White Japanese Tableware

White gives way to the food more than any other colour. Nothing muddies on it, and empty space stays empty space.

The whites here are not one white. White slip over red clay, with the warmth of the clay showing faintly through. Stone-based porcelain fired hard enough to pass light. And white laid down as a ground for painting: the peaches, grapes, squid and white-eyes only hold their outlines because that ground is there.

Most of the softer whites are kohiki, which slowly takes in tea and oil until the colour settles. Brush marks left visible in the slip are hakeme, and laying a white layer over the clay at all is shirogeshou. The bluish white that passes light is seihakuji.