Artisan Fujiwara Akira: Pulling Bizen From the Kiln to Make It Black
What comes to mind with Bizen ware is usually a red-brown surface. No glaze, fired with nothing but clay and flame. That is how the region is most often described.
What marks out the work of Fujiwara Akira, within Bizen, is black: kuro-Bizen. There are two kinds of it. One draws the piece out of the kiln at 1,200°C and cools it fast in the open air to bring up the black. The other paints a clay rich in iron over the surface before firing. Neither is a glaze. Working within the methods of Bizen, leaving the result to clay and flame, this artisan makes something of their own.
Fujiwara Akira works a little north of Imbe, the center of Bizen, in Chichiibara in the town of Wake, Okayama prefecture, making every piece alone.
Kuro-Bizen: a black from the firing, not from glaze
Bizen ware is one of Japan's six ancient kilns, a region that fires its clay hard without glaze. The iron in the clay, the ash inside the kiln, the path the flame takes. Those three decide the surface and nothing else. Wrap a piece in straw and red hidasuki lines run across it; let the ash melt and green vidro flows. None of it is painted on by hand.
The black is the same. Fujiwara Akira makes kuro-Bizen with two methods, both of which leave the result to clay and flame.
- Hikidashi-guro (drawn-out black) At 1,200°C, the kiln's highest temperature, the piece is pulled out of the kiln. Cooled suddenly, held in a strongly reducing state, it turns black. Because the kiln has to be opened to take them out, only a limited number can be made at a time
- Imbe-de A clay rich in iron is painted over the surface before firing. That coating turns black in the firing. The result is a quieter black
Even as black, the two differ in touch and in sheen. Hikidashi-guro gives a metallic light with vermilion flashing here and there, a color the flame decided. Imbe-de comes out matte, closer to charcoal. That yakishime can shift this far in color is itself the interesting part of watching this artisan work.
Not only black: red clay, and white Bizen
Black is at the center of this artisan's work, but there is plenty that looks like Bizen in the usual sense too.
Pieces made with red clay come out the orange-red of Bizen. They draw out the strength the clay has of its own, like the ones below. A dark scorch falls on the body of the flask, and the rim of the cup fades to gray. Where a piece stood in the kiln stays visible on it.
White Bizen uses a clay that is white in itself. You almost never see a white piece in Bizen. The matcha bowl has a foot ring split into three, and small dark specks scatter across its rough white surface.
There is also sake ware that takes on a natural ash glaze without any glaze being applied. Red pine ash melts at 1,200°C and turns to a gloss like glass. It is the ash of a wood kiln becoming the glaze itself, and it is how Bizen produces work that leaves everything to nature.
How to look after Bizen ware
Because Bizen carries no glaze, the clay takes up water. Doing medome sealing at the start keeps oil stains from getting in. Simmer the piece gently for about twenty minutes in water with flour, or in rice-rinsing water, let it cool as it is, then wash it. That is all.
Wash it soon after use and dry it thoroughly before putting it away. Left damp, a piece can hold on to smells. Caring for stoneware sets this out, including how it differs from porcelain.
Bizen changes as you use it. Both the black and the red clay take up oil from your hands and moisture, and the gloss deepens little by little. This is not ware that looks its best on the day you buy it. Enjoy living with it, and enjoy raising it.
Knowing more of the history of Bizen makes it better still. We have gathered the articles below for that.
Related Articles
About Bizen
- Bizen Ware: Pottery With No Glaze at All
- Bizen Pottery History: 1,200 Years from Sueki to the Tea Bowl
- Bizen vs Hagi: Two Opposite Ideas of Wabi-Sabi
- Bizen Pottery Festival 2026 | A Town of the Six Ancient Kilns
Technique and care
- Yakishime: Unglazed Pottery Fired to Its Limit
- Shizen-yu: Natural Ash Glaze Explained
- Hidasuki: The Red Straw Marks on Bizen Pottery
- Japanese Stoneware Care: What Porcelain Never Needs
Go and Look
- Fujiwara akira | Bizen Hikidashi-guro & Hidasuki Sake Ware
- Bizen Pottery | Unglazed Japanese Stoneware from Okayama
- Japanese Sake Set | Ochoko, Guinomi Cups & Tokkuri
The work of Fujiwara Akira
Centered on sake ware, we carry a good deal of this artisan's work, where the same Bizen divides into hikidashi-guro, imbe-de, red clay and white Bizen. Every piece is one of a kind, so if something catches your eye, take it in hand early.
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New to Japanese pottery? Start here — its history, how pottery differs from porcelain, the clays and glazes behind each style, and how to care for a piece. → Japanese Pottery: The Complete Guide