Hello, my name is Kailyn Young and I am doing my report on Japanese pottery. Through out my report I will tell you about pottery in general, Japanese influences on other countries, Shonzui's (a potter) trip to China, Bizen wares, Karatsu wares, Satsuma wares and Hagi wares. Hope you'll learn as much as I did.
Pottery is simple household items made from clay. The word pottery also means factories were pottery is made (kilns). A piece of pottery can be massproduced or there can only be one of its kind, if there is only one that piece can be very valuable. Since ancient times potters have made their pottery better in both strength and appearance.
The Japanese way of decorating their pottery had a greater effect on the European taste in pottery than even the Chinese. Later, even the Chinese styles were even influenced by the Japanese. The most significant was by the potter named Kakiemon. His work had a delicate feel with a few flower blossoms, or a tree in bloom, a bird or animal. His work was copied by German, French and English potters. They were impressed by some of the Japanese pottery that the Dutch traders brought over. The heavier, brocade decorations on Imari pottery was also popular. The modern designs make relatively inexpensive pottery for home use, With the common "Made In Japan" stamped on the bottom.
In 1510, the Japanese potter Shonzui visited the Imperial Pottery in Jingdezhen. He stayed almost five years studying pottery. When he returned he brought back Chinese pottery materials and set up a business near Arita making pottery until his imported supplies ran out. Later, both stone and clay like those from China were found in Japan causing many factories to spring up in the 1600 and 1700's. These made a very fine quality of pottery, the best known were Aritam, Nabeshima and Kutani wares.
Bizen yaki is quite distinctive in appearance. It often resembles bronze so strongly, a close examination is required to detect the difference. The clay is extremely stubborn, it can be moulded into any shape and return to its own shape unharmed. The 1600's were exciting years, they brought new life to the Bizen kilns because of the demand for export wares. The figures of gods, mythological personages, birds, fish and animals were turned out in quantities but with fairly high standards of excellence. The figures were first moulded, then given a special touch by a master potter. The edges were sharpened, details added and the shape formed by a gentle push of the hands.
Karatsu wares, a kind of coarse earthen ware, use an amazing variety of methods for decoration. They are well liked by the Japanese in general. So great was the popularity that Karatsu yaki was the general name for all the pottery in Kyushu. Old pieces, like ko karatsu, are of great value to those who are interested in pottery. (They are also worth lots of money). Their color scale is low, ranging from greyish-white to golden browns, to blue-greens and browns.
At the end of the 1500's potters were imported from Korea to Japan. They settled in various parts of Japan, and kilns were built in scattered sections. The best-known Japanese ware is Satsuma ware, it has been produced since the early 1500's. Satsuma has a soft, ivory colored, crackled glaze. Satsuma wares were later influenced by potters from Awataguchi(Awata potters) who came to the province of Satsuma as early as 1648. But the effect was not reciprocal. Awata wares always had a Japanese feeling to them, while Satsuma held on to Korean characteristics. The famous brocade style on Satsuma wares was developed at the Chosa kilns. Chosa, Nayeshirogawa, Tateno, Ryumonji, Sarayama and Hirasa kilns all produced pottery that is called Satsuma ware since they all began production under the feudal Lord Satsuma. Other cities which had pottery developed and named after them include Karatsu, Hagi, Takatori and Kioto or Kyoto.
Hagi yaki is a thick but fine grained pottery with a thin yellowish-white or bluish-pink glaze with large fine crackles. It was developed from a Korean ware called Ido yaki. Rikei (a Korean potter) came to Japan and changed his name to Koraizayemon. He made wares which had pink cloud formations with a gray glaze. For Korean style pottery like hake me Koraizayemon used grey, pale green and a lavender-blue glazes applied with a wider, thicker brush. His wares are known as Ko Hagi. E Hagi (or decorated hagi) has very sketchy floral designs in iron pigment under the glaze.
I found from this project that a piece of Japanese pottery isn't just a piece of clay, it some times takes years to make one piece of pottery. I also learned that it takes years to perfect the skill of being a potter. I learned a lot from researching the topic Japanese Pottery and pottery in general. It is very hard to write a bibliography. I never thought one piece of pottery could be worth so much.One of the questions I was not able to find out is how do you know if you have something that is massed produced or not. Anyway, I had fun researching Japanese Pottery, and I hope you had fun reading it to.