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INTRODUCTION AND PREHISTORY Continental emigrants of the 3rd Century B.C. (the beginning of the Yayoi Period ), introduced the use of the Wheel and Cultivation of Rice along with other technologies attributed to the Bronze Age . Eventually (in the 3rd to 4th Centuries A.D.), the Anagama Kiln in which stoneware fired at high temperatures embellished with natural ash glaze was produced. Japanese pottery (陶芸, Jp. ''tōgei''; also 焼きもの, Jp. ''yakimono'') was heavily influenced by Chinese , and Korean Pottery , which contributed to Japanese pottery over the ages. MEDIEVAL POTTERY Medieval Kiln s enabled more refined production of Stoneware , which was still produced in the late 20th Century , especially in central Honshū around the city of Seto ( Aichi prefecture), the wares of which were so widely used that Seto-mono became the generic term for ceramics in Japan. The overlord Toyotomi Hideyoshi 's Korean campaigns of the late 16th Century were dubbed the "ceramic wars," since the abduction of Korean potters appeared to be a major factor in the wars. It is well known that Toyotomi Hideyoshi , admiring the advanced porcelain technology of Korea, ordered his soldiers to capture Korean potters alive. These potters introduced a variety of new techniques and styles in their artifacts that were greatly admired for the Tea Ceremony . They also discovered in northern Kyūshū the proper ingredients needed to produce Porcelain and soon dazzled the guests at Daimyo banquets with the first Japanese-made porcelain. 20TH CENTURY TO PRESENT DAY Interest in the humble art of the village potter was revived in a folk movement of the 1920s by such master potters as Shoji Hamada and Kawai Kajiro . These artists studied traditional glazing techniques to preserve native wares in danger of disappearing. A number of institutions came under the aegis of the Cultural Properties Protection Division . The kilns at Tamba , overlooking Kobe , continued to produce the daily wares used in the Tokugawa Period , while adding modern shapes. Most of the village wares were made anonymously by local potters for utilitarian purposes. Local styles, whether native or imported, tended to be continued without alteration into the present. In Kyūshū, kilns set up by Korean potters in the 16th century, such as at Koishibara and its offshoot at Onta , perpetuated 16th-century Korean peasant wares. In Okinawa , the production of village ware continued under several leading masters, with Kaneshiro Jiro honored as a mukei bunkazai. The modern masters of the traditional kilns still bring the ancient formulas in pottery and porcelain to new heights of achievement at Shiga , Ige , Karatsu , Hagi , and Bizen . Yamamoto Masao of Bizen and Miwa Kyusetsu of Hagi were designated as living cultural treasures ('' Mukei Bunkazai '' 無形文化財). Only a half-dozen potters were so honored by 1989 , either as representatives of famous kiln wares or as creators of superlative techniques in Glazing or decoration; two groups were designated for preserving the wares of distinguished ancient kilns. In the old capital of Kyoto , the Raku family continued to produce the rough Tea Bowl s that had so delighted Hideyoshi. At Mino , continued to reconstruct the classic formulas of Momoyama-era Seto-type tea wares at Mino, such as the Oribe copper-green glaze and Shino ware's prized milky glaze. Artist potters experimented endlessly at the Kyoto and Tokyo arts universities to recreate traditional porcelain and its decorations under such ceramic teachers as Fujimoto Yoshimichi , a mukei bunkazai. Ancient porcelain kilns around Arita in Kyūshū were still maintained by the lineage of Sakaida Kakiemon XIV and Imaizumi Imaemon XIII , hereditary porcelain makers to the Nabeshima Clan ; both were heads of groups designated mukei bunkazai (see Kakiemon and Imari Porcelain ). In contrast, by the end of the 1980s, many master potters no longer worked at major or ancient kilns, but were making classic wares in various parts of Japan. In Tokyo, a notable example is Tsuji Seimei , who brought his clay from Shiga but potted in the Tokyo area. A number of artists were engaged in reconstructing Chinese styles of decoration or glazes, especially the blue-green Celadon and the watery-green Qingbai . One of the most beloved Chinese glazes in Japan is the chocolate-brown Tenmoku glaze that covered the peasant tea bowls brought back from Southern Song China (in the twelfth and thirteenth centuries) by Zen monks. For their Japanese users, these chocolate-brown wares embodied the Zen aesthetic of Wabi (rustic simplicity). In the United States, a notable example of the use of tenmoku glazes may be found in the innovative crystalline pots thrown by Japanese-born artist Hideaki Miyamura . STYLES OF JAPANESE POTTERY
Also called Imari-yaki.
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