Makoto Hatori learned about Japanese ceramics, including designs that were created without human intervention and the natural glazing process, while working as an apprentice under a master potter of traditional ceramics in 1968 and 1974. Since then, he has continuously strived to recognize the coexistence of subjects and objects and follow the natural flow of things at every opportunity. His approach explores the relationship between nature and human beings, and his works are founded on a professional ethic and aesthetic that place value on spirituality and contemplate a shared identity with nature. Hatori's philosophy is rooted in the expressive value of the body itself, which is remembered and in motion. His approach is influenced by Japanese traditional ceramics discourse, particularly the concept of "kata" or form. He views the "work" as a "material" a "ready-made product," transformed through a change in perspective, and embraces the unknown effects that can result from this approach. Ultimately, Hatori's approach illuminates the possibilities of spurring diverse perspectives.

1. Artist Biography and Creative Philosophy of Makoto Hatori
Makoto Hatori was born in Japan in 1947. He apprenticed under a master of traditional
Japanese ceramics in 1968 and again in 1974. Following the completion of his bachelor's
degree in sculpture at the Nihon University College of Art in 1972, he went on to research
clay and glazes at the Gifu Prefectural Institute of Ceramics from 1972 to 1974. In 1975, he
established his own ceramics studio in Tamatukuri, Ibaraki Prefecture, with a traditional
firing kiln that he designed. Between 1975 and 2006, while running this studio, he
produced traditional ceramics and exhibited them nationally. In 2007, he relocated his
studio to Moriya, Ibaraki Prefecture, where he has been based ever since.
Since 1978, Makoto Hatori has been selected for numerous international exhibitions and
has won awards across the globe, including in Italy, Great Britain, New Zealand, Egypt,
Belgium, Germany, Lithuania, the U.S.A., Croatia, South Africa, Australia, Taiwan, Estonia,
Korea, Spain, Hungary, Slovenia, France, Romania, Turkey, and Latvia. In 1992, he was a
ceramics tutor in the Department of Art and Design at Manchester Polytechnic, now
Manchester Metropolitan University. From 1994 to 1996, he was a member of the
Contemporary Applied Arts in England.
Makoto Hatori has also been invited to participate in a number of international symposia
and conferences, including the International Ceramic Symposium by the Lithuania
Panevezys City Council in 1996 and 1998, Earth and Fire by the Craft Potters Association of
Great Britain in 1997, the International Woodfiring Symposium at the International
Ceramics Studio, Hungary, in 2006, and the 2nd ICMEA (International Ceramic Magazine

2. Editors Association) Conference at Fuping Pottery Art Village, Fuping, Shaanxi, China, in
2007.
In addition to his work as a ceramic artist, Makoto Hatori has written many reviews for
international ceramics magazines, and his writing has been cited in other publications.
http://www2r.biglobe.ne.jp/~makoto-h/
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Makoto Hatori apprenticed under a master potter of traditional ceramics in 1968 and 1974
to learn Japanese ceramics (in which design without human intervention and supreme
artificial beauty co-exist) as well as the mechanism of natural glaze (what he calls “non-
glaze,” or beauty by nature’s design). Twelve thousand years ago, the 縄文 Jōmon 土器 doki
(Jōmon- era ceramics) was invented, with the historic, ancient kilns that beat with the inner
nature of the people. What was gained from that pursuit was the teaching to connote
nature, the spiritual other, and to recognize one’s own presence. Of course, this revelation
was gained later on, in retrospect. Since the time of his training, he has repeatedly worked
to recognize the coexistence of subject and other, following the natural flow of “as it is” at
every opportunity. To be “無為自然 mui-shizen,” or “as it is,” is to be awakened to the wide-
spreading blank space of externality, the perception of the unmade outer world. The
banquet of that holy natural glaze, which sublimates the impure, was a gift from nature that
allowed him to make strides in his act of firing, the performance with nature, from the
known to the unknown. Hatori feels a “bashfulness”—an aesthetic—towards the
uncorrelated input and output of incidents, discord between the body and mind, and he has
related the connotations of “as it is,” what lies at the heart of the unknown, to his
professional ethics. Hatori was stirred by the vague and undefinable unknown, which is an
empty seat that ought to contain something, indicating that one’s existence is not
independent of relativity.
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In the 1969 exhibition "L’espoir: Makoto Hatori", he had already exhibited sculptural works
that refer to externality. The works in the show used materials such as wood, cloth, and
plaster, and he also used sand as a material representing anti-self-containment. The works
were not autonomous objects, but by using sand, which defies the regulations of co-
embodiment, they became events that disrupt equilibrium. This was an invitation to the
unknown, the external, and a search for an undifferentiated formation. Hatori does not

