Many think of Kawase as Japan's outstanding celadon artist. In the course of his phenomenally precocious career, this eldest son has outshone both his distinguished father, Kawase Chikushun II, and his well-known uncle, Kawase Mitsuyuki, both of whom have had much longer careers and more varied oeuvres. Like his father, Kawase has sought to recreate a Chinese glaze, in his case Southern Song celadon. After graduating from high school and studying with his father for only a year, in 1969, he exhibited some Southern Sung-style underglaze blue-and-white and polychrome pieces, as well as a few celadons. He wanted to reproduce the powder green color of Southern Sung Lung-ch'üan celadon. One time, however, he fired too long. Taking for granted that such a piece would be a failure, he found, when he took the piece from the kiln, that it had a thick glaze that had fused with the body and looked like Southern Sung official kiln celadon (Kuan ware). Encouraged by this discovery, he made three visits to the National Palace Museum in Taipei in order to study more Southern Sung prototypes. Wisely, after first trying to imitate famous pieces exactly, he decided to try to preserve their spirit without slavishly copying them. Kawase's official career includes regular appearances at the Traditional Crafts New Works Tokyo Branch Exhibitions since 1969 and at the Japan Traditional Crafts Exhibitions since 1974. In 1977, at age twenty-seven, he became the youngest regular member ever of the Japan Crafts Society; and in 1981, at age thirty-one, he was the youngest potter to be awarded the Japan Ceramics Society prize. His regular exhibitions at two of the foremost Tokyo ceramics galleries are so successful that they sell out in the first hour. What makes Kawase's celadon so prized? First, it is extremely precise potting and perfectly uniform glazes. Second, its rich, bluish green color and glossy finish. Third, the delicacy of his pieces, which are thinner walled than their Southern Sung models. Fourth, the grace and variety of his shapes. He used to make a good deal of crackle celadon, but nowadays most of his work is plain. Until recently all of his work has been functional, but since he is no slave to tradition, it has become increasingly sculptural in quality. [From "Modern Japanese Ceramics in American Collections," Japan Society, 1993.]