Japanese Pottery Glossary

Close view of a Shino cup, countless fine citron-skin pores across the thick feldspar glaze with red fire color surfacing between the whites

Shino Ware: Japan's First White Glaze, and Its ...

Shino is the pottery born in the Mino region of Gifu Prefecture, the first in Japan to carry a genuinely white glaze. It developed as tea ware in the Momoyama...

Shino Ware: Japan's First White Glaze, and Its ...

Shino is the pottery born in the Mino region of Gifu Prefecture, the first in Japan to carry a genuinely white glaze. It developed as tea ware in the Momoyama...

Close view of the rim of an unglazed square plate on a stone slab, a thin yellow-green glassy layer spreading across the top while the side stays dry white clay

Bidoro: The Glass-Green Drips on Bizen Pottery

Bidoro is natural ash glaze in which ash settled thickly during a wood firing has melted and pooled in a vivid, glassy green.

Bidoro: The Glass-Green Drips on Bizen Pottery

Bidoro is natural ash glaze in which ash settled thickly during a wood firing has melted and pooled in a vivid, glassy green.

A blue and yellow painted plate submerged in cloudy rice-rinsing water in a pan on the stove, the liquid reaching over its rim

Medome: How to Seal Unglazed Pottery Before Fir...

Medome is the preparation carried out before an absorbent piece is first used.

Medome: How to Seal Unglazed Pottery Before Fir...

Medome is the preparation carried out before an absorbent piece is first used.

A natural-ash-glazed sake cup on a board, one side thick with ash fused into grey-green glass, the other scorched orange where the flame struck

Shizen-yu: Natural Ash Glaze Explained

Shizen-yu is glaze that arises without anyone applying it.

Shizen-yu: Natural Ash Glaze Explained

Shizen-yu is glaze that arises without anyone applying it.

A wooden shop sign hanging under the eaves, carved with the single character for utsuwa, its paint worn away and rust-colored patina spreading across the grain

Yo no Bi: The Japanese Idea That Use Creates Be...

Yo no bi is the idea that true beauty arises precisely from honest work devoted to use and function.

Yo no Bi: The Japanese Idea That Use Creates Be...

Yo no bi is the idea that true beauty arises precisely from honest work devoted to use and function.

A pale unglazed Bizen plate seen close from above, scarlet lines left by straw crossing the centre and melted ash turning the rim ochre

Hidasuki: The Red Straw Marks on Bizen Pottery

Hidasuki is the vivid scarlet line pattern that symbolises Bizen ware.

Hidasuki: The Red Straw Marks on Bizen Pottery

Hidasuki is the vivid scarlet line pattern that symbolises Bizen ware.