| Customer: Male from Canada Program: 10-day Raku Yaki Experiance in Tajimi Duration: 2014/1/17-2014/1/27 |
| Message from our customer: I had always wanted to do Raku pottery ever since I was in High School. I am not a professional Potter but have taked basic pottery before but not a master. I had decided to visit Japan to see a friend of mine and meet her family. I thought what a better way to know a deep cultural aspect of Japan than to take a pottery course in Raku. This is how I found Explore Japanese Ceramics through the Internet. I arrived in Tajimi and was greeted by Shibata Sensei and Yumiko they took me for lunch and a brief tour of Tajimi. Arrived at Ho Ca the studio and was shown to my accommodation which I must say was so much more than I expected. Very nice small apartment in my world I could live very comfortable there. Shibata Sensei does not speack English but his students Yumiko and Harumi do very well as interpreters and I did not miss any points of instruction. Through out my stay other students would come and go either doing there own thing or taking part in the Raku Yaki. Everyone that I met were very friendly and interested in why I was doing Raku Yaki. The process for the Chawans was more than I knew about and was just a fun experience. The experience of the firing of the pieces and the progression to the glazing and refiring was a long day but filled with amazement as the pieces were fired and then quench revealing the final results. The after party was just as fun where we all sat around the fire pit eating and drinking from the largest Sake bottle I have ever seen. I truly hope to one day return and revisit HoCa with a desire to try out Shino Glazing on other pieces of pottery. Thank You Again Shibata Sensei & Yumiko & Harumi & Nagamine San. |
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