徐哲晖 静けさのうちに

土は語らず
器は静けさを抱く

I am XUZHEHUI — a potter of the quiet.

My hands follow the clay, never the other way round.
What I make is not the vessel, but the pause around it —
a still-life that breathes, and asks to be kept.

徐哲晖 · ceramicist & still-life philosopher哲

壱枯山水 · Karesansui

raked to stillness — the garden draws itself as you pass.

scroll to rake↓

弐器物 · Works

vessels of held breath

  1. 01 肌文茶碗はだもんちゃわん · hagi hagi clay, ash glaze — the map of rain 2023

    泥 hagi clay, iron-rich, thrown thin

    釉 wood-ash, natural crackle

    窯 climbing kiln · 1260°

    寸法 φ12.5 × H8.2 cm

    独白"The rain writes on my body, and I keep it — every drop a memory I was born to hold."

  2. 02 建水けんすい · kensui stoneware, unglazed — a held pool of light 2021

    泥 stoneware, coarse grog

    釉 none — bare, hand-wiped

    窯 anagama · 1250°

    寸法 φ16 × H10 cm

    独白"I am the pool that never spills — what you pour out, I call still water and keep."

  3. 03 花入はないれ · hanaire iron-tinged clay — one stem, one silence 2022

    泥 iron-tinged feldspar clay

    釉 accidental ash, kiln-glazed

    窯 anagama · wood-fire

    寸法 H24 · mouth φ6 cm

    独白"One stem, one word — I was shaped thin so the silence would have room to stand."

  4. 04 香合こうごう · kogo kneaded clay, lacquered lid — a small breath 2020

    泥 kneaded clays, neriage

    釉 iron-rust slip · lacquered lid

    窯 electric · 1180°

    寸法 φ7 × H4.2 cm

    独白"Smaller than a breath, and full of it — close the lid, and the scent keeps my shape."

  5. 05 水指みずさし · mizusashi shigaraki earth, feldspar — a cool shadow 2024

    泥 shigaraki earth, unwashed

    釉 feldspar over natural ash

    窯 noborigama · three days

    寸法 φ18 × H17 cm

    独白"Coolness is a kind of remembering — in summer I am the shadow that does not move."

参円相 · Enso

the circle drawn by leaving nothing out

scroll to complete the circle ○

肆巡礼 · A Pilgrimage

five resting places

  1. 2016京都 Kyoto

    the kiln's first heat — an apprenticeship of waiting.
    I swept the ash for a year before I was trusted with clay.

  2. 2018信楽 Shigaraki

    met the earth; it gave me its silence.
    The mountains here keep their own counsel — so did the kiln.

  3. 2021出雲 Izumo

    walked the shrine road, gathering absence.
    Each stone I passed taught me a little less to want.

  4. 2023備前 Bizen

    learned fire's patience — no glaze but time.
    Forty days, and the flame decided what I could not.

  5. 2026一隅 A Corner

    now I dwell in one corner, with one stone.
    The less I carry, the more the room breathes.

伍日課 · Daily Practice

small rituals that keep the clay honest

聞香 monkō — a meditation session

6:00 白檀 · sandalwood
sit with the ember — six quiet minutes

six quiet minutes — let the ash fall where it will

今日の器 the vessel of the day

肌文茶碗 hagi — the map of rain hagi clay, ash glaze

a new one each dawn, drawn from the shelf

四the four seasons turn, the clay remembers.

結farewell

音もなく
砂の波立ちぬ
秋の暮

without a sound · the sand has rippled · autumn dusk