Visiting Iga

5th January 2025

We hired a car to visit Takashi Tanimoto in Iga, Japan.

He is the eldest son of the late renowned Iga potter Kei Tanimoto, and Robin worked for his brother Yoh Tanimoto in the early 1990s. At the time, Robin didn't know anything about Iga-yaki (伊賀焼) - a traditional pottery from Iga, Mie Prefecture, known for its rustic beauty, strength, and natural ash glaze. Made from coarse local clay and wood-fired, it embodies Japan’s wabi-sabi aesthetic and is prized for tea ceremony and ikebana, the Japanese style flower arrangement.

We met Takashi at The Stratford Gallery in August 2024, when he and the other Japanese potters had the 'Soul of Japan - The Ceramic of Iga' exhibition. It was a special moment for Robin as he lost touch with Yoh-san, and after all these years, he has become deeply interested in Iga-yaki. Takashi was friendly and kindly invited us to visit him in Iga. ( well, we invited ourselves, and he said ok!)

It was a sunny, lovely day, and although the visit was short (as he was busy preparing for an upcoming exhibition), it was wonderful to see the private gallery (big!) and his wood firing kiln behind his house.

Seeing the kiln, the seed of Robin’s dream had begun to sprout — I could see it in his eyes!