Pottery and alcohol - Japan series #11

I am back in Boston now, but I am still catching up on some posts I left half done while I was in Japan. Nothing much is happening here any way so......

On her first week in Hiroshima, V went out drinking with many people from this research institute. From this outing she was volunteered to participate in many events, including talking in an English class, and joining a Japanese pottery class. Now, the English class thing did not really work out probably because when we met the English teacher he could not understand why Americans would want to practice their English skills. (Obviously, there was some miscommunication.) What did work out was pottery class.

Every Wednesday for five weeks, V and I have been taking a traditional Japanese pottery class being taught at the Hiroshima Minamiku adult learning annex.

Our teacher is a very jolly old man. He is very skinny with a grey beard and big eyes. He wears white wife beaters and sweatpants that hang off of him when he sits crossed legged on alumimun folding chair in the center of the room. He laughs a lot and always talks directly to us, even though he is fully aware we have not the slightest clue what he is saying. He seemed to be tickeld pink to have two Americans visit his class. One of the students is from Austria, so he likes to say over and over again that he has the most international class there. He probably does.

On our first visit there we got to see the finished products of some of the students. The kind of neat thing was then we drank matcha (green tea) out of the recently fired items. "Pottery," sensei said, " was meant to be used."

Afterwards we all went to a local bar in which we ate snacks and drank beer. The class was comprised of a many different kinds of people. 30 something women, housewives, businessmen, all of who just dug pottery. This motely crew were friends and enjoyed going to pottery outings together, where they see other pottery or gather clay. So we drank and laughed and pointed to our phrase book a lot.

Our sensei wanted us to learn real Japanese pottery making and asthetic. All the materials provided were "natural." He dug up his own clay from some local place; he made his own glaze from sand and burnt ash. Beauty is in the imperfections.

So V and I made our own imperfect items. In the following weeks, I made a small cup and dish. We learned about Japanese pottery during class, and culture during our bar sessions. Sensei told us about how the young should be free and happy. K, the woman from the institute that introduced us to this class, taught us about Japanese foods, clothing and rituals.

Although I never got to see my items completed, I have to say the class was one of the highlights of Japan. Thanks V, K and sensei.