Matsuzaki Ken (born in Tokyo in 1950) has worked in Mashiko since 1972, when he became an apprentice to the late Shimaoka Tatsuzo (1919-2008), the leading disciple of Hamada Shoji (1894-1978). He established his own workshop in 1977 and has since earned himself an increasingly important reputation for his emphatically potted and, in the case of his Shino and Oribe wares, thickly glazed vessel forms. This vase belongs to another main category of work whereby he uses a domed, single-chambered wood-fired kiln with two fireboxes to produce naturally ash-glazed yohen (literally 'transformed by fire') pots. During the firing, which can last for up to a week, he uses a long metal rod to push over and roll the pots in the white-hot ashes of the kiln. The final result is thus a combination of chance effect and careful calculation.