Styles of Pottery

Arita-yaki – A famous pottery style in Japan. This is also known as Imari-yaki perfected by common folks in Arita in the Saga prefecture. Its distinctive stye is to mix clay under fire and glaze it with cobalt blue.

Bizen-yaki – This style is also known as Inbe-yaki, and is of reddish-brown pottery. Its distinctive style is to knead clay by hand to make ceramics. This style does not make use of glazing nor painting.

Hagi-yaki – Produced in the province of Yamaguchi, these ceramics are made of very light & textured clay types burned at a relatively low temperature, resulting in light & soft pottery.

Karatsu-yaki – This style was originally introduced by Korean potters. It is distinctively made of yellow or black, but some wares also have colorful paintings. Today, it is one of the top producers for tea-bowls or chawan.

Kutani-yaki – This pottery’s most prominent characteristic is its red color, with accents of blue, green, yellow and purple. It may look a little bit garish compared to some of Japan's refined pottery types. But the pieces are designed for functionality.

Mino-yaki - Famous tea masters, Rikyu Sen and Oribe Furuta, developed "Mino Momoyama Pottery” to indicate their tastes in tea bowls and accessories.

Raku-yaki - Made in Kyoto by a family named Raku. This is one of the few instances where a family is attributed, throughout history, to the ceramics they have produced. The Raku family’s tradition of pottery making has continued long after other families of different generations had their lines broken.

Ryumonji-yaki – Usually glazed in black or a combination of three colors, Ryumonji pottery is produced in Kagoshima.

Seto-yaki – This is the most produced Japanese pottery in Japan. There are many tourist spots in Japan that are filled with Setoceramics like the Seto City Folk Historical Materials Museum and the Aichi Prefectural Ceramics Museum

Shigaraki-yaki – This pottery style is mostly known for producing dog or raccoon ceramic figures, and recently, owls, which young people especially love.

Souma-yaki – This pottery is characterized by its blue-green crackling effect, with the use of apple ash to achieve this. It is designed with a double-walled construction, with the inner and the outer sides made and allowed to be firm separately.

Tamba-yaki - One of the six oldest pottery kinds in Japan, this is a simple brown-black ceramic that dates back 700 years.  It is still currently made by potters to this day.