Japanese Shino Ware

Japan's First White Glaze

Before Shino-yaki, Japanese ceramics knew hardly any true white; earthy browns, black and greenish glazes after Chinese models dominated. In the late sixteenth century, during the Azuchi-Momoyama period, a new style emerged in Mino Province, today's Gifu: a thick white feldspar glaze with fine pores and delicate reddish traces of the fire. Shino-yaki has since been regarded as Japan's first white-glazed ceramic. It arose amid the flourishing tea culture, when tea masters such as Furuta Oribe were looking for new, expressive vessels.

Part of the Mino Tradition

Mino lies close to the older ceramic center of Seto. Potters who had left Seto during the turmoil of civil war settled here and, under the protection of local lords, developed several new styles at once. Besides Shino, these were green-glazed Oribe-yaki, black Setoguro and yellowish Ki-Seto. Together they are regarded today as the four great expressions of the Mino-yaki tradition. Many contemporary Shino potters still work in the region and see their work as a continuation of this heritage.

The Glaze: Pores, Fire Marks and Depth

The defining element is the thick, milky-white feldspar glaze, applied far more generously than on most other Japanese ceramics. In a wood-fired kiln, traditionally an anagama or noborigama, the heat spreads unevenly. This creates fine pores and small craters in the surface, often compared to citrus peel, and reddish to orange fire marks where the iron-bearing body reacts with the glaze. Because no firing is like another, every piece becomes unique.

E-Shino, Nezumi-Shino and Beni-Shino

Several variants have developed within the tradition. E-Shino, “painted Shino,” shows motifs painted in iron oxide beneath the glaze, often grasses, plants or abstract lines that glimmer through as if through mist. In Nezumi-Shino, “mouse Shino,” an iron-rich slip lies under the glaze and produces gray to reddish-brown tones; scratched patterns stand out lightly against it. Beni-Shino looks redder and warmer overall, while Muji-Shino does without painting altogether and relies on the glaze alone.

Forgotten and Rediscovered

After its Momoyama heyday, production was largely forgotten during the Edo period, and for a long time its origin was wrongly placed in Seto. Only in the twentieth century did the potter Arakawa Toyōzō (1894–1985) search systematically for the old kiln sites. In 1930 he found Shino shards near Mutabora in the village of Ogaya that proved the Mino origin, and went on to reconstruct clay mixtures and firing techniques. For this achievement he was named a Ningen Kokuhō, a “Living National Treasure.” One historic Shino tea bowl, “Unohanagaki,” is even designated a National Treasure in Japan.

Forms and Use

Shino-yaki has traditionally been used above all for chawan, small bowls and sake vessels, and also for vases and tableware. The forms are usually squat, slightly asymmetrical and, despite thick walls, comfortable in the hand. A Shino tea bowl suits matcha as well as a quiet place in a tokonoma or on a shelf. A Shino guinomi accompanies sake and shows the same lively glaze on a small scale. With use, the porous surface takes on hues from the tea and develops a fine, individual patina.

Recognizing and Caring for Shino

A handmade Shino piece can be recognized by fire marks that are never quite symmetrical, by irregularly scattered pores and by a glaze whose thickness visibly varies. These features cannot be imitated in cast or printed tableware. Clean it only with warm water and a soft sponge, without dish soap, dishwasher or microwave, and then let it dry thoroughly in the air. The pores absorb tea and cannot be brushed out; a warm darkening of the tone is normal and desirable.

What Collectors Look For

With Shino, the glaze comes first: how dense and soft is the white, where do the fire marks begin, does the surface form a harmonious picture, often called keshiki, “landscape,” in Japanese? Next come the signature or seal and the wooden box inscribed by the potter, which documents origin and attribution. Whether a piece belongs to the white basic form, the gray Nezumi-Shino or the painted variant is, by contrast, a matter of personal taste.