Imari ware is in fact, a type of Arita ware originally made from clay and kiln in the town of Arita in northwestern Kyūshū. These ceramics were exported to Europe extensively from the nearby port of Imari, and the name of the port now identifies the style. Imari ware has been continuously produced to the present day; and the style was widely imitated in Europe. The colors and designs in examples below are typical. Imari is perhaps the most popular style for collectors because there is so much of it available of high quality. The reddish-orange in its design with blue on white is characteristic.
Kakiemon (Style) Many beautiful Japanese ceramics and porcelain are crafted by unknown artists. Some whose work was especially outstanding have come through history with their names attributed to their works. The style initiated by Sakaida Kakiemon (1596 — 1666i) is a distinguished one. The palette and style were distinctively recognizable by the 1680s and it now is a sub-type of Imari ware, the overglaze-colored variety of the grouping Arita ware. His innovative technique solved the challenge of how to apply enamel decoration on porcelain, known as akae. The name “Kakiemon” was given to Sakaida by his lord for perfecting the color and design of persimmons (kaki), and for his distinctive palette of soft red, yellow, blue and turquoise green now associated with the Kakiemon style. Kakiemon style was originally produced at the factories around Arita. Today, Kakiemon is the name of a family, one or more kilns, and a subtletly-colored overglaze style. Cultivating and developing the style the 14th Sakaida Kakiemon (1934-2013) was designated as a “Living National Treasure”, recognizing his technique an Important Intangible Cultural Property and his kiln a “National Historic Site.”
Nabeshima ware Another distinctive porcelain takes the name of the politically important Samurai clan of Lord Nabeshima whose kilns often produced ware used as gifts to friends and as peace-offerings to enemies. Unlike other Arita ware, the kiln specialized in porcelain with Japanese themes, models, and styles—not Chinese—but the Lord was also responsible for importing some Korean artists to Japan, providing a direct contact with Taoism. The Okawachi kiln dates to 1700 — Mid-Edo — and continues in the hands of masters until today. One is the “Living National Treasure” Imaizumi Imaemon.
Nabeshima ware is characterized by the employing of space—resulting in a simplicity or abstraction echoing Zen (Chan) and Taoist prioritizing of “nothingness” and “no mind.” Unlike most Japanese porcelain, the outlines of the pattern were under-glazed in blue before the final enamel overglaze. Blue seems to be a dominant color, with some works only showing blue figures. Under growing influence from the arrival of Zen during the Nara and Heian eras, some patterns tend to the abstract while others favor nature themes.
Large Nabeshima plate (48 cm), two herons on a branch. Edo period (1603 – 1867).
Raku ware is a type of Japanese pottery traditionally used in the tea bowls of Chawan, the formal tea ceremony that took place in purpose-designed “tea houses” (chashitsu). These were designed to humble those taking part. Guests must crawl through its square nijiriguchi door (“crawling-in entrance”), in particular. The inside is austere; no furniture (just tatami mats) and only the beauty of the tea utensils and a small, informal flower display (chabana, a ‘thrown together’ grouping, decidedly not formal ikebana.). The chawan tea ceremony resembles a kind of religious “liturgy” of Zen, bringing into play all the major ingredients of Zen principles.
A raku tea bowl is not usually shaped on a potting wheel and thus is intentionally hand shaped and rustic looking, an appearance first modeled after rough hand-made ceramic tiles on the roofs of houses. Raku results from low firing temperatures. Inner surfaces need to be glazed to hold liquid. Glazes are also used to add color and suggest a mottled-looking surface texture. The piece is removed from the kiln while still glowing hot and allowed to cool directly in the open air, not in the kiln; the result is typically Japanese. Oddly, the rustic “look” of raku ware is akin to many contemporary ceramic works around the world, but it can have a smooth glaze as well.
In time, however, techniques have also been modified by contemporary ceramists worldwide. Raku is a family name even today, and raku antiques are rare and expensive, especially tea bowls. The collection has several contemporary tea bowl. A contemporary technique brings horse hair in contact with the still hot glaze just removed from the kiln, giving a very random and natural linear pattern. Modern raku is often both rustic and somehow still modern.
