Keshiki: How to Read the 'Landscape' on a Pot

Have you ever picked up a piece and thought, "isn't this a failure?" A mark where glaze ran and set, fine cracks across the surface, brown specks like scorch, a small dent resembling a chip. By the standards of mass production these might look like defects.

In the world of Japanese pottery, though, these are exactly the character of a piece — a one-of-a-kind expression woven by flame, clay and maker. The word keshiki, landscape, expresses that aesthetic in one term.

This article explains carefully, for anyone meeting keshiki for the first time: the basic concept, the kinds of keshiki and how to look at them, the character of each region, and how to choose. By the end, the way you see pottery should have changed.

What Keshiki Is

What Keshiki Means in Pottery

Keshiki refers to the various chance expressions and changes that appear on the surface of fired ware. A mountain ridge, the flow of a river, a morning where mist drifts. Just as no two natural landscapes are alike, no two keshiki on ware are the same.

The word originally means "view," "prospect," "scenery" in Japanese. It came into use in pottery because the run of glaze, the scorch, the trace of melted ash on a surface look like the scenery of an ink landscape painting. It is said to have begun within tea culture, where appreciating a bowl or flower container one would say "the keshiki of this piece is good."

In making ceramics, keshiki is not necessarily created deliberately. When a maker applies glaze and fires a piece, the movement of flame, the shift in temperature, the atmosphere inside the kiln (oxidation or reduction), the quantity and scatter of wood ash, and the nature of the clay — all of it tangles together to decide the final keshiki. A maker understands those variables and can set a direction to a degree, but cannot control them completely. That is why keshiki is said to be "made by flame," "decided by the kiln."

Why Flame Never Draws the Same Pattern Twice

Inside a firing kiln, heat from several hundred degrees to over 1,300°C works on the ware. In that world of heat, every element affects the outcome — a slight difference of position, a slight difference of timing, even the humidity in the kiln from that day's weather.

Pieces set on the same shelf, for instance, fire differently on the side flame strikes and the side it does not. With the same glaze, the form of a piece changes how the glaze runs. In a traditional kiln with several chambers, such as a climbing kiln, temperature and atmosphere differ chamber by chamber, so where in which level a piece stands changes the keshiki too.

In a wood-fired kiln, ash from combustion drifts through the chamber and settles on surfaces. That ash melts at high temperature, combines with the glaze, and produces a gloss and colour of its own. This process is never exactly the same twice. Even with the same maker, the same clay, the same glaze and the same kiln, deliberately reproducing the keshiki of a previous firing is close to impossible.

This irreproducibility is the ground on which ware with keshiki is respected as one of a kind. An artwork co-created by flame, clay and time, which mass production cannot hold. That is the essence of ware with keshiki.

Kinds of Keshiki and How to Look at Them

Keshiki comes in several kinds. Knowing how each arises and what to look for deepens the pleasure of holding a piece considerably.

Drawn by Gravity: Running Glaze

Glaze is applied as liquid or powder before firing. As firing proceeds it melts. At that point it can run downward, following gravity. This is called nagare-gusuri, running glaze, and glaze that cooled and set mid-run is called tamadare, a hanging drop.

Tamadare often appears near the base as a rounded projection, like a drop of water set hard. The more easily a glaze melts — clear glaze, celadon, ash glaze — the more readily it runs, and the more striking the tamadare.

What to look for is the beauty of the line the run traced. Sometimes it runs straight; sometimes it curves along the form. Several tamadare side by side look like rain running down a window. Gloss changes with the angle of light, so turning the piece slowly as you look is best.

Touch a piece and the tamadare comes to the finger as a slightly hard unevenness. Your fingertips coming to know that shape through use is another pleasure particular to ware with keshiki.

The Trace of Flame: Scorch and Fire Colour

Koge, scorch, is where flame struck a piece strongly and the surface darkened to black. In a wood kiln the flow of flame is not constant and can concentrate in one area; that trace remains as scorch. Hi-iro, fire colour, is the reddish or orange area born where the heat of flame touched directly, less strongly than scorch.

The goma and hidasuki of Bizen ware fall within fire colour broadly. Iron in the clay body reacts with flame, producing a rich gradation from gold through deep red, orange and brown.

