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Soil to Splendor: The Art of Yakishime
From Everyday to Ordinary: Yakishime in Japan
Dr Natsu Oyobe, Curator of Asian Art, The University of Michigan Museum of Art
It is not an overstatement to say that yakishime is one of the major forces in contemporary Japanese ceramics. Many artists in both historic yakishime centers like Shigaraki and Bizen, as well as other areas of Japan, choose yakishime as the focus of their artistic practice.
Yakishime, which combines two Japanese verbs – to fire (yaki/yaku) and to harden (shime/shimeru) – refers to non-glazed ware fired for long periods at over 1,000 degrees Celsius in a wood-fueled kiln. While yakishime resembles terracotta and earthenware, the long, high-temperature firing process makes it impervious to water. Yakishime is appreciated for its accidental marks, spots, and the glazes naturally formed when wood ash attaches to and petrifies on the clay surface during firing. Depending on its location in the kiln, red, reddish-brown, and beige colors appear around the clay body. In some areas, ash glaze creates translucent blue and green colors, as well as matte ochre and black colors. Clays sourced in Shigaraki and Iga also have feldspar deposits and small stones, which, in intense heat, become white speckles and small bursts that further accentuate the roughness of the surface.
Yakishime has been made widely throughout East Asia for nearly a millennium. Starting in the 12th century, pottery production centers in Japan on Honshū island, such as Tokoname, Seto, Echizen, Tanba, Shigaraki, and Bizen (commonly known as Rokkoyō or the 'Six Ancient Kilns'), produced large quantities of jars and bowls for storing and germinating seeds and preparing food in farming communities (Figure 1). In the late 15th century, when production centers in China, Korea, and much of Japan moved to glazed wares, yakishime from Shigaraki and Bizen began to be used by practitioners of chanoyu (tea ceremony), who admired its rustic beauty. Ordinary, humble yakishime wares were elevated to objects of artistic merit. In a letter written around that time, chanoyu master Murata Jukō criticized a recent trend of novice tea practitioners using Bizen and Shigaraki yakishime for their 'cold and withered appearance' (1).
By the mid-16th century, water jars crafted in the Bizen and Shigaraki ware styles gained widespread popularity among tea practitioners (Figure 2). Sen’no Rikyū, an influential tea master renowned for serving military leaders and establishing the wabi ("rusticity and simplicity") chanoyu we recognize today, possessed several notable water jars. Among them were a Shigaraki ware jar named Shiba no iori ("a hut in the woods") and a Bizen ware jar named Yabure oke ("a broken bucket"), both of which are still extant.
Around this time, Iga, an area close to Shigaraki, also started producing yakishime teawares. In the early 17th century, uniquely deformed and rugged Iga ware water jars and flower vases became highly sought-after by chanoyu practitioners from the elite military class. The abundance of excavated yakishime teawares from an ancient market street in Kyoto city attests to the widespread popularity of yakishime during this era.
As the Edo period unfolded, yakishime teawares gradually waned in popularity. By the mid-18th century, the majority of ceramics from former yakishime production centers like Shigaraki transitioned to glazed wares. In Bizen, yakishime production continued, but shifted towards decorative sculptures featuring animals, human figures, and Buddhist or folk deities that were mainly admired for their detailed expressions. So, what led to the present-day resurgence of yakishime?
Contemporary Rise of Yakishime
Between the 1930s and 1950s, several movements set out to revive the yakishime teawares of the 15th and 16th centuries. In the 1930s, Bizen potter Kaneshige Tōyō rejected his family business of producing decorative sculptures and began researching these historic teawares. Later, in Shigaraki, Ueda Naokata IV and Takahashi Rakusai III similarly developed an interest in old yakishime, experimenting with materials and firing techniques using anagama (tunnel) wood-fired kilns. Because of their interest in reviving the teawares of the Momoyama period (1573–1615), these three potters came to be called “Momoyama revivalists.” Their inspiration stemmed from various events, including the excavation of many old kiln sites during the postwar construction boom, providing the potters with opportunities to rediscover lost techniques and stirring the curiosity of the general public.
Simultaneously, the term "Six Ancient Kilns" was coined by ceramic historian and potter Koyama Fujio, who advocated for the organization and production of numerous exhibitions and books. American ceramic historian and curator Louise Cort, who later published a monograph on Shigaraki ware, expressed her profound inspiration from the Six Ancient Kilns boom in 1960s Japan. As Japan recovered from the devastation of World War II and the population enjoyed increased leisure time and wealth, chanoyu and ikebana (flower arrangement) became more widely practiced throughout Japan, expanding the yakishime market. Additionally, the Japan Crafts Association (Nihon Kōgei kai) was established to safeguard and promote traditional arts and crafts, contributing to the dissemination of yakishime as a historically significant tradition. Bizen's Kaneshige Tōyō and Fujiwara Kei were bestowed the title of Intangible Cultural Property, more commonly known as "Living National Treasures."
Finally, yakishime fascinated overseas ceramic artists, scholars, museum professionals, and collectors because of its unique rustic qualities and long history. Some of them came to Japan to research and study the techniques. Starting in the 1950s, artists like Toshiko Takaezu, Marie Woo, John and Susanne Stephenson, Daniel Rose, Paul Chaleff, Rob Barnard, and Peter Callas studied yakishime in Bizen, Shigaraki, Tanba, and other locations. They later became established artists, and some spread yakishime techniques and aesthetics in the United States.
