Japanese Pottery and Porcelain - History To 19th Century

History To 19th Century

In the Neolithic period (ca. 11th millennium BC), the earliest soft earthenware was made, and in the 6th millennium BC typical coil-made Jōmon ware appeared, decorated with hand-impressed rope patterns (early Jōmon period). Jōmon ware developed a flamboyant style at its height and simplified itself in the later Jōmon period. The pottery was molded of clay rope and baked in an open fire. In about 4th–3rd century BC, Yayoi style earthenware appeared, which had a simple pattern or no pattern. Jōmon, Yayoi, and later Haji ware shared the baking process but had different styles of design. Japan showed no further significant achievements in pottery until the seventeenth century.

In the 3rd to 4th centuries AD, the anagama kiln, a roofed-tunnel kiln on a hillside, and the potter's wheel appeared, probably brought by southern Korea immigrant potters. The anagama kiln could produce a stoneware, Sue ware, fired at high temperatures of over 1000℃, sometimes embellished with accidental natural ash glaze. Contemporary Haji ware and Haniwa funerary objects were earthenware like Yayoi.

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 AD. 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 (Shigaraki ware), Tamba, Bizen, Tokoname, Echizen, and Seto. Among them, Seto kiln in Owari Province (present day Aichi Prefecture had a glaze technique. According to legend, Katō Shirozaemon Kagemasa (also known as Tōshirō) studied ceramic techniques in China and brought high-fired glazed ceramic to Seto in 1223. Seto kiln primarily imitated Chinese ceramics as a substitute for the Chinese product. It developed various glazes: ash, iron black, feldspar white, and copper green. The wares were so widely used that Seto-mono ("product of Seto") became the generic term for ceramics in Japan. Seto kiln also produced unglazed stoneware. In late 16th century, many Seto potters moved to Mino province in the Gifu Prefecture fleeing the civil wars, where they produced glazed pottery: Yellow Seto (Ki-Seto), Shino, Black Seto (Seto-Guro), and Oribe ware.

From the middle of the 11th century to the 16th century, Japan imported much Chinese celadon, white porcelain, and blue-and-white ware. Japan also imported many Korean pottery and Thai and Vietnamese ceramics. These Chinese and Korean ceramics were regarded as high-class items, which the upper classes used in the tea ceremony. The Japanese ordered ceramics custom-designed for Japanese tastes from Chinese kilns. In late 16th century, leading tea masters changed the style and favored the simpler Korean tea bowls and domestic ware over the Chinese. Patronized by the tea master Sen no Rikyū, the Raku family supplied glazed earthenware tea bowls. Mino, Bizen, Shigaraki (Shigaraki ware), Iga (similar to Shigaraki), and other domestic kilns also supplied tea utensils. Artist-potter Honami Kōetsu made several teabowls as his masterpieces. At the Japanese overlord Toyotomi Hideyoshi's Korean campaigns of the 1590s attempting to conquer China. the Japanese forces returned to Japan, taking with them some Korean potters. These potters established the Satsuma, Hagi, Karatsu, Takatori, Agano and Arita kilns. One of them, Yi Sam-pyeong, discovered the raw material of porcelain in Arita and produced first true porcelain in Japan.

In the 1640s, rebellions in China and wars between the Ming dynasty and the Manchus damaged many kilns, and in 1656–1684 the Qing Dynasty government stopped trade. Chinese potter refugees offered the Arita kilns more-refined porcelain technique and enamel glaze methods. In 1650, the Dutch East India Company looked for porcelain for Europe in Japan. At that time, the Arita kilns like Kakiemon kiln could supply enough quality porcelain to the Dutch East India Company. In 1659–1757, the Arita kilns exported enormous quantities of porcelain to Europe and Asia. China kilns and Europe kilns imitated them.　The Arita kilns also supplied domestic utensils such as the so-called Ko-Kutani enamelware. In 1675, the local Nabeshima family who ruled Arita established an official kiln to make top-quality enamelware porcelain for the upper classes in Japan, which came to be called Nabeshima ware. After 1757, the Arita kilns filled domestic needs only. Because Imari was the shipping port, the porcelain, both export and domestic, is called Ko-Imari (old Imari).

In 17th century, in Kyoto, then Japan's cultural capital, kilns produced lead-glazed pottery like the pottery of southern China. Among them, potter Nonomura Ninsei invented an overglazed enamel method and improved refined Japanese-style design under temple patronage. His disciple Ogata Kenzan produced more personal pottery and took Kyōyaki (Kyoto ceramics) to new heights. Their works were the model for later Kyōyaki. Although porcelain was introduced by Okuda Eisen in Kyōyaki, overglazed pottery still flourished. Aoki Mokubei, Ninami Dōhachi ( both disciples of Okuda Eisen) and Eiraku Hozen expanded the repertory of Kyōyaki.

In the late 18th to early 19th century, the raw material of porcelain was discovered in other areas of Japan (e.g., Amakusa) and was traded domestically, and potters moved more freely. Local lords and merchants established many new kilns (e.g., Kameyama kiln and Tobe kiln) for economic profit, and old kilns such as Seto restarted as porcelain kilns. These many kilns are called “New Kilns” and popularized porcelain for the common people in Japan with the Arita kiln.