Ceramics & Pottery: Japanese

Jomon

Japanese period where ceramics are usually large, cone shaped cooking pots. Have pointed bodies and the outer surface of the pots are usually stamped or rolled with rope or cord patterns. Formed by the coil method which created a thick, slightly irregular and highly built-up appearance.

Middle Jomon Period

Japanese period where ceramics are distinguished for decorations of ovals, circles, spirals, and other shapes that resemble human or animal faces. Highly unique and very ornamented.

Yayoi Period

Japanese period that saw the development of the use of bronze and was highly developed at the production of ceramics. Used finer alluvial clays to produce thinner-walled delicate shapes that are very pleasing. Their vessels were unadorned but rendered in graceful shapes and balance of form with firing marks in natural colors of black and red.

Bank or climbing kiln

Basic kiln type during the Yayoi period which is of Korean origin and is built into the slope of a mountain.

Updraft or bottle kiln

Basic Yayoi period kiln type; a wood fire at the mouth of a covered trench fires the pots.

Kofun/Tomolus

Potteries that were found in the enormous tombs of Japanese emperors.

Haji ware

Plain, unglazed, reddish-brown Japanese pottery or earthenware; resembled Yayoi pottery.

Haniwa

Japanese delightful unglazed reddish earthenware figures that surrounded the tombs—houses, boats, animals, women, hunters, musicians, and warriors.

Anagama kiln

Japanese roofed-tunnel kiln on a hillside.

Sué ware

Japanese gray stoneware fired in a climbing kiln and decorated with a natural ash glaze which originated in Korea.

Nara period

Japanese period where ceramics were monochromatic green or yellowish-brown, some were two-colored, green and white, a few had three colors on rough grayish bodies. Glaze patterns were streaks and spots.

Early Heian period

Japanese period when natural ash glazes were further developed and celadons were introduced to Japan.

Late Heian/Fujiwara

Japanese period when quality of pottery declined.

Tokoname

Rustic type of Japanese pottery for everyday use.

Kamakura period

Japanese period when the ceramic industry flourished. Marked the start of supplanting the court rule by warrior dominance, and decorative forms of ceramics gave way to more simple and austere pieces. Influenced by Zen Buddhism.

Ki-seto

Yellow Seto. Has a yellow glaze and amber hue.

Muramachi period

Japanese period when tea ceremonies stimulated the manufacture of beautiful vessels. Tea jars, bowls, caddies, water jars and sometimes vessels for small portions of food were required for tea ceremonies.

Tsubo

A narrow-mouthed Japanese jar for seed storage.

Mamoyama Period

Japanese period when tea cult spread to the military and merchant classes. Reflected the tasteful, subtle beauty and elegance of the ceremony.

Temmoku

Thick, purplish-brown Japanese ware.

Seto kilns

Japanese kiln that produced fine potteries.

Raku wares

The height of Japanese ceramic art. Shaped by hand; its irregular forms follow a prescribed aesthetic of asymmetry. Glaze crackles under thermal shock. Known for its rugged shapes and soft, somber lead glazes that sometimes drip downward in globs.

Oribe ware

Japanese ware priced for tea ceremonies. Brown iron-oxide painted designs derived from motifs of textile decoration, juxtaposed with an irregular splash of runny, transparent green glaze.

Karatsu

Japanese ware with freehand geometric patterns, grasses, and wisteria were painted in iron oxide on a whitish slip. Influenced by Korean Choson ware.

Bizen ware

Hard Japanese stoneware, brick red, subject to irregular changes of color resulting from alternating oxidation and reduction in the firing. Unglazed except for glaze formed by falling ash or by ash or straw packed around the pots in the kiln.

Ogata Kenzan

Japanese who made a great range of pieces in many different shapes and styles. His designs include overglaze enamels and underglaze paintings in iron washes.

Imari ware

Japanese ware with bright-colored designs inspired by ornate lacquerwork, screens, and textiles.

Kakiemon

A far more refined, classically shaped Japanese ware, even when its motifs were similar to Imari ware.

Nabeshima ware

High quality similar to silk textiles in its designs, was reserved for members of the Japanese royal family and friends.

Ko-kutani

Japanese vessels that were grayish in color because of impurities in the clay. Known for its bold and imaginative designs, which frequently utilize a special range of colors in overglaze enamels.

Hamada Shoji

Japan's most famous 20th Century potter.