Shigaraki Ware: Why Its Clay Sparkles After 1,200 Years

Take a piece of Shigaraki ware in hand and you feel you are touching something genuinely natural. The clay is coarse, and white flecks of feldspar sit across the surface like small stones. Where flame struck, the clay fires to a vivid orange-scarlet; where wood ash melted and ran, a glassy emerald green shines. Shigaraki ware holds a primal presence, as if the material of the earth had become a piece of ware directly.

Made in the town of Shigaraki, Koka City, Shiga Prefecture, next to Kyoto, this ware holds around 1,200 years of history as one of Japan's Six Ancient Kilns. It is known as the region for the mizusashi — the lidded container holding fresh water for topping up the kettle and rinsing bowls, the most valued piece in the world of tea — while also being widely loved for the Shigaraki tanuki standing outside restaurants across Japan. That range of faces is the depth of Shigaraki ware.

Knowing a region before buying makes the piece in your hand all the more dear. For anyone who wants to learn about more regions, we have a guide.

• Japanese Pottery by Region: A Buyer's Map

The History of Shigaraki Ware

Continuing Since the Eighth Century

The ceramic history of Shigaraki reaches back to the eighth century.

The emperor of the time planned a new capital, Shigaraki-no-miya, near what is now the town of Shigaraki beside Kyoto, and production of ceramics — mainly roof tiles and earthenware — began there for that large construction. The plan for the capital was never realised, but the technique and the foundation of a ceramic region took root in this place.

From then on, Shigaraki ware developed as a region making jars and pots for farming and daily life, and through the Kamakura and Muromachi periods the range of forms grew richer.

Meeting Tea: The Highest Rank of Mizusashi

What changed the evaluation of Shigaraki ware at its root was, as with Bizen ware, its meeting with tea culture in the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries.

Tea masters including Sen no Rikyu came to prize the Shigaraki mizusashi as the finest of tea utensils. The rough texture of Shigaraki clay, its organic form, its natural firing effects — all of it resonated deeply with the aesthetics of wabi.

Shigaraki established a place so special in the world of tea that it was said "to own a Shigaraki mizusashi is to reach the highest state of tea." Named Shigaraki mizusashi are preserved to this day as Important Cultural Properties.

• Tea Ceremony Ceramics: A Short History of the Chawan

The Clay That Makes Shigaraki Special

The greatest characteristic of Shigaraki ware lies in its distinctive clay.

Shigaraki clay is based on gaerome and kibushi clays, mixed with a good deal of natural feldspar (called goro). These feldspar fragments do not melt away entirely in firing and remain as white flecks on the finished surface. This is the source of Shigaraki's distinctive texture.

A coarse quality recalling the earth itself, at the opposite pole from the smooth white surface of porcelain. This is why anyone who takes Shigaraki ware in hand feels: this is living clay.

The clay also contains iron, and high firing brings out a deep red-brown, the hi-iro or fire colour. At the same time, in the environment of a wood kiln where great quantities of ash fall, it produces a range of surface effects.

Shigaraki pieces carry patterns where iron has surfaced as black points, and protrusions of feldspar. These are a one-of-a-kind expression, not a failure. Enjoying this imperfect beauty is exactly the Japanese spirit of wabi-sabi.

The Firing Effects of Shigaraki Ware

Traditional Shigaraki firing is wood firing in a large climbing kiln. Inside the kiln, whose chambers link along a slope, pine and other wood burns for several days to more than a week. The surface effects born in that process are the core of Shigaraki's beauty.

• Hi-iro, fire colour　The vivid orange-scarlet the clay develops where flame touched it directly. The most striking firing effect, and the emblem of Shigaraki ware. It is the trace of the movement of flame inscribed on the surface, and no one knows what hi-iro will appear on which piece until it is fired.
• Bidoro　Wood ash from the burning kiln settles on the surface and melts at high temperature into a glassy natural glaze. Colours run from emerald green to something close to brown. The name comes from vidro, Portuguese for glass.
• Koge, scorch　Where the hottest part of the flame concentrated, the clay scorches to black or deep brown. The contrast with the surrounding hi-iro and bidoro builds a dramatic keshiki across the surface.

All these effects are products of chance. The potter packs the kiln, burns the wood, and then leaves it. Not even the maker can fully predict what the dialogue of flame and clay will produce.

Shigaraki Ware and Tea

In the world of tea, the presence of Shigaraki ware stands out.

Among the mizusashi used in tea, Shigaraki has received the highest evaluation. A large, organic form, the texture of coarse clay, and a complex surface built by hi-iro and bidoro. All of it matched perfectly the aesthetics of wabi that Sen no Rikyu pursued.