3. have within him the historicity of philosophy derived from tradition. Hatori was seeing
modern perspectives on nature, values, and the principle of making and questioning such
historical viewpoints through the perspective of nature found in traditional non-glazed
pottery. Valuing spirituality and meditating on a shared identity with nature was how his
entire self was baptized in that fire. This was not something new to him—a gesture that led
the way to being "as it is." His works based on traditional techniques, which were acquired
by the collections of the Victoria and Albert Museum in 1993 and the British Museum in
1996, are built on this professional ethic and aesthetic.
Left: "Phase" Three semicircular vessels, each filled with different amounts of sand. Right: "Relation" A cloth bag
filled with sand is placed in a crisscross pattern on a cylindrical shape made of plaster. Thus, the exhibition
featured abstract works made of plaster, wood, cloth (canvas), and sand. Makoto Hatori's intention was to
express a "state" of expanding physicality through "sand," a material that causes accidental displacement. The
idea of the state of physicality and materiality behind this work continues to exist in my work. The solo
exhibition "L'espoir: Makoto Hatori" was held at the former Surugadai Gallery in Kanda, Tokyo, in 1969.
Left: "Bizen-style Faceted Mizu-sashi," 19.5 centimeters in height, wood-fired stoneware with natural wood ash,
fire change, traditional way fired at 1280 degrees C., eight-day firing. Right: "Ring," 33.0 centimeters in height,
stoneware and slip painting, traditional way fired at 1300 degrees C., oxidation, eight-day firing. Both works
were exhibited in the exhibition 'Makoto Hatori' at the former Lee Gallery, London, June 15 to 27, 1993, and
were acquired by the Victoria and Albert Museum, UK, 1993.

4. Left: "Bizen-style Wide-mouthed Bulbous," (w) 21.0, (d) 21.0, (h) 31.0 cm, wood-fired stoneware with natural
wood ash, fire change, traditional way fired at 1280 degrees C., eight-day firing. Right: "Bizen-style Cylindrical
Lidded Pottery Mizu-sashi," (w) 19.0, (d) 19.0, (h) 17.0 cm, thrown and altered stoneware with natural wood ash,
sesame seed-fired decoration, Bizen traditional way fired at 1300 degrees C. oxidation, eight-day firing. Both of
the works, included in the collection of the British Museum (U.K.) in 1996. It is also featured in Amedeo
Salamoni's "Wood-Fired Ceramics: 100 Contemporary Artists," with a foreword by Jack Troy (Schiffer Publishing,
Ltd., 2014), pp. 90–91.
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“Vessel: Otherness”, which won an
award at the 2014 Triennial of
Silicate Arts in Hungary, is a 12-
pieces composite work lined up in
two rows and made with traditional
firing methods. The harmonious
condition of the fire (nature) and
person (maker). It was a liberation
from the self-containment of
conventional vases, a proposal to
return to the opened condition of
bringing in the external. The placement of the works is based on probability. They are
placed exactly as they were before they were fired, in relation to the grate in the kiln and
the vent, referring to the work’s condition before it was fired and became the work it is. For
the time being, these were pushed back into the "material" by him.
By repeatedly deforming the concentric circles that correct the "form" formed by the
potter’s wheel, he attempts to acquire flexible "material." The next process, traditional firing,
which may be understood as a device beyond our power, causes 窯 変 yohen (accidental
coloring or glazing by flame) that produces a natural wood-ash glaze, a gift from nature, on

