25703 Aoki Ryuzan (Henan Tenmoku Sou Vase)

Height 20.5cm Diameter 19.0cm
Since the latter half of the 16th century, the Aoki family has been in business for generations as pottery producers at the Sotooyama Kiln and the Mio-Iya Kiln, but in 1899 (Meiji 32), his grandfather Jinichiro expanded the business into the Aoki Brothers Trading Company, which mainly engaged in trade, manufacturing and selling ceramics for both domestic and overseas markets.
During his father's generation, the company was renamed Arita Ceramics, but later went bankrupt. Ryuzan decided to make a living as an individual artist, striving to be selected for the Nitten Exhibition while working as a freelance ceramic designer. In 1954 (Showa 29), he exhibited and was selected for the first time at the 10th Nitten Exhibition with his "Large Flower Pattern Blue and White Dish", and from then on he continued to be selected for exhibition, rising to the top as a so-called Nitten exhibition artist.
Located in Arita, a town famous for its dyed and painted wares, he consistently pursued the taut, rich forms of wide-mouthed porcelain, and with his modern designs featuring striped patterns made from iron sand, silver sand, blue, and green on jet-black Tenmoku glaze, he broke new ground, mainly with flower vases, and became a representative Arita ware artist.
He never took on any apprentices in his life, but continued to fire Tenmoku pottery together with his wife Ayako (who passed away in 2007), and became the first potter to receive the Order of Culture from Saga, a home of pottery. He died of liver cancer on April 23, 2008, at the age of 81.
He was awarded the rank of Junior Third Rank. The ceramist Kiyotaka Aoki was his eldest son.