Bizen Ware: Pottery With No Glaze at All

No glaze. No decoration. Work born purely from the dialogue of clay and flame. That is Bizen ware.

A maker chooses the clay, forms it, and packs the kiln. After that, the flame inside decides the piece's keshiki by chance. What decides it is how the flame strikes, how ash settles, how much oxygen is in the kiln. That is why no two Bizen pieces exist alike, and it is the greatest appeal of Bizen ware.

Made in the city of Bizen in Okayama Prefecture, this ware holds over 1,000 years of history as one of Japan's Six Ancient Kilns. As the ware that embodies the aesthetics of wabi-sabi most purely, it has long captivated tea masters, artists and collectors.

Knowing a region before buying makes the piece in your hand all the more dear. We have a guide for anyone who wants to learn about more regions. And japanese ceramics divide into earthenware made from clay and porcelain such as Arita ware; if you want to know the difference, the comparison article helps too.

• Japanese Pottery by Region: A Buyer's Map
• Stoneware vs Porcelain: How to Tell Them Apart

More Than a Thousand Years of Bizen

The origins of Bizen ware reach back to the eighth century. Early Bizen was purely practical — storage jars for crops, everyday pots. Ware from an era that asked for function over decoration, strength over beauty.

The first reason Bizen excelled at practical use is toughness. Firing hard at high temperature without glaze makes a very dense, hard piece that resists breaking. That was ideal for large jars holding heavy grain and water.

The second is excellent breathability through fine pores. Invisible micro-pores born in the firing keep the oxygen level inside moderate. That made Bizen prized as "ware that breathes," preventing water from spoiling and keeping grain and sake fresh for longer.

As the old saying had it — a Bizen water jar neither cracks nor spoils its water — an overwhelming functional beauty, arrived at by stripping decoration away, supported life in farming and fishing villages.

A great turning point came in the twelfth century. As Buddhist culture spread, flower containers and incense burners were made for temples, and Bizen's evaluation as ware rose.

And the most important change came in the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries. Sen no Rikyu (1522–1591), who perfected the way of tea, transformed the lavish tea gathering decorated with Chinese imports. What he chose was not ware ornamented in gold or lacquer but Bizen, with its rough clay texture and an expression born of the chance of flame. As ware embodying wabi — the deep beauty residing in the plain and imperfect — Bizen came to receive the highest evaluation in the world of tea. An anecdote survives that Rikyu called Bizen sake ware the finest in the world.

In the seventeenth century production stabilised under the protection of the domain, and many masterpieces called "the finest Bizen under heaven" were made. Through the waves of modernisation that followed, Bizen makers went on protecting the traditional method of the anagama kiln and wood firing.

Today, master makers representing Bizen — Fujiwara Kei and Yu, father and son both Living National Treasures, and Kaneshige Toyo — have established worldwide recognition, and Bizen ware is acknowledged as one of the peaks of Japanese ceramics.

How Bizen Ware Is Made

The Clay: The Secret of Hiyose

The clay used for Bizen is a special one called hiyose. It is an iron-rich clay taken from paddy fields around the city of Bizen — strata that were once seabed. The character of this clay produces the deep red-brown and the substantial quality of Bizen ware.

The clay is not used as soon as it is dug. To remove impurities and make it uniform it is matured underground or in storage for several years, in some cases more than ten. This resting of the clay is said to bear directly on the quality of the finished piece.

And because hiyose clay is very plastic and hard to handle, skilled makers tend to use it for the pieces that matter most — which is why this clay has produced so many skilled hands in Bizen.

Dialogue With the Kiln

Bizen is fired in a climbing kiln, whose chambers link in steps up a slope, or in an anagama, a sloping kiln dug into the ground. The only fuel is pine. Split red pine is more essential to Bizen than to any other region. Red pine is rich in resin and suited to holding temperatures above 1,200°C. And pine ash contains a great deal of iron, which melts at high temperature and settles on the ware to become a natural glaze — goma.

Firing takes about two weeks including preparation. One potter often handles the whole cycle of packing, firing and unpacking, and the period of managing the flame runs around the clock. Even today this is work that has not been mechanised, extremely intensive in human labour.

The Chance Expressions the Kiln Produces

The greatest characteristic of Bizen ware is that every effect on the surface arises from the action of the kiln.

• Hidasuki　Wrapping a piece in rice straw before it goes into the kiln makes the potassium in the straw develop colour at high temperature, and red-orange lines appear. A painting of chance, drawn by natural flame. Before firing, not even the maker can predict what form the hidasuki will take.
• Goma, sesame　Ash from the pine burning in the kiln melts at high temperature and settles on the surface. The way it turns glassy looks as though sesame had been scattered, hence the name. Flecks shining green to brown add a distinctive depth.
• Sangiri　When oxygen runs short inside the kiln and reduction firing occurs, part of a piece develops a blue to black colour. A dramatic shift arising by chance within a long firing where oxidation and reduction alternate.
• Botamochi　The mark left where pieces touched each other while packed. The round shape resembles a botamochi rice cake, hence the name. It is the trace of the density and stacking inside the kiln itself.

