Sakiyama Takayuki studied with the avant-garde ceramists Hayashi Yasuo and Yamada Hikaru who championed non-functional objets d'art over utilitarian forms. While his works are exceedingly sculptural, Sakiyama has always produced functional pieces, particularly large-scale flower vases like this one. He uses clay from Shigaraki that is rich in feldspathic sand. By incising the surface of his vessels with parallel striations, he suggests the patterns created by gentle waves on a sandy shore-reminiscent of the beach where he played as a young boy near the seaside town of Shimoda on the Izu Peninsula, and where he operates his studio today.