Inspiration from Japan

I really love the work of many contemporary and traditional Japanese potters. I find the purity and integrity of their craftsmanship very inspiring.

Carved tea bowl. Unfired, raw clay.

This tea bowl I carved yesterday was influenced by a number of Japanese ceramicists, including Bizen artist, Kakurezaki Ryuichi. If you're interested, you can see a gallery showing a small selection of his work here:

http://www.geocities.jp/gallery_coco903/utuwa/bizen/kakurezaki/kakurezaki.htm

and here:

http://www4.ocn.ne.jp/~ranran/ran08_kakurezaki_suiki.html

I would like to learn more about the carving techniques and the specific tools they use in Japan, but it's very hard to find any detailed information online. Perhaps Japanese potters tend to closely guard their trade secrets, or only pass them onto their apprentices, I don't know..but if anyone out there is aware of any useful links or texts, please do share them with me!