Green Japanese Tableware

In Japanese pottery, green runs straight on from blue. Much of what is called celadon sits closer to green than to blue.

There are three routes to it. Iron in the glaze turning pale green in a reduction firing. Copper turning deep green. And green painted on after the piece has been fired. Okinawan work brings a brighter green still, in the goya and shikuwasa drawn across it.

Iron that fires to blue-green is seiji; glaze made from plant ash is haiyu. The best-known copper green is oribe. Adding colour after the first firing is uwa-etsuke.