All these effects are products of chance. The potter prepares the kiln, manages the flame, and the kiln decides the rest. That once-in-a-lifetime result is inscribed on every single Bizen piece.

Why Bizen Embodies Wabi-Sabi

Bizen is said to embody wabi-sabi — the deep beauty residing in imperfection, impermanence and plainness — most purely in the world of ceramics.

If the white porcelain of Arita is a beauty of made perfection, the beauty of Bizen lies where chance and necessity meet. On a clay skin covered by no glaze, the marks of fire are inscribed directly. Throwing lines, the press of a finger, settled ash. Proof that a human hand and natural force were in dialogue remains on the surface as it is.

Bizen also changes as it is used. With no glaze, the porous body absorbs oil from the hand, tea and sake a little at a time. Sake ware that first seems rough and unrefined develops, over ten or twenty years, a smoothness following the shape of the hand that holds it, and a distinctive gloss and depth. This is expressed as "growing your Bizen."

The very process of it becoming a piece that is yours alone is the value of Bizen ware, and a depth no other ware has.

• Reading Wabi-Sabi in a Single Bowl
• Wabi-Sabi in Ceramics: What It Actually Means
• Pottery That 'Grows': How Ceramics Change With Use

What to Check When Buying Bizen

To tell genuine Bizen ware, check the following.

• What to look for　No glaze and a matt quality. A deep red-brown to grey body from iron. Natural expressions from firing such as hidasuki, goma and sangiri. A dense, solid weight in the hand. The maker's seal stamped on the foot ring.
• What to be careful of　A uniform gloss across the surface (glaze may have been applied). Vivid, artificial colour other than hi-iro, goma and sangiri. Too light (possibly low-density clay). No information about the maker.

Using and Caring for Bizen Ware

Because Bizen carries no glaze, the expression nature produced "grows" as the piece is used.

Sake: Tokkuri and Guinomi

From that unglazed, natural character comes the saying that sake drunk from Bizen becomes rounder. The unglazed body is said to absorb surplus components in the sake and soften its edge. Keeping one guinomi for one particular drink and growing it into ware suited to that drink is the connoisseur's pleasure.

• Japanese Sake Ware guide
• Ochoko, Guinomi, Sakazuki: Japanese Sake Cups Compared

Flower Containers

The porous wall absorbs and releases water a little at a time, which is said to keep cut flowers longer. This is why Bizen has long been loved by people who arrange flowers. One flower container expressing wabi-sabi changes the impression of a space considerably.

• Japanese Flower Vases: One Stem, One Vessel

Tea Bowls

Tannin from tea soaks into the body, and the inside of the bowl deepens the more it is used. This shift in keshiki has been especially prized by tea people.

• How to Choose a Japanese Rice Bowl (Chawan)

Care for Bizen Ware

Because Bizen is porous, it asks for a little care in use. Avoid detergent: it soaks into the unglazed body and can affect flavour. Wash with water or hot water only, and dry thoroughly in the shade before storing.

The high iron content also means no microwave. No dishwasher either, because of sudden temperature change and detergent. Since the shift in keshiki is the appeal, there is a pleasure in going on using it despite the care. If the care feels like a burden, keeping it as ware for special days is another good approach.

• How to Care for Japanese Ceramics: A Practical Guide

Visiting Bizen, Okayama

Bizen city in Okayama, home of Bizen ware, is reached from Imbe Station, about 40 minutes by train from JR Okayama Station. Kilns and galleries line the streets from the station, and many studios welcome visits and purchases.

The Bizen Pottery Festival held each October is the region's largest event, with more than 100 kilns taking part together. It is a valuable chance to talk directly with makers and choose work in hand.

Related Articles and Guides

More on the Culture and History of Japanese Ceramics

• A Short History of Japanese Ceramics, Jomon to Now
• Reading Wabi-Sabi in a Single Bowl
• Keshiki: How to Read the 'Landscape' on a Pot
• Tea Ceremony Ceramics: A Short History of the Chawan

More on Japan's Kiln Regions

• Japanese Pottery by Region: A Buyer's Map
• Japan's Six Ancient Kilns: All 6 Regions Compared
• Bizen vs Hagi: Two Opposite Ideas of Wabi-Sabi
• Shigaraki Ware: Why Its Clay Sparkles After 1,200 Years
• Iga Ware: Fire, Ash and the Beauty of Rough Clay

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• Earthenware, Stoneware, Porcelain: The Real Differences

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