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Different Japanese Arts : CERAMICS ( tojiki ) Ceramics in Japan has a 12,000 years long history. China was again a great influence when it came to using clay differently. Though the Chinese had never advanced technologies, Japan never gave up its existing wares and techniques. Thus today the ceramics that exist in Japan have a variety of ancient wares as well as the latest new-technology made wares. History The early earthenware that existed in Japan were called Jomon Pottery. Jomon Pottery was characterized by its "cord-impressed" patterns. It existed as early as 10,000 and earliest forms resemble deep cylindrical baskets with pointed bottoms. In the Yayoi period (ca 300 BC- ca AD 300), the heavy, elaborate Jomon style gave way to the smooth, thin, symmetrical, minimally ornamented Yayoi style. The change was due to the fact that in this period, rice cultivation was introduced to Japan, habitation centers shifted from highlands to river deltas where rice was grown. Two things differentiated Jomon pottery from Yayoi style. Firstly, Jomon clay was tough and required great effort to make pots out of it. Yayoi clay was plastic, fine-grained clay found in such deltas. Secondly, the Yayoi period used different kinds of materials besides clay. These include bronze and other metals. During the Kofun period (ca 300-710) influences from the Korean peninsula wrought radical changes in Japanese culture and technology. By the mid 5th century a method of making stoneware ceramics known as Sue Ware had been introduced. This method was developed by Korean craftsmen residing in what are now the Nara and Osaka regions. The period is Kofun was specific reasons. Earthenware called Haji Ware had become indispensable for household purposes and rituals. Tall-flanged pots were placed in the conspicuous aboveground tombs called Kofun and that is where the period derives its name. Seto characterized the medieval ceramics. Seto began by coping newly introduced Chinese forms which included four-eared jars, flasks, ewers-with amber or green ash glaze applied over carved stamped or sprigged designs by the 14th century. Seto had also perfected use of the iron-brown temmoku glaze inspired by brown-glazed teabowls brought back from China. After the Onin war in 1467 the center for glazed wares shifted to Mino from Seto. At the beginning of the 16th century a change occurred in the kiln. The thorough-draft or tunnel kiln introduced with sue ware was replaced by the larger ogama ("great kiln"). From the 12th to the 16th century the principal ceramic product was yakishime or sekki that was made in a limited set of shapes primarily for utilitarian storage. In the Muromachi period (1333-1568), the commercial significance of ceramics increased and glazed and unglazed stonewares began to be a source of income. The Edo Period (1600-1868) saw a continuation of innovative stylistic and technological developments in stoneware and in glazed and unglazed ceramics. A lot of innovations took place in this period because of two main reasons. One, there was a very good market for pottery by now and secondly because of the aesthetic tastes of the tea masters. Innovations involved Shino ware, Oribe ware and Karatsu ware. More austere wares included Raku ware, Iga ware and Bizen ware. Korean potters came to Japan with the Japanese invasions of Korea in 1592 and 1597. The introduction from Korea of the noborigama ("climbing kiln") revolutionized the firing of stonewares and made possible the successful firing of porcelain after suitable clays were discovered in the Arita area of northern Kyushu by Korean potters in the early 17th century. By the mid-17th century, the crucial influence was added in the form of the European market. The Dutch East India Company accorded preference to an Arita-produced decorated ware called Kakiemon ware, which was characterized by application of polychrone enamels and under glaze cobalt to milk-white porcelain body. The second half-century saw a proliferation of such decorated wares. The opening of Japan to the West brought new opportunities for ceramics export and the development of porcelain centers at Kyoto and Yokohama. The work of the German technician Gottfried Wagener (1831-1892) in Arita, Kyoto and Tokyo, and through Japanese participation in International expositions in Europe and the US, western ceramic technology and taste were introduced. Modern Japanese ceramics has begun shortly after 1900. The ceramics scene was now dominated by the 'studio-potter' not the traditional potter. He came to ceramics by choice not by birth though he had complete knowledge of the pottery traditions. Itaya Hazan (1872-1963), for example, was trained as a sculptor, and Kitoji Rosanjin (1883-1959) began making pottery to supply his own gourmet restaurant. From 1926, the folk crafts movement led by Yanagi Muneyoshi (1889-1961) began to foster interest in the aesthetic value of traditional craftwork and skillfully made simple objects of daily use-among them ceramics. The potters Kawai Kanjiro 91890-1966) and Hamada Shoji (1894-1978) participated in this movement, and it was through the latter, who established his workshop in Mashiko, that the town became famous as a centre of folk-style pottery.
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