A Foreword to Those with a Discerning Soul,
I am but an old fool who passes his days in a corner of Kamakura, kneading clay and conversing with flame. My name is Koyama Kenzan. The world may call me a master, a great artist, but I care not for such titles. I am simply a stubborn old man with a love for things of beauty, a palate for fine food, and an insatiable desire to savor the very essence of things, down to the marrow.
Tonight, a small radiance rests in my hands. It is not something born of my own clay and fire. And yet, it holds within it a Ri—a fundamental principle—as profound, if not more so, than any vessel I have ever pulled from my kiln. To offer this piece in the modern marketplace they call ! Auctions with a dry description like, "Here is a diamond pendant, it is pretty," is a thought I simply cannot entertain.
I find myself wanting to test the world, to see how many souls are left who can comprehend the true worth of this object. Consider this, then, a challenge issued from me to you. And at the same time, a humble compass for navigating the tempestuous seas of this life.
If you are one who sees this piece merely for its monetary value or its carat weight, I urge you to close this page now. You will be wasting your time. But if you are one who harbors a flicker of doubt, a yearning, regarding your life, your love, or the very state of your being... well then, I invite you to sit and indulge an old man's rambling tale. I will even brew you the finest Gyokuro tea.
Chapter I: Your True Life Partner is the One Least Compatible
The other day, Ryohei, the most clumsy yet most earnest of all the apprentices I have ever raised with my own hands, came to visit. He dangled a bottle of cheap sake from his hand. "Sensei, it has been too long. I... I am getting married," he said, his face breaking into a wide, wrinkled grin.
"Hmph. A fine thing," I replied, my hands never ceasing their work at the potter's wheel. "And what kind of woman is she?"
As if he had been waiting for the question, Ryohei began to gush. "She's incredible, Sensei! Our hobbies, our sense of money, our humor—everything is a perfect match. Being with her is completely stress-free. We've never had a single fight. She is truly my soulmate, the most compatible partner I could imagine!"
...Thump. My wheel spun to a halt.
I turned slowly to face him.
"You fool," I said. "Go and leave that woman at once."
Ryohei looked as if he'd been struck by lightning. "What...? Sensei, what are you saying?"
"Have you gone deaf in your youth, boy? I am telling you that to join your life with such a 'perfectly compatible partner' will bring absolutely no fruition to your existence. You are about to throw your one chance at human growth into the gutter."
I rose and fetched two lumps of clay from a shelf in the corner of my workshop. Both had been kneaded time and again to a silken smoothness.
"Watch closely, Ryohei. If I try to join this smooth clay to this other smooth clay..."
I pressed the two lumps together gently. They slid apart without resistance.
"...they will not join. Their surfaces are too polished; there is nothing for them to grip. This is merely a temporary proximity, a fleeting relationship."
Next, I took one of the lumps and scored its surface with a bamboo tool, roughening it with a potter's rake. This we call mearashi, or 'scoring the eyes'.
"But look. When you scar the surfaces like this, when you make them rough... and then you apply dobe, a slurry of clay and water, and press them together with force. What happens then?"
The two lumps were now bonded with a strength that was incomparable to before.
"After this, we fire them in the kiln at 1,300 degrees Celsius. The scars, the jagged edges, the imperfections—they will bite into one another and fuse, becoming a single piece that can never again be separated. That is what it means to be bound together. Human relationships, and marriage, follow this very same principle."
Ryohei stared at my hands, dumbfounded.
"Everyone is mistaken. It is a matter of reason to choose a partner with whom you are least compatible. Your tastes don't align? Excellent. Your views on money differ? Superb. You cannot grasp their sense of humor? Is that not the best thing of all? Those 'differences' are the 'scars' that are carved into the clay of your being. It is because of those scars that you can bond deeply, powerfully, with another. You strive to understand their values. You come to know your own inadequacies. In that process, the vessel of your character is inevitably polished, expanded, and deepened. That is shugyo—your life's discipline. And that, in truth, is the very reason we are born into this world."
"Do not flee to the saccharine comfort of 'compatibility.' That is nothing more than averting your eyes from your own immaturity and choosing the easy path. Do not fear being hurt. Do not shy away from friction. Your spouse is the greatest whetstone God has granted you for the polishing of your soul. If that whetstone were as smooth as you are, what on earth could possibly be polished?"
Ryohei was silent, chewing on my words. The blissful light had vanished from his eyes, replaced by a deep, contemplative shadow. Good. Let him think. With his own feet, with his own mind.
Chapter II: The Radiance of Wako-dojin ~ The Tale This Pendant Tells
My tale grows long. Indulge me a little longer.
After Ryohei left, I took up a small paulownia box. Inside rests this four-leaf clover pendant. It was passed on to me, almost forced upon me, by an old friend—a jeweler of immense skill but little business acumen.
"Master Koyama," he had said, "I know you will understand the true quality of this piece."
The moment I saw it, I felt the very same principle I had just explained to Ryohei about the nature of marriage.
[The Principle of its Materials: K18 Rose Gold & Natural Champagne Diamonds]
First, observe the metal. K18 Rose Gold (K18RG).
It is not pure gold, nor is it platinum. By blending gold with a generous amount of copper, it achieves a color that is not merely a sweet pink, but one that is deeper, more passionate—like a twilight sky, or the core of a ripened fruit. Within its sweetness lies a dignified grace, the mature allure of one who knows life's subtleties. This is a color of blood and warmth, truly befitting the name of the Rose.
Purity is not the only virtue. Through mixing with another, a new charm, a new depth, is born. Is this not the very image of a person being polished through their engagement with others, through passionate, sometimes clashing, encounters?
