About Japanese Ceramics

The elements of Japanese Ceramics
Long history, pottery towns existing nationwide, variety kinds of glaze, highly honed techniques and cross-fertilizations with other Japanese traditional cultures such as tea ceremony, flower arrangements, and foods- These are pieces of Japanese ceramics.

The oldest Japanese ceramics is an earthenware called Jomon-ware, and has a long history of approximately 12,000 years. [...]

Characteristics

Ceramics, a mixture of cultures on earth

Seeing the whole history of Japanese ceramics, we can say that while ceramics are definitely a part of traditional Japanese culture, at the same time they are mixture of global cultures.

Some very common techniques such as the wheel and kiln were brought from Korea, as well as the techniques [...]

Glazing and Decorating

The Color of Ceramics – Glazing and Decorating

In pottery decoration, pigments which can withstand high temperatures such as gosu, tessa (also known as oni’ita) and shinsa (cinnabar) are used to paint designs after unglazed firing. Then the pottery is glazed, and once it undergoes complete firing, paints which can melt at low temperatures are used [...]

Mingei

Japanese Folk Arts

People dwell on true beauty…”functional beauty”…especially when it comes to a thing they use day after day. As the Taisho Era arrived, practical and popular objects of craftwork (shominteki kougeihin…abbreviated as “mingei”) which had a simplicity that hadn’t been an object of merit up to that time in art history, showed a new [...]

History

The first ceramics in Japan: Jomon Ware
The very first examples of earthenware in the world were produced 12,000 years ago in the form of Jomon Ware, Japan’s very first ceramic products. Various kinds of pottery were produced ranging from products rolled in straw rope to produce patterns to figurines. Baked in open-air fires at comparatively [...]

Articles

Japanese pottery experts contribute to our website.

Mr. Robert Yellin
Mr. Robert Yellin has lived in Japan since 1984, and runs a Japanese pottery gallery in Mishima, Shizuoka. He is one of the pioneers to deal with Japanese pottery on the internet targeting overseas residents.
He imparts how attractive Japanese ceramics is through his eyes as a non-Japanese, [...]

Visiting Japanese Kilns

by Robert Yellin　(04 August 2009)

Visiting Japan for many people usually turns out to be one the most memorable trips of a lifetime. Personally I’ve heard this time and time again, “the best trip of my life,” one person told me and another exclaimed, “I was overwhelmed by the beauty of the arts I saw, I [...]

Appreciating Japanese Ceramic

by Robert Yellin　(19 August 2009)

ArtIn pottery, as with life, sometimes the most basic questions are the most important: Why is this so? Or, how did this happen? Or, what does this part mean?

What makes a fine Japanese pot is a question that many of you interested in visiting Japan’s ceramic towns may have asked before.

When [...]

Pottery Towns in Japan

We have unique and traditional pottery towns in Japan.
You will find favorite places to visit from the following list.

Mashiko

Mashiko Ware: Characteristics

Mashiko Ware centers on the concept of “Functional Beauty”

It is said that Mashiko Ware began at the end of the Edo Era when Keisaburo Otsuka, who trained in Kasama, built a kiln. From that point onwards, because of the area’s yield of excellent kaolin and the fact that the large metropolis of Tokyo [...]

Explore Japanese Ceramics

Categories

Search

Links