The first sake cup ( sakazuki ) that I bought was a Korean black glaze piece. In general black really matches as accent on a table. On one hand, manly, a rough impression but on the other hand strong black can be too dull and literally colourless but depending on the relation of the ornamented form and the glaze it can create a sense of powerful simplicity. One can say that this year in his work centred on black, Ikenishi made some new discoveries, and succeeded in putting this into shape. In this meaning black really became a newly framed dimension. For us, living in these times, his extraordinary skills are deepening his works to the extent of making them treasures.