Yukio Saketsunaga’s pottery is made from about 10 tons of white clay he collected from a clay layer in Toyama, which he found himself.

The jet black of his vessels represents the universe.

And the pottery that imitates the surface of the water on the peak of Mount Tsurugidake reflects the heavens.

On April 11, 1994, while traveling in Kyoto, Steve Jobs and his wife (then president of NextSoftware) met and hit it off with Yukio Sakenaga’s work, which was on display at the gallery.

He then had Shakunaga create the prototype for icons such as the iPod, which he developed after returning to Apple in 1995.
For the next ten years, their correspondence continued until Jobs fell ill.

I discovered this pure white clay layer when I was scrapping the back of the mountain.

The kiln is an improved version of the Korean ascent kiln in which he trained when he was in his twenties.

Steve Jobs commissioned the plate to be produced to create the image for the app icon.

This art book was a gift from Jobs to 釋永 when he visited Japan to promote “Toy Story” at the time.

The white, pointy work in the center is “White Rokuryo Momotaro” inspired by the snow-capped peaks of the Tateyama Mountain Range.

On the right is “Jitangdara” (hungry rice field) inspired by a pool of water at 1000m of Mt.