the creating...

It is a cold Winter this year in the Mashiko area.

Been keeping warm in the studio.

CHEERS!

New Mexico Exhibition

 

 

 

 December at the Weyrich Gallery, Albuquerque

made for Okinawa

ice pail

 

kara kara with ochoko

 

twinkle twinkle cups

Yachimun Group Exhibition in Okinawa: A Collaboration with the Potters of Okinawa for the Revival of the Earthquake Stricken.
~ 'Pottery to Enjoy Okinawan Awamori (vodka)'
okinawa creators lounge ZUK   2011 10.4-10.10

Emerald River

The Naka River is calm again.
 ~the beautiful beach in front of my home.

TYPHOON 15

 

The Naka River rose very fast. About 7+ meters. A lot of land erosion.

Grateful that the typhoon was here and gone quickly. 

If it had moved through any slower it could have been a calamity.

NOSTALGIC LAND

 

VISITING FAMILY & FRIENDS

 

it is has been fabulous traveling and

sharing some time

with the great people i love.

MASHIKO TOUKIICHI

 

It was a great surprise to see so many people

come to Mashiko everyday!!!

Thank you for all the support & smiles!

~beginning to see the beauty again

the ground beneath us is not yet stable.
the future of our surroundings is not yet stable.

the only thing for certain is the beauty of Spring

standby

 

I, my loved ones, and my home/studio/kiln,

have all survived the earthquake...

Let us hope the Fukushima scenario will
settle safely for us & that all whom are suffering
will find peace as soon as possible.

MASSIVE 9.0 QUAKE

I live along the Tochigi & Ibaraki Prefecture border.
 My self-built home, studio, and kilns all survived without damage although damage has happened in directions all around me. This area must have absorbed it better.

The monster earthquake ran me out of my home only days after having surgery on my lung. I watched my home do a Looney Tune roller coaster like an irritable serpent that was stirring beneath. It is hard to believe that it did not fall over. Water from a large bucket in my yard flew 2 ft in the air. The sounds of the mountains were so intense I thought that they would all flatten. It lasted for an incredible long time as I continued to walk 100 yards away in my house slippers, the longest I have walked in 2 weeks, for fear of any tree or mountain coming down upon me. 

Looking at first like clouds of dust from great landslides of the popping mountains, thick lines of dense pollen shaken from the cedar trees filled in between the mountain ridges like an old Chinese landscape painting. The pollen bands looked like solid stripes across the surrounding mountains. I watched the clear emerald river below start to release large, dark, polka dot spots that then suddenly all turned over at once into a thorough dirty mud colored river.

I think within a few minutes we had another massive 7+ mag. quake.

I then sat in the car a listened to the radio, waiting for the forecast tsunami wall of water(I am 25 miles inland). The sky then turned from clear to gray with a cold, fierce, eerie wind tunneling through the mountains. The force from the speed of the wall of water had blown all the way inland bringing these clouds and putting an end to a mild, Sunny day. The thought of all the suffering in that wind was heavy & dreadful.
During this time we had 2 or 3 more 7+ mag quakes. The next 24 hours we must have had 15 6+ mag quakes and it seemed like an earthquake every 5-15 minutes. In 48hrs we had more than 150 5+ mag quakes.
My home fared well but I had no electricity for 3 days. I am a ceramic artist and the pottery did not fare so well. Many, many friends have been devastated. Kilns turned to rubble, houses severely damaged...., but nothing like what is being suffered along the coast up North.
We have no more access to gasoline and supermarkets are being emptied. My main concerns now are the possibilities of radiation leaks going for the worse or another big earthquake under the Fukushima mess. My home is 75 miles SW.

landing home

*thank you

u.f.o.

new lights!

POLKA DOT SKIES

Yamani Ohtsuka Gallery Midori

year of the rabbit

Awaken all the best in you