Toshio Ohi, Descendent of Family of Potters, to Speak in the Senshin’an Tea Room at W&L on Oct. 24
Toshio Ohi, an 11th-generation descendant of the illustrious Ohi family of potters in the city of Kanazawa, will be giving a talk at Washington and Lee University on Oct. 24 from 10–11 a.m. in Northen Auditorium, Leyburn Library.
Ohi will speak on “The Cultural Importance of the Tea Bowl, A Venerated Tradition in Japan.” His talk is sponsored by East Asian Studies and the Department of East Asian Languages and Literatures. The lecture is free and open to the public.
Following the lecture, the Chanoyu Tea Society of W&L will be serving sweets and tea in the Senshin’an Tea Room (洗心庵) which was named by Sen Genshitsu Daisosho, the 15th-generation Grand Master of the Urasenke Tradition of Tea. The tea room is in Watson Pavilion on the W&L campus.
Ohi will be in the U.S. as an invited artist in the program, “In the Studios with the Artists from Japanese Kōgei/Future Forward,” at the Museum of Arts and Design in New York City.
The Ohi family lineage dates from the 17th century when the fourth generation grand master of the Urasenke tradition of tea, Senso Soshitsu, went to Kanazawa at the invitation of Lord Maeda, the ruling warrior family of Kanazawa or Kaga province, and brought with him the potter Chozaemon, who established the Ohi family kiln. Chozaemon had been the chief apprentice with the renowned Raku family in Kyoto and brought many of the Raku techniques with him.
Ohi studied at Boston University, where he completed an M.F.A. after graduating from Tamagawa University in Tokyo. He is a visiting associate professor at the Rochester Institute of Technology and an honorary guest professor at Kanazawa University.
Ohi has received numerous awards and held exhibitions throughout the world from Tokyo and Beijing to New York, Belgium and France.
