Book

Often I am asked why I have chosen Japan as my second home country. In my answers I always refer to the significant and long tradition of Japanese ceramic art and that this is what has attracted me to Japan and still, after 22 years, is holding me in its spell.
In September 1969 I decided, in spite of warnings from many people, to continue my studies of Mashiko ceramics under the roof of the workshop which I myself had erected. The dream of working as an equal among young, aspiring colleagues was thus fulfilled. It was in pursuance of this dream that I had returned to Mashiko. A number of friends and acquaintances as well as the solicitous recommendations of the great masters of Mashiko made it possible for me to get all necessary materials. And there was the abundance of technical information to be had among many students and kiln owners of my age who were in the process of developing themselves.
The original plan was to stay for two years in Mashiko and to decide on a further course after that. But the award which I received in June 1971, and to which reference has repeatedly been made in this book, changed my plan and I decided to stay in Mashiko to meet the challenge. I started to construct a bigger workshop with two kilns and to organize shows of my works in Tokyo and other cities.
The founding of my family and the prospect of growing children compelled me to look for a more spacious house and working place. Just before a planned exhibition trip of four months to Germany with the whole family I was told by a friend from Daigo about a big manor house which had been vacant for some years. I asked this friend to show me this house.
The manor house was completely without life and gave a frighteningly desolate impression. At first I had a bad feeling when I entered the house. No human being had been living there for five years, and rainwater and humidity had eaten away the tatami mats. Mildew and fungi grew exuberantly everywhere. In one of the rooms at the back of the house I broke through the rotten flooring. I was also shocked to see the sky above through a big hole in the roof. The rooms were strewn with broken and decaying wooden boxes where, once upon a time, valuable treasures like scrolls and swords might have been kept. But looking from the veranda towards the overgrown garden, I thought that it might be possible to save this structure and to create a living space as well as workplace in this estate.
During our extensive trip in Germany, we had opportunities to look at some vacant houses for sale. But the overwhelming impression of the manor house of Tarosaka would not leave me.
After an extended negotiation, in October 1974 I finally became the happy owner of the estate at Tarosaka. With an area of 4300 sqm, I had now enough space for as many kilns as I liked, for growing vegetables, as well as for a big storage area for wood.
For 17 years we have lived here in Daigo. My wife and I feel as if we were raised at Tarosaka. Coming back from long journeys abroad or within the country I always look forward to returning to the tranquility of my home.
It is my hope that this exhibition will contribute to erecting a bridge of understanding, connecting the ceramic art of East and West. I anticipate giving connoisseurs of Japanese art my interpretation of Japanese ceramic art, whereby I see myself as neither exclusively a Japanese nor a German artist.
To all those and in particular The Goethe Institute, who helped me in this endeavor and contributed to the realization of this traveling exhibition of my recent work to the United States, Canada, and Mexico, I should like to extend my most sincere thanks.

Gerd Knapper
Daigo March 26th, 1991