Shinogi — Carved Ridges

Cut away, and a facet stands up. That is the whole technique. No glaze pattern, no brushwork — the pattern is made from the form alone.

Under light, one side of each ridge brightens and the other falls into shadow. Turn the piece in your hand and the striping changes, which is why a photograph only carries half of it. Run a finger across and the ridges come evenly, one after another, countable in the palm. Most of what is here is the work of Yamamo Masano, who took over his grandfather's kiln in Shigaraki.

Shinogi originally names the ridge that runs between the edge and the spine of a sword blade. The carving is done while the clay is leather-hard: too dry and it chips, too soft and it collapses. The window is only a few minutes wide. Under a white glaze the grooves hold more glaze and read darker while the ridge tops read lighter, so the cut itself becomes the shading. It comes out differently from kohiki, where the white comes from a slip.