Sumi Riwako entered Jinroku Sanbo, a studio established by writer Minakami Tsutomu in 1992 in Nagano prefecture. Minakami (1919 - 2004) was an eminent writer. He spent the last decade of his active and creative life in the studio among mountains and rivers. He invited Riwako Sumi to the studio. She established a kiln there and started to make pottery. Minakami wrote,

"The clay of this area was considered difficult or unsuitable for pottery making. However, when and if the clay meets the right potter and grazes, the clay opens up, showing its depth and character to the potter, and they, clay and the potter, create vessels that touch our hearts. She was probably the first craftsperson to embrace and tame clay. She devotes her life to the world of the clay. The clay that has been sleeping here for over 1000 years is waking up with her."

While Minakami was alive, she almost solely made pottery for him. Her pottery possesses strength and delicacy, the characteristics that Japanese potters and connoisseurs obsess over. After Murakami's passing, Sumi still lives and creates at Jinroku Sanbo (the studio), and she started to accept commissions.

This is one of 13 I commissioned to her.