to the mountains. Because of hiking, I’ve stopped worrying so much about trivial things.

Hanada: That’s true. Worrying about everything doesn’t really help.

Izumi Nakamachi : Exactly. Once I started climbing mountains, dwelling on small concerns began to feel rather foolish. And yet, my love of mountains happened completely by chance.

Hanada: Really?

Izumi Nakamachi : At first my husband practically dragged me along (laughs). Apparently every Toyama resident is expected to climb Tateyama at some point, and local schools even organize educational climbing trips. So when we got married, he said, “Izumi, you’re a Toyama resident now, too…”
At first I kept saying, “No way, I don’t want to go,” and climbed reluctantly. I’ve always been more of an indoor person, after all (laughs).

Hanada: Then you owe your husband some thanks.

Izumi Nakamachi : These days I’m the one saying, “Let’s go, let’s go!” and pushing for our next hike.

New Works

Hanada: Finally, would you like to say a few words about the exhibition?

Izumi Nakamachi : Some of the pieces I’ve been making ever since becoming independent will be on display, and I’ve also created a variety of new works.
The new “Kanji” series and “Jar” series will make their debut as well, so I hope everyone enjoys them.

Hanada: Thank you very much.

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