“I would say that at least 90% of all current Bizen potters make pots in the same shapes
that were first made during Bizen's golden years, those being in the Momoyama period.”

Robert Yellin, www.e-yakimono.net

Introduction

Chawan

Guinomi

Tokkuri

Bizen

Hagi

Oribe

Shino

More Japanese

American Bowls

Other

Acoma

 

Figure 1: Bizen tokkuri by Masaru Sajiki.

Figure 2: Bizen guinomi by Nakamura Makoto

Figure 3: Bizen teapot.

Figure 4: Two bizen yuinomi that I rescued in a junk store in Milpitas CA. I paid $0.50 apiece for them. The price was written in black crayon on the side and it took about 5 years to wear off.

Figure 5: Another style yuinomi, the pots are tied with rice straw, placed in the kiln and the orange (or red) is from the burn marks of the straw. Bizen is also excellent for drinking cold beer.

Figure 6: Bizen guinomi by Kimura Bifu.

Figure 7: Bizen guinomi by Masaru Sajiki.

Figure 8: Bizen guinomi by Katsuro Matasaburo.

Figure 9: Bizen guinomi by Yasahiko Matsukasa

Bizen is another old pottery kiln, one of the six old potteries of Japan (Rokkoyou). Located in Okayama Prefecture, the area has been making pottery for over 1000 years. Its one of my favorite styles because the appearance of the Bizen piece is not dictated by the potter, but is the result of mutual effort on the part of the potter, the clay, the kiln and the wood used to fire the kiln.

Bizen does not use a glaze and there are no painting of images. The dark colors, as you can see on the right, which are characteristic of Bizen come from the use of an iron rich clay dug n the lower land area. Some potters use clay from the mountains which produces a lighter color (Figure 3). Bizen pots are fired in two kinds of kilns, the Noborigama, a climbing kiln, or the Anagama, a tunnel kiln. Using red pine wood, the pots are fired for about two weeks.

Some characteristics of Bizen are called Goma, Hidasuk, Sangiri, Yohen, Botamochi and Fuseyaki, effects created in the kiln by the fire and ash.

Goma occurs when the kiln is hottest and Bizen is fired at very hot temperatures ( 2300F/1200 C), the ash of the red pine melts into the surface of the clay to make the brownish coloring. Hidasuki; pots are wrapped in rice straw and when the straw burns off it leaves red markings (Figure 5). Sangiri is the fire schorched ares created by throwing charcoal into the kiln. Yohen is the pitted areas. A pot may be laid on the floor and the ash and charcoal accumulate around the pot to cause the effect. Botamochi is a clay that is put on a an area of a pot and during the firing results in a different effect than they rest of the pot. Fuseyaki; a pot is coverwed with another pot on top creating different exposures during the firing resultling indifferent colors.

My examples on the right may not the best quality examples, but they do show you some of the features of Bizen and when you see it, you will recognize it.