What to look for is the beauty of the boundary between scorch and fire colour. The gradation from black to red, red to yellow, resembles an evening sky. Scorched areas often mark where flame touched unglazed clay directly, so the rough quality can be enjoyed by touch as well.

Where a Pebble Burst: Ishihaze

Ishihaze is the phenomenon where a small stone in the clay bursts during firing and makes a small hole or chip on the surface. The name comes from the stone bursting.

It appears often in ware using coarse clay, such as Bizen and Iga ware. Unrefined clay contains various minerals and pebbles, which expand and burst during high firing and mark the surface.

At first glance ishihaze looks like a chip or damage; to a practised eye it reads as proof of the clay's wildness and vitality. A piece with ishihaze is also proof that natural clay was used as it is, rather than a refined, uniform body.

What to look for is the balance of size and position. Too large and it interferes with function, but at a moderate size it gives a piece a dynamic expression. Glaze often runs differently around an ishihaze, and a keshiki of its own can arise there.

Unpredictable Yohen

Yohen is the collective term for unexpected chemical change in glaze or body during firing, producing distinctive colour and pattern. Shifts in temperature, the atmosphere in the kiln (oxidation or reduction), subtle changes in the chemistry of the glaze — several factors overlap to produce it.

A famous example is yohen tenmoku, born in Song-dynasty China. Blue and gold light rises like iridescence on a black glaze surface; only a few survive in the world. Its beauty is the summit of yohen.

In Japan too there are many masterpieces born of yohen — nezumi-shino in Shino, yohen oribe in Oribe. Contemporary makers continue to pursue the possibilities of yohen.

What to look for is depth of colour and the dynamism of its change. A yohen piece shifts expression greatly with the angle of light. Seen in daylight and seen at night under lamplight, it can show completely different faces.

Glaze Nature Makes: Ash Deposits

Haikaburi, ash deposit, is the phenomenon where ash from the firewood settles on a surface during wood firing and melts at high temperature into natural glaze. It is not glaze a maker applied but ash in the kiln covering the piece naturally.

It is often seen in Shigaraki ware and Iga ware. Depending on the quantity and state of the ash, expressions run from pale green through deep green and amber to a greyish tone. Where ash gathered thickly it melts smooth; where thin, a coarse quality remains.

What to look for is the "gradation of chance." Ash drifts through the kiln, settling heavily in one place and lightly in another. The gradation that chance produces — one no human hand could draw — is the appeal of ash deposits. It gains depth further with years of use.

Crazing, Deepening With Use

Crazing is the fine cracking that enters the glaze on a surface. Born from the difference in thermal expansion between glaze and body, these cracks take in tea, sake and the liquid of food the more a piece is used, deepening into a pattern of their own.

On newly fired Hagi ware or kohiki, crazing is barely visible. But over years of use, colour stains along the crazing and a delicate web rises on the surface. As the phrase "the seven changes of Hagi" has it, a piece shifts the more it is used.

What to look for is the process of that change. New, and after five or ten years of use, a piece holds entirely different faces. Ware with crazing is also called "ware you grow," and there is joy in a keshiki that belongs to you being inscribed with every use.

• Crazing (Kannyu): Cracks in Glaze That Aren't Damage

Regions Where Keshiki Is Best Enjoyed

Among Japan's pottery regions, here are those where keshiki is especially rich.

Bizen Ware: The Widest Range of Keshiki

Bizen ware, centred on the city of Bizen in Okayama, is famous as ware that uses no glaze. Because change in the body itself becomes the keshiki, the variation is especially wide.

Bizen has many names of its own for keshiki — goma, hidasuki, botamochi, sangiri. Goma is the brown speckling ash produces; hidasuki the red lines straw leaves; botamochi the pale mark where a shelf or another piece touched.

Fired for long periods at close to 1,300°C, Bizen accumulates layers of change during firing, and no two pieces are born with the same keshiki. It is a treasury of keshiki.

Shigaraki Ware: The Rich Expression of Ash

Shigaraki ware, from the town of Shigaraki in Koka, Shiga, is known for generous ash deposits. Its great characteristic is natural glaze running from rich green to amber, born of long wood firing.

Shigaraki clay is coarse and often contains large grains. That rough quality combined with plentiful ash produces a keshiki particular to Shigaraki. Flower containers and large bowls with real presence are common, but rich keshiki appears on everyday bowls and yunomi too.