5. the fired ceramic. It is the destruction of the "neatness" (form) created by nature. Instead of
adhering to 居付 itsuki, or the immobile and stagnant state of being a "completed form," he
has come to accept this work and its atypical aesthetic as an alternative variant (which is
also an involuntary "occurrence").
Examples of such variants include the discerning eye of the wabi-sabi practice that
simultaneously conforms to and defies aesthetic legitimacy, its representation of
heterogeneity and heteromorphic forms, and the concept of 狂者 kuruimono—the stylized
eccentric persona that was deemed an aesthetic refinement—enacted by dancers and
entertainers in Japan, who characterized the ideas of 婆娑羅 basara (ostentatious behavior)
and 歌 舞 伎 kabuki (out-of-the-ordinary behavior) developed in the medieval and early
modern periods, respectively. This atypical aesthetic is understood here as “kata (form),”
one of the key concepts of the Japanese traditional ceramics discourse. For him, kata is a
“work” with utility, completed by an action dictated by traditional standards.
The created object as a system is doomed to acquire some kind of expressiveness, which is
what he calls 居 付 itsuki. He doesn’t see this as completion in an unambiguous and
fundamental sense, and, instead, he abandons his identity as the subject performing
alterations and “creations.” This can be seen as an overwriting of the concept of “material”
by considering the “work” as a "ready-made product—a transformation in perspective on
those that have been created. The ready-made, created by assemblage and combinations,
stands as an expression of an action to be taken—that is, transformation into a dynamic
entity. Aesthetic factors composed by an assemblage are full of infinite possibilities and
embrace unknown effects. Here, the self-contained nature of creation transforms into an
involuntary occurrence and “shifts” into a state of openness that encompasses the object to
be seen as well as the viewer. It does not, however, mean that such creations are recreated.
This “shift” is expressed in such a way that it illuminates the possibilities of spurring diverse
perspectives.
Here, the theme is not to create “kata (form)” but rather to present a “raw state,” in which
the work is transformed into an open physicality—an ambivalent, bodily image that sees
and is seen simultaneously. This can be called “contact improvisation,” which is not to view
the “performed” dance, but instead to instantly give form to the body by performing and
enacting the physical characteristics of the diverse Others. In contriving such an encounter
between himself and the Others, his presence is inscribed into the work. The basis of his
work is an expressive value of object in itself that is “remembered” and in motion.
Originating from “kata (型, model),” “kata (形, form)” comes and goes ceaselessly between
the two homonyms “カタ, kata.” In traditional Japanese arts (芸道 geido), where arts and
moral philosophy merge to form a circle, kata (型, model) functions as an ambivalent bodily
image that involves interiority and exteriority. The "model" kata exists as an immutable and

6. unshakable being that constantly changes at the same time each time its homophone “kata
(形, form),” is enacted as a visual event.
Above: "Vessel: Otherness," as a whole of the installation (w) 76.0, (d) 27.0, (h) 20.0 cm, wheel-thrown,
stoneware with natural glaze, fire change, traditional way fired at 1260 degrees C., in reduction. The work was
exhibited at the 4th International Triennial of Silicate Arts in Hungary at the Kecskemét Cultural and Conference
Centre from August 3 to September 7, 2014.
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Next, ignoring the chronological order, we present "Ripples of Water," an installation work
presented at the International Ceramics Symposium in Lithuania in 1996, and "5-7-5,"
presented in 1998. These works rejected colors or glaze, joined natural wood and fired
ceramics, and are a structuralization of how bilateral relationships are formed by external
effects that are not objectified. Similarly, the works exhibited in the 2001, 2003, 2015,
2017, and 2019 <on the web> International Ceramic Biennial, in South Korea were works
that were awakened to the perceptions generated by the resonance between ceramics and
other materials and natural ceramics and ceramics. Hatori has written about how self-
contained representations merely become objects, lacking physicality, in his essay “Beauty
of Soul, Beauty of Form: Naturally-glazed Ceramics and Haiku” (The Log Book, Issue 22,
2005, pp. 3–7).
Left: "On the Impulse of Curiosity," (w) 99.0, (d) 39.0, (h) 44.0 cm, stoneware and slip painting, with aluminum
cable additions, traditional way fired at 1250 degrees C., oxidation, eight-day firing. The 1st World Ceramic
Biennial 2001. Exhibited at the World Ceramic Center, Ichon, Korea, August 10 to October 28, 2001. Right:
"Barley Field," (w) 102.0, (d) 16.5, (h) 38.5 cm, stoneware and slip painting, traditional way fired at 1250 degrees
C., oxidation, eight-day firing. World Ceramic Biennial 2003. Exhibited at the Ichon World Ceramic Center,
South Korea, September 1 to October 30, 2003.

