Shingo Ohira

Ohira Shingo was born in Shigaraki, Japan and still works and lives there. Ohira is seeking the origin of Japanese culture in his ceramic objects. For this he uses the old soil in Shigaraki and has built his own kiln in the style of one of the ‘Six Ancient Kilns’. 

Shigaraki is one of the oldest pottery producing places in Japan. Since it is near Kyoto and Nara, where the tea ceremony (wabi-cha) was developed, Shigaraki tea ware developed naturally. Shigaraki ware is known for the special quality of its clay. By firing in wood-firing kilns, effects such as warm, reddish hiiro flashing, deep green natural ash biidoro, or burnt black koge can be achieved. As a form of art using the media of clay and fire, Shigaraki pottery communicates the Japanese aesthetic of wabi-sabi to the present age. 

Ohira’s ceramics are in the typical Shigaraki style. Admiring his works that have an aura of ancient ceramics, is experiencing wabi-sabi.