Named Shigaraki mizusashi that remain in the history of tea, such as Oni-oke, each carry a name of their own, and are carefully preserved in museums today.

The Shigaraki Tanuki

Many people will picture a tanuki figure when they think of Shigaraki ware.

Round-bellied, wearing a straw hat, carrying a sake bottle and an account book, the ceramic tanuki is a standard good-luck figure seen at the entrances of restaurants and shops across Japan.

Tanuki production in Shigaraki is in fact a modern industry, beginning around the Meiji era. When the Showa Emperor visited Shigaraki in 1951 and Shigaraki tanuki were lined along the roadside, that is said to have triggered their spread nationwide.

The refined wabi of Shigaraki as tea ware, and the everyday humour of the tanuki figure. This contrast is exactly the richness of Japanese ceramic culture. → Shigaraki Tanuki: Why Every Japanese Shop Has One

Shigaraki Ware Today

Shigaraki today holds makers of every kind, from traditional large jars and tea utensils to work of a contemporary sensibility. Shigaraki ware makes nature strongly felt, and while drawing on that tradition, many makers produce original pieces daily.

• Shigaraki Ceramic Cultural Park　A facility that has invited potters from around the world as a base for international ceramic symposia. Its international collection of contemporary ceramics shows that Shigaraki is a centre of the global ceramic community too.
• The kiln district　Many kilns and studios lie scattered from around JR Shigaraki Station toward Iga. Many welcome visits and purchases, so you can choose ware while hearing directly from the maker.
• Pottery festivals and maker markets　Each May a market of individual makers is held; each October a ceramic art market gathering young makers and craftspeople from across Japan, and the town-wide Shigaraki pottery festival. Both are chances to meet many kilns and makers.

How to Choose Shigaraki Ware

Understanding where to look when buying Shigaraki ware raises the quality of your choice.

• Look at the distribution of hi-iro　The orange-scarlet that appears where flame struck directly is Shigaraki's most striking characteristic. What is ideal is an organic distribution with depth and variation, not a uniform colour overall. Hi-iro that looks too even or artificial may come from a gas or electric kiln rather than a wood kiln.
• Check the shine of the bidoro　Natural ash glaze that has run across the surface catches light and shines like glass. The quality of that shine — transparency, depth, shift of colour — is the core of Shigaraki's beauty.
• Feel the texture and weight of the clay　Shigaraki clay is coarse, and white feldspar flecks show on the fired surface. The solid weight in the hand and the grain of the clay: this is Shigaraki's sense of the earth.
• Check the shape of the foot ring　Turn a piece over and you can see the maker's seal, and traces of how it stood during firing, such as where it met the kiln shelf.

Bringing Shigaraki Into Daily Life

Shigaraki holds makers of every kind, and much of it comes at a reachable price. The range is wide, and it can be brought into any scene without difficulty.

• Serve food on plates and bowls　Shigaraki bowls are ideal for generous dishes, simmered food and salads. Coarse clay and powerful form give food a grounded presence. Dark, brown-toned dishes look especially good.
• Enjoy tea from a mug or yunomi　Contemporary Shigaraki makers produce daily tools too. A yunomi carrying the keshiki of hi-iro or bidoro makes the daily hour of tea something special.
• Start from a flower container　The best entry to Shigaraki is a flower container. One wildflower, a seasonal grass or a dried stem is enough to make it work, with no special knowledge of flower arranging. One piece in an entrance or living room changes the impression of the space.

Shigaraki Now and Ahead: Makers Renewing a Tradition

Shigaraki ware, with 1,200 years of history, goes on evolving today.

Shigaraki once centred on tea utensils, flower containers and large jars. Contemporary makers, however, use that traditional material and firing technique to produce varied ware answering contemporary life. A mug that suits a caffe latte, a small plate of minimal design, an object that stands as interior. The expressive force of Shigaraki clay and flame resonates deeply with a contemporary sense of beauty too.

Potters and architects from abroad, drawn by Shigaraki's clay and kilns, increasingly move there to work. As host to international ceramic festivals, Shigaraki now holds the aspect of an international village of ceramics as well.

The particular clay raised by the water systems of Lake Biwa; the forest environment that made abundant firewood possible. These are conditions particular to Shigaraki that no other region can reproduce. Shigaraki ware, begun 1,200 years ago, lives on at this moment and goes on producing new expression. One piece born from that clay will, in your hands, continue the story of Shigaraki into the next era.

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