This practical and supremely useful manual is the first comprehensive, hands-on introduction to Japanese ceramics. The Japanese ceramics tradition is without compare in its technical and stylistic diversity, its expressive content, and the level of appreciation it enjoys, both in Japan and around the world. Inside Japanese Ceramics focuses on tools, materials, and procedures, and how all of these have influenced the way traditional Japanese ceramics look and feel. A true primer, it concentrates on the basics: setting up a workshop, pot-forming techniques, decoration, glazes, and kilns and firing. It introduces the major methods and styles that are taught in most Japanese workshops, including several representative and well-known wares: Bizen, Mino, Karatsu, Hagi, and Kyoto. While presenting the time-tested techniques of the tradition, author Richard L. Wilson also accommodates modern technologies and materials as appropriate. Wilson has gathered a wealth of information on two fronts—as a researcher of Japanese pottery and art history, and as a potter who has studied and worked for years with master Japanese potters. In his introduction, he provides a short history of Japanese ceramics, and in closing he looks beyond traditional methods toward ways in which Western potters can make Japanese methods their own. Richly illustrated with 24 color plates, over 100 black-and-white photographs, and over 70 instructive line-drawings, Inside Japanese Ceramics is indispensable for potters as well as connoisseurs and collectors of Japanese ceramics. Above all, it is an invitation to participate—to study, make, touch, and use the exquisite products of the Japanese ceramic tradition.

Inside Japanese Ceramics focuses on tools, materials, and procedures, and how all of these have influenced the way traditional Japanese ceramics look and feel. It concentrates on the basics: setting up a workshop, pot-forming techniques, decoration, glazes, and kilns and firing. It introduces the major methods and styles that are taught in most Japanese workshops, including several representative and well-known wares: Bizen, Mino, Karatsu, Hagi, and Kyoto. This manual also provides a short history of Japanese ceramics, and in closing, a look beyond traditional methods toward ways in which Western potters can make Japanese methods their own.

For more than 30 years, Dr. Anneliese and Dr. Wulf Crueger--guided by Saeko It�--have devoted themselves to studying, understanding, and collecting Japanese ceramics. Today, they share the rich fruits of their knowledge with this lavishly illustrated volume based on their own collection. The equivalent of Roberts Museum Guide, devotees of beautiful ceramics can pick it up and use it to select and visit potters as they undertake an artistic tour of the country. Organized geographically, it goes from kiln to kiln--which in Japan may refer to a lone site or an entire ceramics region that contains hundreds of workshops. Along the way, they outline the history, development, and unique stylistic characteristics of each area’s work, and the traditions that inspired it.

Imari and Kakiemon wares are produced in the Arita area of Kyushu, a focus ofomestic porcelain production since the 17th century. In addition to theophisticated potting techniques and cobalt/celadon underglaze decorationearned from Korea, Japanese potters learned Chinese overglaze enamelechniques and the brilliant porcelains of Kyushu appeared almost overnight.hese porcelains were shipped through the port of Imari, and hence becamenown by that name. Wares from the Kakiemon kilns are well known for theirright yet subtle red enamel, the delicate balance between decorated andhite areas, and the painstaking care directed to every step from refininghe clay to the enamel firing.;This book provides a visual overview of theistory, techniques and distinguishing features of both Imari and Kakiemonares.

Ogata Kenzan (1663-1743) is Japan's most famous ceramic artist, and his work has had a far-reaching influence on the art of pottery, not only in Japan but, through Bernard Leach and his followers, the West as well. With his brother, the painter Korin, Kenzan was a member of the cultivated elite circle that transformed the world of Japanese design from the taste of a courtly few to a popular movement embracing every social class and encompassing all of the arts and crafts. Richard Wilson illuminates Kenzan's life and work simultaneously, tracing the phases of Kenzan's artistic and commercial development, their relationship to Japanese culture, and their bearing on the issues of authenticity and connoisseurship in Japanese art.

This compact reference explains the basic terms, processes, classifications, tools, materials and techniques of Japanese potters. Everyone interested in pottery and crafts will find this practical guide a valuable addition to both bookshelf and workshop. Penny Simpson, an English potter living in Japan, and Kanji Sodeoka, her Japanese colleague, have compiled a step-by-step manual of the way pots are made in Japan, their forms, and their decorations. The authors give a thorough account of both traditional and modern techniques and also describe in detail tools,