Seto

Seto is where glaze was first used in Japan. It is also where setomono, the everyday Japanese word for ceramics, came from.

What sits here is the work of makers based in Seto. Wave forms pressed from clay, taken onto the body, then sprayed with layered glaze into a blue gradient. Pieces carved and ridged so the surface stays rough under the hand. And matte glass in white and black, made by combining blowing with kiln work. Clay and glass share the same shelf.

Seto became a glaze region when Chinese technique arrived in the Kamakura period. Since then ash, iron and Oribe glazes have all been worked out here. The carving that raises those ridges is shinogi, cut into half-dry clay, so the movement of the hand stays in the surface. For the history, read Seto ware.