Teawares and Ikebana Vases
The forms and expressions of 21st-century yakishime are diverse, but a strong current continues to be functional vessels used in chanoyu and ikebana. In chanoyu, yakishime is referred to as tsuchimono (meaning "earthly things") and is an integral part of its canon. For instance, one teaware arrangement necessitates a water jar made of non-glazed yakishime (page 30), making it essential for any dedicated tea practitioner to possess at least one Shigaraki, Iga, or Bizen ware water jar. In the practice of ikebana, large yakishime jars (page 37) and vases are frequently employed to create dramatic arrangements with tall tree branches and grasses. Many yakishime artists specialize in this area of production, as there is a constant demand for these vessels.
The Ueda Naokata family is one of the major lineages in Shigaraki ware, specializing in the production of tea wares. The fourth generation of Naokata was devoted to researching and reviving tea wares beloved by the proponents of wabi chanoyu during the Momoyama period. Ueda Naokata V, the fifth generation, spent extensive hours studying Momoyama period Shigaraki teawares in museums and antique shops during his training years. An ardent practitioner of tea himself, Naokata V crafted teabowls, water jars, tea caddies, and other vessels that are not only easy to use but also exhibit beautiful gradations of scarlet marks, subtle spreads of stones, and ochre-colored ash traces. His adopted son, Ueda Naokata VI (page 22), continued the tradition by creating teawares that strike a balance between usability and the distinctive features of Shigaraki ware.
Another Shigaraki artist, Kohara Yasuhiro, also produces teawares and large jars, but unlike the Ueda Naokata family, Kohara pushes the distinctive Shigaraki yakishime features to their extremes. His Shigaraki Baskets (pages 56-61) are based on a handled tray for chakaiseki (meals for chanoyu). However, the thick body and rugged surface make these trays challenging to use; they are primarily designed for display, inviting appreciation of exaggerated features like the rough surface, blackened ashes, and pools of ash glaze with a translucent green color naturally formed during firing.
In Bizen, many artists specialize in teawares and flower vases. Mori Tōgaku, one of the most active artists, fires his vessels in extremely long kilns of 170 and even 300 feet in his pursuit of reviving old Bizen wares. Fired in quantities of several hundred for more than 50 days, his vessels have fire marks of incredible warmth and depth (pages 23-25).
Sasayama Tadayasu, who is mostly known for ceramic sculptures and installation works using Shigaraki clay, is also interested in tea wares, however, his Bowl Form and Tea Bowl series cannot be used as tea bowls. Their closed mouth and round bottoms without feet are his conceptual take on functional vessels in the revered practice (figure 4, page 66-67).
Sculpture
Yakishime’s monochromatic and neutral appearance, resembling metal or wood, has proven to be an excellent medium for both formal and surface expressions. In the 1950s and 1960s, Yagi Kazuo, an influential member of the avant-garde ceramic group Sōdei-sha, utilized Shigaraki clay and yakishime techniques to create eerie sculptures that combined geometric shapes with worm-like details.
There are also artists who create works that are based on vessel forms but closer to non-functional sculptures. The Bizen artist Yabe Shun’ichi creates sculptural works distinctive for elegant lines (figure 5, page 68-70). Shigaraki artist Koyama Yasuhisa also creates forms and surfaces that seem to be cut from rock. Koyama is inspired by his trips to various places, particularly the vast rocky terrain of the American Southwest. His fascination with evoking this landscape is evident in the uneven surface and rugged edges of his sculptural vessels (page 31).
These artists are more interested in formal expressions than the natural ash glazing of Shigaraki artists working in teawares and vases. Capitalizing on clay’s plasticity, they use a variety of techniques including slab building and incising to achieve their sculptural forms.
International Appreciation of Contemporary Yakishime
Among the diverse styles and techniques in contemporary Japanese ceramics, yakishime is considered uniquely Japanese, as it is still widely practiced only in Japan. The interest in and appreciation of contemporary yakishime have risen dramatically in the past thirty years in China, Taiwan, and the United States. Many yakishime artists from Shigaraki and Bizen are invited to workshops and exhibitions in China and Taiwan. In the United States, contemporary yakishime first appealed to ceramic artists who wanted to learn the techniques in the second half of the 20th century.
More recently, museums and private collectors have increasingly begun to appreciate the earthy and rustic appearance of tea wares, as well as the creative, formal expressions of ceramic sculptures. Works by Kakurezaki Ryūichi, Isezaki Kōichirō (both from Bizen), Koyama Yasuhisa (Shigaraki), and Tsujimura Shirō (living in Nara, working in Shigaraki and Iga ware styles) are found in many major public and private collections.
This exhibition introduces yakishime artists whose names are unfamiliar in the United States, including Sakata Jinnai, Shimizu Kei’ichi, and Konishi Tōzō, providing an excellent opportunity to explore the great breadth of expression in today’s yakishime.
Oka, Yoshiko, “Shigaraki no chatō: Chajin no manazashi kara” in Shigaraki eno manazashi: Wabi sabi Shigaraki, Shigaraki Ceramic Cultural Park, 2015, p. 111.
Louise Cort, “Foreword,” Clay as Soft Power: Shigaraki Ware in Postwar America and Japan, University of Michigan Museum of Art, 2021, p. 4.
