26308 Mori Togaku guinomimi

Height: 5.2 cm
Diameter: 6.4 cm

After graduating from the Special Art Course at Okayama University Faculty of Education, he taught art in junior high school for three years before leaving to pursue pottery. After building various kilns and firing numerous pieces, he concluded that he could not unravel the "mystery of Ko-Bizen's charm" with small kilns. Thus, he devised a plan to fire in a large medieval kiln, similar to those used for Ko-Bizen.
He constructed a semi-underground direct-flame climbing kiln (46 meters long) in the mountains of Aioi City, Hyogo Prefecture. From January 8, 1980, he fired the kiln for 53 days, producing numerous Bizen pottery pieces, including large coiled jars. Immediately after, he moved to Sabukaze, Ushimado-cho, Oku-gun, Okayama Prefecture (now Sabukaze, Ushimado-cho, Setouchi City), where he built the 53-meter-long "Sabukaze Ogama" (Sabukaze Great Kiln). He fired works there a total of six times in 1986, 1990, 1994, 1999, 2005, and 2011. From 1997, he simultaneously began constructing the "Sabukaze Shin-Ogama" (New Sabukaze Great Kiln), which is said to be unprecedented, measuring 85 meters long, 6 meters wide, and 3 meters high.
From 2005, he incorporated the collaborative working system of the large kiln era, when Ko-Bizen was produced, working with his apprentices. The Sabukaze Shin-Ogama was completed in the summer of 2008. A successful test firing of the new kiln also confirmed its performance.