And then, the stones. A total of 0.70 carats. This is not one single, ostentatious stone. It is a constellation of 28 round brilliant cut diamonds, each of a slightly different size, nestled together to form a single shape.
But above all, it is their color. "Natural Champagne."
The layman, who believes colorless, transparent diamonds to be the pinnacle of value, will never grasp the worth of this. This color is a product of nature, born from a miraculous balance of nitrogen atoms captured within the crystal. It is not perfect "nothingness"; it possesses the subtle character of "color." Its glow is like that of an exquisitely aged kusu—Okinawan rice spirit—or the sunlight filtering onto a field of spring rapeseed. It is a deep, tranquil, and warm radiance.
This is not a brilliance that merely screams for attention. It is a light that seems to gently warm the heart of the beholder. This is the very world of the Taoist phrase [Wako-dojin (和光同塵)].
Wako-dojin means "to soften one's own brilliance and become one with the dust of the world." But this is not merely a passive act of hiding one's talent. It is a profound aesthetic philosophy which holds that true brilliance is not that which intimidates others, but that which harmonizes with its surroundings, gently illuminating the world itself.
These champagne diamonds are the embodiment of that. If each one were perfectly colorless, the impression would surely not be so gentle. Their slight "imperfections" of color resonate with one another, creating a single, harmonious, and impossibly beautiful "landscape" (keshiki).
It reminds me of the Shino ware I fire. Upon the white skin of a Shino vessel, a faint crimson blush called hi'irosometimes appears. This cannot be created intentionally; it is an accidental gift from the whims of the flame. A vessel is made infinitely richer by this hi'iro than by plain white skin alone. The champagne hue of these diamonds is the hi'iro of the jewelry world. And with the rich, reddish Rose Gold as its foundation, the harmony is perfected. It is an ineffable scene, like the sparkle of champagne bubbles dissolving into a rose-colored sunset.
[The Principle of its Form: The Four-Leaf Clover as Imperfect Perfection]
And this form, the four-leaf clover.
Do not dismiss it with the trite phrase "a symbol of good luck."
The clover's natural state is three-leaved. The four-leaf clover is a rare "aberration," an "imperfect" being. Yet it is in this very imperfection that we find value and call it "fortune." Is that not fascinating?
I, in my own way, interpret these four leaves as symbols of the four sufferings of life: Birth, Old Age, Sickness, and Death. Or perhaps, they represent oneself; one's partner, who holds entirely different values; and the two new, entirely unique perspectives that are born between them. They clash, they polish one another, and yet they remain connected by a single root.
Look closely. There are intentional "cuts" between the leaves. This suggests that they are not completely fused into one. Each is an independent entity, yet together they form a single, greater harmony. Marriage is not the act of killing one's individuality to become one. It is the act of remaining two different individuals who respect one another, stand by one another, and build a single "form" called a family. The design of this pendant expresses this truth with magnificent clarity.
[The Principle of its Craft: The Soul of the Artisan]
Turn it over. A honeycomb of meticulously crafted openings, designed to draw the maximum amount of light into each stone. It is in this work on the reverse side, unseen from the front, that the soul of the craftsman resides. And the prongs that hold the stones—this is the technique of "shared prongs." A single prong holds two adjacent stones. This, too, is a metaphor for human relationships. A single support, binding two beings together. It is the beauty of utility, achieving maximum elegance and strength with minimal structure.
The hallmarks stamped on the side, "K18RG" and "0.70," are the proof of this object's material value. But that is merely the minimum contractual agreement. Can you, the beholder, read the story that these hallmarks do not tell?
The accompanying "Gem Identification Report" is, in a sense, this piece's official record. "Natural Diamond, 0.70, Stamped. Round Brilliant Cut. K18RG, Stamped." The facts are stated plainly. But I want you to feel what seeps from between the lines: the billion years of time it took for these stones to be born, the spirit poured into it by the craftsman, and the philosophy I am now sharing with you.
Final Chapter: For Whom Does This Radiance Shine?
I did not think to give this pendant to Ryohei.
He must now, through his own strength and while becoming covered in scars, discover his own "Wako-dojin." To give him the answer so easily would be to interfere with his life's discipline.
So, into whose hands should this pendant pass?
It should belong to a person who is prepared to become clay in the workshop of life, ready to be polished by the whetstone of another.
It should belong to a person who does not lament the "differences" with their partner, but knows that those very differences are the nourishment for their own growth.
It should belong to a person who can find a deeper beauty in the warmth of champagne-colored light than in perfect, colorless transparency.
It should belong to a person who has realized that true richness lies not in loud self-assertion, but in the life of "Wako-dojin" that harmonizes with all that is around it.
If you are soon to be married, it would be fine to present this as a token of your engagement. But you must say this to your partner: "We are completely different people. That is what makes this so interesting. Let us spend our entire lives together, scraping and polishing one another, to create a form that is unique in all the world."
If you already have a partner with whom you have spent many long years, it would be fine to give this as a token of your gratitude. A chance to convey once more how much you have been saved, and how much you have grown, because of those very "differences."
Or perhaps, it is for you alone, standing at a crossroads in your life, seeking the path forward. To acquire this for yourself would also be a fine thing. This small radiance will ask you, again and again, "Whom does your light illuminate?"
And so, the auction begins.
This is a sale without reserve. I will not set a price. Its value is for you to decide.
What price will you put on this long philosophy I have shared?
Will you pay for a mere lump of gold and a crystal of carbon?
Or will you pay your respects to a principle that can illuminate a life?
From my workshop in Kamakura, I shall quietly watch over your thoughtful bids.
With respect,
Koyama Kenzan
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