Japanese pottery and porcelain


Pottery and porcelain is one of the oldest Japanese crafts and art forms, dating back to the Neolithic period. Types have included earthenware, pottery, stoneware, porcelain, and blue-and-white ware. Japan has an exceptionally long and successful history of ceramic production. Earthenwares were made as early as the Jōmon period, giving Japan one of the oldest ceramic traditions in the world. Japan is further distinguished by the unusual esteem that ceramics hold within its artistic tradition, owing to the enduring popularity of the tea ceremony. During the Azuchi-Momoyama period, kilns throughout Japan produced ceramics with unconventional designs. In the early Edo period, the production of porcelain commenced in the Hizen-Arita region of Kyushu, employing techniques imported from Korea. These porcelain works became known as Imari wares, named after the port of Imari from which they were exported to various markets, including Europe.
Japanese ceramic history records the names of numerous distinguished ceramists, and some were artist-potters, e.g. Hon'ami Kōetsu, Ninsei, Ogata Kenzan, and Aoki Mokubei. Japanese anagama kilns also have flourished through the ages, and their influence weighs with that of the potters. Another important Japanese constituent of the art is the continuing popularity of unglazed high-fired stoneware even after porcelain became popular. Since the 4th century AD, Japanese ceramics have often been influenced by the artistic sensibilities of neighbouring East Asian civilizations such as Chinese and Korean-style pottery. Japanese ceramists and potters took inspiration from their East Asian artistic counterparts by transforming and translating the Chinese and Korean prototypes into a uniquely Japanese creation, with the resultant form being distinctly Japanese in character. Since the mid-17th century when Japan started to industrialize, high-quality standard wares produced in factories became popular exports to Europe. In the 20th century, a homegrown cottage ceramics industry began to take root and emerge. Major Japanese ceramic companies include Noritake and Toto Ltd.
Japanese pottery is distinguished by two polarized aesthetic traditions. On the one hand, there is a tradition of very simple and roughly finished pottery, mostly in earthenware and using a muted palette of earth colours. This relates to Zen Buddhism and many of the greatest masters were priests, especially in early periods. Many pieces are also related to the Japanese tea ceremony and embody the aesthetic principles of. Most raku ware, where the final decoration is partly random, is in this tradition. The other tradition is of highly finished and brightly coloured factory wares, mostly in porcelain, with complex and balanced decoration, which develops Chinese porcelain styles in a distinct way. A third tradition, of simple but perfectly formed and glazed stonewares, also relates more closely to both Chinese and Korean traditions. In the 16th century, a number of styles of traditional utilitarian rustic wares then in production became admired for their simplicity, and their forms have often been kept in production to the present day for a collectors market.

Ceramics types

The types of ceramics can be divided into five groups:
  • unglazed earthenware : fired at high temperatures without any glaze, resulting in a natural, rustic appearance.
  • glazed earthenware : fired at relatively low temperatures 800–900°C using lead as the medium, the technique was introduced from the Korean peninsula in the 7th century. Sansai is another type of technique using lead glaze.
  • unglazed stoneware : fired at high temperatures without applying a coat of glaze. In the Middle Ages, it was used for living utensils such as vases, pots and other everyday items, and in the Azuchi-Momoyama period, it was modified for use in tea rooms due to its simple taste.
  • glazed stoneware : fired at temperatures of 1250°C or higher. In many cases, the base is not pure white, but grey or brown in colour. It has a softer texture than porcelain and absorbs some water.
  • porcelain : a white colour with a high silica content and few impurities. Hard ware made by firing clay at high temperatures. The technique was introduced from the Korean peninsula at the beginning of the Edo period and production began in Arita, Hizen Province, Kyushu.

    Vessel types

Some of the typical vessel types are:
The various features of a vessel such as the opening, rim, neck, wall, inside, foot, surface markings, etc. all have standardised names in Japanese.

History

Jōmon period

In the Neolithic period, the earliest soft earthenware was made.
During the early Jōmon period in the 6th millenniumBC typical coil-made ware appeared, decorated with hand-impressed rope patterns. Jōmon pottery developed a flamboyant style at its height and was simplified in the later Jōmon period. The pottery was formed by coiling clay ropes and fired in an open fire.

Yayoi period

In about the 4th–3rd centuriesBC Yayoi period, Yayoi pottery appeared which was another style of earthenware characterised by a simple pattern or no pattern. Jōmon, Yayoi, and later Haji ware shared the firing process but had different styles of design.