7. Left: "Mizu no Hamon: Water Ripples," consists of stoneware (non-glazed with slip,) with wood additions, and a
sprayed solution of salt, fired in a gas kiln at 1380 degrees C., over two days in an oxidized atmosphere. The
piece in the back "Mu," also made at the 1996 Panevezys International Ceramic Symposium in Lithuania,
exhibited at the Panevezys Civic Art Gallery from August 2 to October 6, 1996. Right: “5-7-5,” approximately
170 cm in hight, created at the 1988 Panevezis International Ceramics Symposium and exhibited at the
Panevezis Civic Art Museum from July 31 to October 4, 1998. This work is featured in Emanuel Cooper's book
Contemporary Ceramics (Thames & Hudson, 2009) and is also used as a resource for ceramics education in the
UK.
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For the work exhibited in the 35th International Ceramic Competition L’Alcora, "Non-color,"
he considered the color white as a thing that expresses the ambiguity of both co-
embodiment and decolorization, of the discrepancy of the mind and body that lies within,
as the expression of the unwavering unknown, which he calls " 非色 (non-color)." Makoto
Hatori based his idea of "self" on this. By layering "white" on himself, he sought to cleanse
his mind and transform himself (rewrite notions). White is the color of the gods in the
religion of our people (though the masses have turned their tastes from religion to
entertainment) and contains the ambiguity of wholeheartedness and supreme ecstasy, as
well as life and death (the tradition of white as a color of mourning comes from the larger
continent and peninsula of Asia). If that is not an explanation but a presentation of an
opened state of being that contains the externality, he thought he should use a physical
technique that renders the relationship of ceramics and other materials as physical
components.

8. Left: "Non color," as a whole of the installation (w) 95.0, (d) 53.0, (h) 9.0 cm, stoneware (non-glazed with slip,)
with aluminum board, the electric kiln and charcoal smoked, fired at 1250 degrees C., reduction; exhibited at
the Ceramic Museum of L'Alcora, Spain, June 26 to September 6, 2015. Right: "Non color; Otherness," as a
whole of the installation (w) 122.0, (d) 75.0, (h) 13.5 cm, stoneware (non-glazed with slip,) assembled through
thin iron road, with silicon tube, electric kiln and charcoal smoked, fired at 1250 degrees C., reduction;
exhibited at the 8th Gyeonggi International Ceramic Biennial 2017, Republic of Korea, Icheon World Ceramic
Center 263, Gyeongchung-daero 2697 beongil, Icheon, Republic of Korea, 17379, Gyeonggi-si, April 22 to
October 9, 2017.
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The answer was in the unquantifiable act of drawing (a physical discipline). Human bodies
are an ambiguous existence in the first place, a physical existence equipped with both
internal and external components. Mutual interactions between oneself and others are
established because it is possible to relate to the external, and this happening is generated
simultaneously. The work entitled “State” relates the otherness or externality of its physical
state as a living phenomenon of that corresponding relationship. For instance, the iron of
the non-ceramic material with diversity and versatility that transcends perception after
numerous repetitions of bending and stretching stops being iron, and through this
continuous change, its flexible condition forms a living co-embodiment with ceramics. The
non-autonomous condition of incidents is to continuously change its synchronization with
the other, the “paper” (the act of drawing) itself, thrown in without any context.
"A State (02-31-2)" as a whole installation:
(w) 142.0, (d) 70.0, (h) 15.0 cm. objects
(ceramic, iron): (w) 105.0, (d) 58.0, (h)
15.0 cm, 2 sheets of paper (drawing) each
(h) 31.0, (w) 24.0 cm. Hand-built
Stoneware (non-glazed, high fire), with
iron bar. Electric kiln and charcoal
smoked, fired at 1250 degrees C. in
reduction. The 4th Cluj International
Ceramic Biennial, Exhibited at Cluj
Museum of Art, Romania, August 15 to
September 20, 2019.

