1955-
male
echizen pottery
Kumano Kurouemon’s kiln is virtually flat, angled at a mere two degrees. If a kiln is too steep, the heat keeps escaping upward. When using a flat kiln for firing, the kiln interior is able to reaches high temperatures due to heat pressure. [According to Kunamo,] flames survive at high temperatures and repeat oxidation and reduction of their own accord. (Kumano likens this to the breath of humans).
For fuel, Kumano avoids red pine and uses split oak firewood exclusively.
Kumano creates his ceramics works by firing them at the ultra-high temperature of 1520℃ (in a wood-fired kiln), a method that other potters cannot begin to emulate.
Clay sourced in Bizen would melt in his kiln. Even that from Iga, which is highly fire resistant, can only withstand temperatures of about 1350℃.
Kumano creates thick and heavy ceramic pieces to avoid the problem of melting.
1955 Born Sabae, Ishikawa Prefecture
1977– Studied under Toda Soshiro and Fujita Jurouemon
1985 Invited to former Soviet Union to teach about anagama kilns
1986 Invited by Sakhalin State
1987 Established own kiln Tabimakura Wanryo
2000 Invited by German Ministry of Foreign Affairs
2006 ”144 people from Europe and Japan, Kumano Exhibition,” Westerwald, Germany
2006 Teaching techniques for ultra-high temperature firing, lecturing, and exhibition, University of Koblenz and Landau, Germany.
