Kato Tokuro (1898-1985)
加藤唐九郎

Tokuro was born in Seto city in Aichi prefecture, an ancient potting center that is one of so-called Six Old Kilns of Japan. At the age of eight he began collecting potsherds from old kiln sites; he took over his family kiln in 1914 when he was only 16.
His imagination sparked by those fragmented Mino clay chips he had collected, he set out on a course to reproduce those classical Mino styles, which include Shino, Setoguro (Black Seto), Ki-Seto (Yellow Seto), and Oribe wares.
Kato used to refer to his chawan as being like castles and that they are; monumental, yet unlike a castle, they can be held in the hands.
In 1952, his Oribe ware, instead of his Shino, was designated as an Intangible Cultural Property -- meaning the technique and not the person. Kato was never designated a Living National Treasure. The Suishoen Togei Memorial museum in Nagoya is devoted to Kato's work. (Robert Yellin, in: The Japan Times, September 13, 1997)