THROUGHOUT the world, Japanese pottery is prized for its unassuming beauty and elegant
simplicity of form and color. The standards of technical excellence and artistic achievement
that have elevated Japanese pottery to such distinction have evolved over many hundreds of
years. Modern Japanese potters use not only centuries-old techniques from China and Korea
but have perpetuated native traditions in combination with European glazes and processes
they adapted. Because of this Japan is arguably the pottery center of the world.
In no other country of the world has an esthetic appreciation of ceramics developed to as high a level as in Japan. A foreigner looking at a Bizen vase-rough, misshapen, and covered with rusty splotches-may not be impressed by it. But in Japan, ceramic ware has traditionally been judged not by its outward beauty but by its utility. This utilitarian view was held by the founders of the tea ceremony who chose to use commonplace objects like rice bowls from which to drink the ceremonial tea.
The integral part that pottery began to play in the tea ceremony did much to encourage competition among potters to produce fine quality bowls and other tea utensils. They made ceramic objects for other arts as well: kabin, vases for floral arrangements; koro, hand-held censers for the incense ceremony; and suiteki, the small water container used in calligraphy.
Apart from its importance to the tea ceremony, pottery is so much a part of daily life in Japan that it is difficult to imagine a meal without it. Because tableware is a necessary part of the cuisine, dishes are chosen to blend not only with the food that is put on or in them but with the occasion, the time of day, the atmosphere of the room, and with the season.
The variety in tableware is extraordinary. Ceramic objects range in size from dainty hashioki (chopstick rests) and sakazuki (sake cups) to medium size plates and bowls, tokkuri (sake containers), do bin (teapots) and yunomi (teacups). The many sizes and shapes the dishes come in- round, oval, square, rectangular, pentagonal,
leaf-shaped, fan-shaped, flower-andvegetable- shaped- lend character and variety
to the table.
The way food is served on plates in Japan contrasts with the way it is served in the West and in other Asian countries. Westerners, accustomed to eating from individual large plates supplemented by a few smaller flat plates, are at first amazed at the number of small plates and bowls that are set before each person at a Japanese meal. In China food is served in large bowls or on huge platters and is eaten from
small bowls. Meals in Korea are usually served in individual bowls. Flat plates are rarely used.
Although yakimono refers to pottery in general, Japanese often distinguish between two basic types of ceramic ware: stoneware and porcelain. Yakimono is characterized by a rough appearance, glazed or unglazed. Representative
pottery of this type comes Mashiko, Kasama, and Shigaraki. Porcelain objects when held up to the light appear translucent. Arita, Imari, and Nabeshima wares are well known among porcelain fanciers. Stoneware, because of its texture, has few intricate drawings compared to the great number on porcelain ware. It is inevitable that the process of making ceramic goods is becoming increasingly mechanized. In spite of this trend, the quality andesthetic appeal of the final product are reaching a wider and more appreciative audience.
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