9. The act of drawing, which involves the movement of my body, is a practice of encountering
the unpredictability of the relationship between the viewer and the viewed. The work "A
State" or "The State of Being" is composed of the paper (drawing) on which he draws, and
explaining it may risk making it seem like a gimmick. This is because an arbitrary element
is introduced, and the relationship between different elements is disrupted. When viewed
through the lens of physicality, various materials are inherently different, and fragmented
phenomena go beyond his intentions. It must be a third-party presence and not a
decoration of the subject ceramic.
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In 2020, a pandemic has descended upon us. Our preexisting notions of subject and object
have collapsed, and we have been confronted with the unforeseeable. Seeking to reaffirm
the presence of the subject and object as a unified whole, he looks to traditional 墨絵/水墨画
sumi-e/suiboku-ga (ink-wash painting) in Japan. Using brush lines to embody the physicality
of his mind and body, he consider this "Physicality" series to be a kind of intellectual 水墨画
suiboku-ga (traditional landscape painting in water ink) by ceramic art. To the traditions
that need to be retraced.
"Physicality: 墨絵 Sumi-e/ 水墨
山水 Suiboku Sansui (07-03-2),"
(w) 107.0, (d) 51.0, (h) 14.5 cm,
stoneware, non-glazed (the
pieces have textures of
lusterless tones, such as a
Japanese paper tone), pigment,
with iron rod. Electric kiln and
charcoal smoked, fired at 1250
degrees C. in reduction. The
Contest of Unique Piece
N.A.CE. 2021. XIII National
Fair of Pottery and Ceramics,
NAVARRETE · La Rioja, Spain,
July 16 to 18, 2021. The piece
remained on display until
August 30, 2021.
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Needless to say, ceramic art is rooted in the earth. Although clay is usually considered a
mere base material in ceramic art, the clay itself exists in its own right as the concept and
motif of his work. By exploring the materiality of the medium and attempting to grasp its
essence, he extends this traditional art form into contemporary art. By choosing not to
apply glazes and thus rejecting artificial aesthetic enhancement, he contemplates the

10. object’s inner essence. In this way, his work becomes conceptual art and seeks to transcend
the so-called autotelism often associated with ceramics (the notion that a ceramic object
becomes a work of art through the process of firing and is an end in itself, often lacking a
conceptual framework).
"Non-Color: From Destruction
to Regeneration," (w) 62.5, (d)
52.0, (h) 25.0 cm. The
stoneware is made of a unique
blend of clay, non-glazed, with
a Japanese paper-tone texture
and a non-glossy finish. A
1.6mm ultra-thin iron plate
supports the ceramic plate
from below. The rectangular
shape in the center of the
ceramic plate is coated with 胡
粉 gofun (white pigment made
from ground seashells and
glue) on paper clay, and
pierced with shards of
porcelain. The piece was fired in an electric kiln, smoked with charcoal, and reduced at 1250℃.
Created in 2023.
As already mentioned, his theme "non-color" is his aesthetic, which aims to realize the
ultimate of the traditional natural glaze (non-glaze) way of thinking of Japan and to
construct works that express the memory and continuous change of the body itself through
the control of its expressive consciousness. The material itself, put together in a common
body, plays an important role in its embodiment. The unglazed "ceramic," with its 和紙
washi-like texture and milky white surface, symbolizes the spiritual world, while the non-
ceramic material that will eventually decay symbolizes the imperfect perceptual world. All
things are in flux, in an endless cycle of life, death, and rebirth. This constant
transformation shows the existence of "things." There, he superimposes himself existence.
Asked whether he finds any tension between his traditional work and the more sculptural pieces,
Hatori comments:
One cannot help but be attracted by the deep presence of tradition, but we hope that this tradition
will not remain narrow and particular. I want to give contemporary expression to the essence of
tradition while at the same time keeping an eye on the essence of it. A true work of art is not merely
the expression of an individual's thoughts but is self-expression through design backed by tradition. I
feel that the current trend in ceramics to ignore the material and concentrate on decoration without
paying attention to the object is a deviation from art.
May 2023.