Kofun period

In the 3rd to 4th centuriesAD, the anagama kiln, a roofed-tunnel kiln on a hillside, and the potter's wheel appeared, brought to Kyushu island from the Korean peninsula.
The anagama kiln could produce stoneware, Sue pottery, fired at high temperatures of over, sometimes embellished with accidents produced when introducing plant material to the kiln during the reduced-oxygen phase of firing. Its manufacture began in the 5th century and continued in outlying areas until the 14th century. Although several regional variations have been identified, Sue was remarkably homogeneous throughout Japan. The function of Sue pottery, however, changed over time: during the Kofun period it was primarily funerary ware; during the Nara period and the Heian period, it became an elite tableware; and finally it was used as a utilitarian ware and for the ritual vessels for Buddhist altars.
Contemporary Haji ware and funerary objects were earthenware like Yayoi.

Heian period

Although a three-color lead glaze technique was introduced to Japan from the Tang dynasty of China in the 8th century, official kilns produced only simple green lead glaze for temples in the Heian period, around 800–1200.
Kamui ware appeared in this time, as well as Atsumi ware and Tokoname ware.

Kamakura period

Until the 17th century, unglazed stoneware was popular for the heavy-duty daily requirements of a largely agrarian society; funerary jars, storage jars, and a variety of kitchen pots typify the bulk of the production. Some of the kilns improved their technology and are called the "Six Old Kilns": Shigaraki, Tamba, Bizen, Tokoname, Echizen, and Seto.
Among these, the Seto kiln in Owari Province had a glaze technique. According to legend, Katō Shirozaemon Kagemasa studied ceramic techniques in China and brought high-fired glazed ceramic to Seto in 1223. The Seto kiln primarily imitated Chinese ceramics as a substitute for the Chinese product. It developed various glazes: ash brown, iron black, feldspar white, and copper green. The wares were so widely used that became the generic term for ceramics in Japan. Seto kiln also produced unglazed stoneware. In the late 16th century, many Seto potters fleeing the civil wars moved to Mino Province in the Gifu Prefecture, where they produced glazed pottery: Yellow Seto, Shino, Black Seto, and Oribe ware.

Muromachi period

According to chronicles in 1406, the Yongle Emperor of the Ming dynasty bestowed ten Jian ware bowls from the Song dynasty to the Ashikaga Yoshimitsu, who ruled during the Muromachi period. A number of Japanese monks who traveled to monasteries in China also brought pieces back home. As they became valued for tea ceremonies, more pieces were imported from China where they became highly prized goods. Five of these vessels from the southern Song dynasty are so highly valued that they were included by the government in the list of National Treasures of Japan. Jian ware was later produced and further developed as and was highly prized during tea ceremonies of this time.

Azuchi-Momoyama period

From the middle of the 11th century to the 16th century, Japan imported much Chinese celadon greenware, white porcelain, and blue-and-white ware. Japan also imported Chinese pottery as well as Korean and Vietnamese ceramics. Such Tenmoku were regarded as sophisticated items, which the upper classes used in the tea ceremony. The Japanese also ordered custom-designed ceramics from Chinese kilns.
Highly priced imports also came from the Luzon and was called or "Luzon ware", as well as from Annam, northern Vietnam.

Sengoku period

With the rise of Buddhism in the late 16th century, leading tea masters introduced a change of style and favored humble Korean tea bowls and domestic ware over sophisticated Chinese porcelain. The influential tea master Sen no Rikyū turned to native Japanese styles of simple rustic pottery, often imperfect, which he admired for their "rugged spontaneity", a "decisive shift" of enormous importance for the development of Japanese pottery. The Raku family supplied brown-glazed earthenware tea bowls. Mino, Bizen, Shigaraki, Iga, and other domestic kilns also supplied tea utensils. The artist-potter Hon'ami Kōetsu made several tea bowls now considered masterpieces.
During Toyotomi Hideyoshi's 1592 invasion of Korea, Japanese forces brought Korean potters as slaves to Japan, According to tradition, one of the kidnapped, Yi Sam-pyeong, discovered a source of porcelain clay near Arita and was able to produce the first Japanese porcelain. These potters also brought improved kiln technology in the or rising kiln, running up a hillside and enabling temperatures of to be reached. Soon the Satsuma, Hagi, Karatsu, Takatori, Agano and Arita kilns were begun.