A type of stoneware from Bizen, Okayama Prefecture, Japan. Developed in the 12th century, Bizen is an unglazed stoneware usually fired with red pine wood. The clay used is also from the Bizen area of Japan. Bizen became especially popular starting the late Muromachi period (1333-1573), through the Momoyama period (1573-1603), up to the begining of the Edo period (1603-1867).
Celadon (or "seiji" in Japanese) is a reduction-fired glazed ware that originated in China during the Sung Dynasty (960-1270), which soon there after spread quickly across Asia. Of all styles of Japanese pottery, Celadon is one of the most difficult to master.
Iga is an unglazed, high-fired ware that first appeared in the 16th century in Iga, Mie Prefecture, Japan. Characteristic features of Iga pottery are scorch markings (koge) and a natural flowing vitrified glaze (biidoro - after the Portuguese word for glass vidoro) which sometimes stops to form a globule called a "dragonfly eye." Iga pottery is fired not far from Shigaraki. These two medieval pottery centers have much in common, including pitted bodies and natural ash glazes.
Irabo is a pottery style brought by Korean potters to Japan during Hideyoshi Toyotomi's expeditions into Korea during the Momoyama period (1573-1603).A high-fired ware that originated around 1600. This ceramic style is named after tea master and warrior Furuta Oribe (1545-1615). General features include a dark green copper glaze, white slip, underglaze brush work, and use of a clear glaze.
Raku ware, which originated in the 1500s, is a low-fired ceramic ware originally coming out of Kyoto. The style is named after the Raku Family, a family dynasty that is respected for its tea bowls and tableware (for use in the tea ceremony).
Salt glazing is a technique for letting the kiln perform the glazing process. At the end of a firing, when any applied glazes are melted and the clay body is chemically receptive, rock salt is thrown into the kiln in small batches, gradually over a couple of hours. The great heat frees the sodium as a vapor, and it combines with alumina and silica in any exposed clay surface to form a thin, hard layer. Sealing over the variety of earthy colors promoted during the firing. Salt glaze has a characteristic eroded "orange peel" look that seems to fit with the rustic, accidental aesthetic of wabi style tea.
-By John Chambers
Earthenware from the Satsuma region in the Southern part of Kyushu Island. Characteristics of Satsuma earthenware include its cream-colored body and crackled glaze. Early Satsuma were small items soley for utilitarian purposes. A deep blue, often referred to as "goso blue," is oftentimes present. In addition, the distinctive "mon" (family crest) of the Shimazu family may appear within the design or painted on the base of the piece in the colors white, gold, or blue.
A high-fired unglazed ware famous for its ash deposits and distinctive forms. Originating around the 12th century, Shigaraki ware spread outward from Tokoname and Atsumi.
Shigaraki pottery is thought to have begun in the waning years of the Kamakura period (1192-1333). Like its close cousin Bizen, Shigaraki wares were originally daily utensils such as tsubo (jars), kame (wide-mouthed jars) and suribachi (grinding bowls). Not until the tea masters of the Muromachi (1336-1568) and Momoyama periods (1568-1603) favored these natural wares did they develop into one of Japan's most loved ceramic styles.
Shino was Japan's first high-fired white-glazed pottery with iron-oxide brush markings. Most pottery decorations up until that time had been carved, incised or appliqued. One distinctive characteristic of Shino include small pinholes called "suana" (nest holes), which tea masters favor and term "yuzuhada", or citron skin. Shino ware often uses a milky-white ash/feldspar glaze. Tenmoku is a high-temperature firing stoneware glaze. It is deeply stained either brownish black using iron oxide. Tenmoku originated in China during the T'ang Dynasty. However, it was only during the Sung Dynasty that the technique of firing became perfected, enabling a thicker glaze to be applied to the stoneware.