Sharaku was born Masahiro Shimotori(霜鳥昌弘) in Niigata Prefecture in 1940, but currently works in Yashio in Saitama.
He had great interest in Bonsai, and studied at Shunkaen under the renowned Kunio Kobayashi, and won awards for his Satsuki, notably the Excellence Award for Satsuki Shaping from Kindai Bonsai.
He found his true calling in 1997, when he began apprenticing under blog favorite Shigeru Fukuda(aka Bushuan). In 2004 he apprenticed in Guangdong to study clay and Chinese technique for a year. Sharaku has won numerous awards for his pottery, and now runs a pottery school in Saitama.
Unlike Bushaun, Sharaku specializes in single color glazes that are very bright and clean. But it’s easy to see his old master’s style in his complicated Mokko shape pots, for which he is rightfully famous.
Now, on to the pots!

A selection of Sharaku pots I photographed for sale at Shunkaen.

A bright yellow…