Earthenware, Stoneware. These ceramic predecessors of porcelain are prolific in Japanese ceramic history. Historians credit the Jomon people, the earliest Japanese, with the invention of clay pottery. Jomon pots at first consisted of a clay cylinder wound around by rope, leaving its distinctive impression on the texture of the clay. These grew in size and expanded by adding circular figures that remind one of rope tied in a circle. The Jomon era was followed by refinements of the Sueki (“Sue”) age which, with by now higher kiln temperatures, reached stoneware hardness and density typically used for funerary purposes—often buried with its honoree. Much of this early work had no apparent purpose other than decoration, even “art” or clay play.
The possessions in this collection exemplify much of this early work. There is especially a considerable grouping of pre-Jomon works. But, the collection contains an abundance of functional ceramics, especially pots of various sizes and shapes, from the earliest eras, through Momayama, to Edo. Presented are all types of so called ‘Six ancient kilns’, namely Seto, Echizen, Tokoname, Shigaraki, Tanba, and Bizen ware. These pots are sturdy enough to have survived the ages. Many are (amateurishly, roughly) glazed and show imperfections that are at once distinctive to the materials, mixtures of clay, and to the needs for which these vessels were made—glazing needed to hold liquids or other foods, with little concern for the resulting look of the glaze. Closeups would reveal the human element of accidents and learning by doing missing in later years of perfected production techniques.
Especially attractive is called “oatmeal” texture which, like its name, is irregular with many flaws the inexperienced eye didn’t care about and almost looks intended, so many of which are similar despite the variety of uses intended. One is built to hold a month’s worth (or more) of soy sauce. Many others—no surprise here—were intended to hold large quantities of sake, others to hold enough for entertaining a group of friends.
Satsuma ware is a type of Japanese pottery, originally from Satsuma Province, southern Kyūshū. Today, it is divided into two distinct categories: the original, plain clay of early Satsuma (1600s), and the elaborately decorated export Satsuma mainly of ivory colored clay, on which various decorations are added.
This export style began to proliferate after 1868 (early Meiji period) when Japan was opened to the rest of the world. By then it was designed in many Japanese cities and catered to the tastes of Western consumers who liked what they thought were exotic “oriental” effects. However, it can suffer from over-exuberant decoration when done for its own sake. Nonetheless, Satsuma ware is one of the most recognized and popular export products of the Meiji period.
Export (Meiji) Satsuma is very ornate, often featuring Samurai, and snakes winding around the vessel. Moriage Satsuma adds raised clay features and textures to the otherwise smooth surface in a separate production stage.
Kutani ware is a group of styles of Japanese porcelain from the Kutani area in the former Kaga province. It is divided into two ages: Ko(old)-Kutani (17th–19th centuries), and export-Kutani from the Meiji period (late 19th to early 20th century). As Kutani is a place and not a factory or a single manufacturer it represents several styles produced by various kilns. Kutani objects are easily identified by the simple kanji mark 九谷.
Oribe ware first appeared in the sixteenth century. Typical to this style is freely-applied glaze as well as unusual, asymmetric, irregular shapes. A speciality is the possible use of two different clays and typical colours are different greens and browns. The objects are various including vases, boxes, water containers – many utensils used in the tea ceremony.
Kintsugi represents the Japanese respect for age and also the recognition of well-made ceramics that, in the history of handling by admirers, have been damaged. If a treasured object is broken, fix it and create a new object with its own beauty without anxiety over the transition from the original. It is esteemed as wabi-sabi, the acceptance of transience, of appreciating beauty that is imperfect, fleeting, and changing over time. As in nature, so too in art. It demonstrates economy, modesty, and austerity, a no-waste ethos. Wabi-sabi is observed in many forms of Japanese art. Kintsugi also represents mushin (Mu) or Zen ‘no mind,’ which in this context means the absence of attachment: there is no ‘self’ to which to be attached.
The repair is direct and elegant. Cracks are filled, and broken pieces are reassembled, using; first, urushi (lacquer) that fills the gap between the two surfaces, functioning as glue. Then, while still moist (as in maki-e), usually gold powder is sprinkled on the lacquer, thus covering it and leaving a neat path or spot of gold behind. It is itself appealing and highlights the now invisible original flaw in gold. The gold itself is usually applied to follow the original shape of the object, so it is still recognizable, but now gold tracery adds to its appeal. It is important that the original should have already been interesting and, following the kintsugi lines, its interest and appeal are heightened.
