Japanese Pottery Glossary

Both hands throwing a bowl on a turning electric wheel, clay-wet fingers holding the rim with throwing rings left inside

Rokuro: How a Pot Is Thrown on the Wheel

Rokuro is the technique of using centrifugal force on a turning disc to lift clay into the form of a piece.

Rokuro: How a Pot Is Thrown on the Wheel

Rokuro is the technique of using centrifugal force on a turning disc to lift clay into the form of a piece.

Two lobed plates stacked on a stone slab, raised trailed lines of arabesque and leaves standing in relief across a golden-brown fired surface

Icchin: Slip Trailing, the Raised Dot Technique

Icchin is the technique of squeezing slip or glaze from a narrow tube to draw raised lines and dots on the surface of a piece.

Icchin: Slip Trailing, the Raised Dot Technique

Icchin is the technique of squeezing slip or glaze from a narrow tube to draw raised lines and dots on the surface of a piece.

A hand-built bowl and plates on a dark table, the bowl's rim waving slightly and scorch mottling scattered across the pale surface

Tebineri: Hand-Building Pottery Without a Wheel

Tebineri is shaping clay by hand alone — no wheel. The walls are never even and the rim is never round, and that trace of the hand is the point.

Tebineri: Hand-Building Pottery Without a Wheel

Tebineri is shaping clay by hand alone — no wheel. The walls are never even and the rim is never round, and that trace of the hand is the point.

The side of a climbing kiln, stoking ports set at even intervals along a wall of fire-discoloured brick with saggars standing at the foot

Noborigama: The Climbing Kiln, Chamber by Chamber

A noborigama is a wood kiln whose firing chambers are linked in steps along a hillside. Flame and heat from the firemouth at the bottom pass upward from chamber to...

Noborigama: The Climbing Kiln, Chamber by Chamber

A noborigama is a wood kiln whose firing chambers are linked in steps along a hillside. Flame and heat from the firemouth at the bottom pass upward from chamber to...

Arched earthen kiln mouths lined up beneath a roof, the surrounding walls burnt black with soot and firebricks stacked in front

Anagama: Inside Japan's Oldest Wood-Fired Kiln

An anagama is a single-chamber kiln built by digging into a hillside.

Anagama: Inside Japan's Oldest Wood-Fired Kiln

An anagama is a single-chamber kiln built by digging into a hillside.