Iga Ware: The Beauty of Rough Flame

Iga ware, from the city of Iga in Mie, is known for rough keshiki. Like Shigaraki it is wood-fired, but Iga clay is coarser and ishihaze more frequent. Scorching is fierce, and dynamic keshiki is its appeal.

Some potters describe Iga keshiki as violent, so powerful is what arises. Iga flower containers and water jars, long prized as tea utensils, are said to bring a distinctive tension into the space of tea through that roughness.

Hagi Ware: The Delicate Keshiki of Crazing and Fire Colour

Hagi ware, from the city of Hagi in Yamaguchi, is characterised by the delicate keshiki of crazing and pale fire colour. Fine crazing runs across warm white, pale pink and cream ware, born of soft clay and glaze together.

As "first Raku, second Hagi, third Karatsu" has it, Hagi is counted among the highest-ranked regions for tea bowls. Its keshiki is not fierce but quiet and delicate. The more it is used, the more colour stains the crazing and the deeper the keshiki grows.

How to Choose Ware With Keshiki

Telling a Defect From a Keshiki

What first troubles people who become interested in keshiki is judging whether something is keshiki or a genuine defect. Use the following as a guide.

• What can be judged keshiki　Running glaze or tamadare that does not affect the strength of the piece. Scorch or fire colour that is surface discolouration, with no crack in the body. Ishihaze that is small and far from the rim. Crazing that is uneven and naturally distributed. Anything functioning as expression within the balance of the whole piece.
• What should be judged a defect　A chip or crack at the rim. A large crack at the base, or a crack through the body that harms strength. Ishihaze or a hole large enough to interfere with use. A clear failure of colour from faulty firing.

Generally, ware sold by trustworthy makers, studios and galleries has had anything judged a defect removed before shipping. At the point of sale there is a tacit understanding that "this is keshiki." If in doubt, checking with the maker or staff before buying is surest.

Light and Handling Change the Keshiki

To enjoy keshiki, the right way of looking matters.

• How light falls　Rather than lighting from one direction, look while slowly changing the angle. The gloss of glaze and the colour shift of yohen show entirely different expressions with the angle. Daylight is most beautiful, but warm lamplight at night has an appeal of its own.
• How to hold it　Always hold a piece gently in both hands. Feel its weight and temperature across your palms while your fingertips explore the relief of the keshiki. Enjoying keshiki as touch is one of the pleasures of appreciating pottery.
• Turn it　Turning a piece slowly as you hold it lets you enjoy the keshiki changing continuously. Many pieces hold entirely different keshiki on the front and the back. Always turn one full circle before buying.

Enjoying It Through Use

Most ware with keshiki is made on the premise of daily use, not display alone. In fact much of it deepens its keshiki through continued use. A few points for daily use.

• Medome at first use　With coarse-bodied ware such as Bizen and Shigaraki, performing medome — simmering in rice washing water — before first use keeps dirt from soaking in.
• Handling ware with crazing　Hagi, kohiki and other crazed ware takes on colour with continued use. This is not dirt but proof the keshiki is growing. Avoid the dishwasher at first, though, and make hand washing a habit.
• Storage　Store ware with keshiki dry. Coarse-bodied pieces take in moisture readily, which can cause mould. Dry thoroughly after use before putting it away.

Related Articles and Guides

More on the Culture and History of Japanese Ceramics

• Reading Wabi-Sabi in a Single Bowl
• Wabi-Sabi in Ceramics: What It Actually Means
• Pottery That 'Grows': How Ceramics Change With Use
• Ichigo Ichie: Why No Two Handmade Pieces Repeat
• Crazing (Kannyu): Cracks in Glaze That Aren't Damage

More on Japan's Kiln Regions

• Japanese Pottery by Region: A Buyer's Map
• Bizen Ware: Pottery With No Glaze at All
• Shigaraki Ware: Why Its Clay Sparkles After 1,200 Years
• Iga Ware: Fire, Ash and the Beauty of Rough Clay
• Hagi Ware: The Tea Bowl That Changes Colour as You Use It

How to Choose Japanese Ceramics

• Why Japanese Pottery Is Worth Buying (and Keeping)
• How to Care for Japanese Ceramics: A Practical Guide
• Buying Japanese Pottery Online: What to Check First