Makers · 作家 · Tokoname
Juko
樹晃Born in Tokoname to Koyo, he took an unusual route back to the family kiln — a postgraduate degree in agriculture first, then the wheel. He works at Koyo Toen, his father's kiln.
At a glance
- Art name
- Juko 樹晃
- Real name
- 相羽久仁晃
- Region
- Tokoname, Aichi 常滑
- Father
- Koyo 鴻陽
- Studied
- Graduate school of agriculture, Shizuoka University
- Trained
- Tokoname municipal ceramic training centre — wheel work and more
- Known for
- Glazed hand-built and slab-built work
- Also
- Unglazed pots, flower vessels and water trays, tableware, interior pieces, creative teapots
01 · 経路 The route in
Agriculture first, then the wheel
He was born in Tokoname, a place that makes bonsai pots, to a father who makes them. He went round by way of a graduate degree in agriculture at Shizuoka University, then trained in wheel work and other techniques at the city's ceramic training centre, and then came to the family kiln.
His specialisms are glazed hand-building (tebineri) and slab-building (tatara). Alongside the bonsai ware he also makes modern pieces meant for Western rooms.
02 · 家伝 The family green
A named glaze
The most telling piece currently known is a hexagonal pot with cusped-window panels, glazed in green. The glaze is given a specific phrase: 家伝の緑釉 — the family's green.
家伝の緑釉 — the family's green.
03 · 落款 The mark
One mark
樹晃 is the only form documented here. No impression of it is documented here, so there is nothing to match a pot against.
Our record also notes two forms that appeared in earlier unsourced text — 晃 and 樹晃造 — but they are not among the forms currently documented here. Their status is unverified. Where a pot carries the kiln name as well, see Koyo.
| Mark | Reading | Note |
|---|---|---|
| 樹晃 | Named here — no impression documented | His art name, Jukō. The only inscription documented here. |
| 晃 / 樹晃造 | Not among the forms documented here | Previously appeared in unsourced text; not treated here as verified marks. |
04 · 代表作 Recorded works
Recorded works
Not for sale — three works recorded for this maker. Only one carries a size.
| Work | Size (cm) |
|---|---|
| Unglazed rectangle, outer rim, indented corners — a classical, refined form, of the kind called Shōkōdō, with the drip edge left off. He is often thought of as a glaze specialist, and he does have many excellent glazed works — but his unglazed work shows real distinction too | — |
| Keiketsu-glazed rectangle — another form copied from an old Chinese pot, the body curve soft. The glaze is neither the usual selenium red nor iron red; copper in the mix is the suggestion. Part of it turned green through kiln effects, creating an interesting surface | — |
| Green-glazed hexagon, outer rim — the family green, over panels framed in the cusped window outline. Quiet colour and quiet decoration, and they agree with each other | 13.5 × 7.3 |
05 · 展開 Widening out
Pots, and then some
Lately the range has widened: unglazed pots, flower vessels and water trays, tableware, interior pieces, creative teapots.
The note on the unglazed work is worth keeping. A maker taken for a glaze man turns out to have a sure hand in bare clay as well.
Available
Juko pots in the collection
Each pot ships worldwide from Tokyo.
Send us a photograph of the underside and we will tell you what the mark says — and whether it matches the one form documented here.