“That I understand,” Yilin said. “Most businesses in Japan used to prohibit side jobs, but it just isn’t possible to get by with one job these days.”
“Yeah.” Aoi lowered her gaze. “Holmes is capable of handling multiple jobs, but that won’t work for me. I’m not the kind of person who can do everything.”
“Oh, is that so?”
“Yes. I already have my hands full with just school and this part-time job. I haven’t been able to participate much in KyoMore’s activities because of it. And during the summer, I couldn’t work at Kura because I was interning at Kyoto National Museum. When I’m absorbed in something, it steals my entire focus.” Aoi sighed.
Yilin was surprised. According to her research, before Aoi Mashiro had come to Kyoto, she had been an ordinary student with no involvement in art whatsoever. However, after she got a part-time job at Kura and became Kiyotaka Yagashira’s apprentice, her talent had rapidly blossomed. In just a few years, she’d become an honor student of renowned curator Sally Barrymore.
Yilin had believed that Aoi was just as exceptional as Kiyotaka but in a different way.
“I thought you were the clever and resourceful type, like Kiyotaka,” Yilin murmured.
Aoi shook her head vehemently. “Not at all.”
“But you gained Sally’s recognition in such a short time, didn’t you? You must have studied a lot to develop that insight. How did you do it?”
Aoi gave an awkward smile. “I got absorbed.”
“Absorbed?”
“Yeah, I was obsessed with antique art. I never thought of it as studying hard—I was just absorbed in learning about something I loved. I’m the kind of person who can only do one thing at a time, which is honestly a bad thing. I wish I could be as versatile as Holmes.” She slumped her shoulders.
Yilin couldn’t help but smile upon hearing that. She turned away and covered her mouth so Aoi wouldn’t notice. Yilin had always been surrounded by people who tried to make themselves sound more impressive than they really were, so Aoi’s openness about her own shortcomings felt refreshingly honest.
“Did you come to love it after being around these antiques every day?” Yilin asked.
“Yes. A big part of it was that Holmes taught me about them whenever he had the chance. Before I knew it, I was hooked.”
“That’s how they get you, huh?” It was the same for me.
In Yilin’s case, it was Ensho’s work that had captured her heart. She turned around to look at the painting of his that was displayed in the store: Suzhou. It was a brilliant piece. The thought of being able to see it every time she came here filled her with joy. Yilin had been awed by the mandala he’d painted, while Yu Garden by Night had taken hold of her heart and refused to let go. She thought back to his latest painting, which had been displayed at the M+ museum in Hong Kong. It was titled Present City and depicted a modern Kyoto townscape.
It was beautiful.
Just remembering it made a passionate sigh escape her lips. She wasn’t the only one captivated by Ensho’s art. Her father was in the same boat—in fact, he seemed more obsessed than she was.
“By the way, was your family opposed to you studying in Japan?” Aoi asked, snapping Yilin out of her thoughts.
“No. Apparently they didn’t think medicine was the right fit for me anyway. And in my father’s case, it worked in his favor.”
“How so?” Aoi tilted her head.
Yilin merely gave an ambiguous smile in response. She had made all of the preparations before telling her father, thinking that if she asked for permission beforehand, she’d be stuck if he disapproved. To her, it was a life-changing decision. She’d been anxious about how he would react. Would he be angry? Happy? Indifferent?
The result had surprised her.
“So you’re going to grad school in Kyoto this fall... That’s good. I was just about to ask you to do something there for me,” he’d said cheerfully, throwing her off.
“What is it?”
“You know that Takamiya guy, right?”
“Of course. He’s the wealthy man who won the bid for Ensho’s painting, isn’t he?”
“That’s right. He’s also an art connoisseur. I don’t care how long it takes—I want you to find a way to get close to Munechika Takamiya and look into something in his collection for me. I hired someone to investigate, but they couldn’t get any information.”
Yilin clenched her fists. She wanted to meet her father’s expectations. That meant she needed to make contact with Takamiya somehow. And in order to get close to him, she would need a common topic of interest—in other words, she needed to know about antiques. That was another reason she’d decided to work at Kura.
“Aoi, I’d like to attend these ‘Kura lectures’ too.”
“You’re more than welcome. Holmes should be back at around 6 p.m.”
Yilin shook her head. “No, I want to learn from you.”
“Huh?” Aoi blinked. “Really?”
“Of course. What do you recommend out of the items in the store right now?”
“Well...” Aoi turned her gaze to the glass display case that held the store’s most expensive wares. “It’d have to be the Shino tea bowl. They’re very famous in the world of antique art, though, so it might be too basic for you...”
“I’ve seen one at the Shanghai Museum before, but I don’t know much about them. I’d love to learn more.”
That was a lie. The Shino tea bowl she mentioned had been on display at an exhibition organized by her father, who had wanted to win over the residents of Shanghai with what he called The World’s Finest Art Exhibition. As the name implied, he’d gathered treasures from all over the world.
The highlight of the Japan section had been the yohen tenmoku tea bowls, of which only three existed in the world. Her father had secured all of them for his exhibition. They hadn’t been the only national treasures on display, though. There had also been a Shino tea bowl called Unohanagaki, so Yilin had already done her research at that time.
Her feigning ignorance wasn’t out of malice—she simply wanted to see what kind of explanation Aoi would give her.
“Well, in that case...”
Aoi took the tea bowl out of the case and placed it on the counter. Kura’s Shino tea bowl was white with a reddish-brown pattern and had a unique warped shape. Aoi looked down at the antique pottery and began her lecture.
“A Shino tea bowl is a tea bowl made in the Shino style. Japan has three major pottery styles: Seto ware, Mino ware, and Arita ware. These three are said to have greatly influenced Japanese pottery culture. Mino is an old province that’s now part of Gifu Prefecture, so Mino ware is the general term for ceramics produced in that region. Seto ware refers to ceramics produced in the area around Seto City in Aichi Prefecture, and Arita ware is mainly produced in Saga Prefecture.”
She grinned and looked at Yilin.
“Quiz time. Which of these three do you think Shino ware falls under?”
“Um...” Yilin retraced her memory. “Mino ware, perhaps?”
Aoi’s face lit up. “Correct. Shino ware is classified as Mino ware. It’s said that Shino ware originated from Soshin Shino, an incense master of the Muromachi period who commissioned Mino potters to make it.”
She explained that there were many types of Shino tea bowls, including patternless Shino, gray Shino, painted Shino, crimson Shino, red Shino, marbled Shino, and Shino-Oribe. Some of these techniques were designated Important Intangible Cultural Properties.
“Personally, I think the most distinctive ones are painted Shino, Nezumi-Shino, and crimson Shino.”
Painted Shino was created by applying Shino glaze (feldspar glaze) over designs painted with “oni ita” pigment, which had high iron content. It was the most orthodox type, and many early Shino tea bowls fell into this category.
Gray Shino involved painting oni ita over the entire piece as a base, carving patterns into it, then applying Shino glaze before firing. The iron content combined with the kiln conditions would produce a gray or reddish-brown finish. If the result was more of an orange color, it became red Shino instead.