Itaya Hazan's 1915 Hōkō-sai Ceramic Vase

Wrapped in a gentle mist of porcelain, this ceramic vase by Itaya Hazan (板谷波山) radiates a quiet, inner glow. Its surface is caressed with a soft gradation of pastel pinks and pale blues, where stylised floral forms curve in rhythmic lines across a pale, velvety ground. Each petal seems to bloom not from the surface but from within, as if caught beneath a layer of morning fog.

Created in 1915, this vase is a prime example of Hazan’s signature technique, Hōkō-sai (葆光彩)—a term he coined himself, meaning “preserved light.” Rather than painting over the surface, Hazan incised his floral motifs into the porcelain body and applied subtle colours that would then be veiled beneath a thin, semi-translucent glaze. The result is not a sharp contrast of line and colour, but a harmonious diffusion of form, where design emerges as softly as breath on glass.

The pattern here—looping vines, symmetrical blossoms, and lotus-like shapes—draws from both Art Nouveau sensibilities and the decorative traditions of Asian textile and ceramic design. Hazan’s genius lay in his ability to transform the decorative into the poetic. These are not simply flowers on a vase, but symbols of balance, purity, and the impermanence of beauty.

In an era marked by modernisation and shifting cultural identity, Hazan offered a new vision of ceramic art—one that was not driven by mass production or ornate excess, but by subtlety, refinement, and the expressive potential of clay and light. This vase stands not as an object of function, but as a meditation in form—a still moment in porcelain where nature, memory, and design quietly meet.

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